BCN and the new languages of culture

Contemporary art represents a strategic sector in the cultural picture of Barcelona and its dissemination, now with the even greater access to new public spaces, is complemented by strengthening the roles played by creators in today's social scene. In this sense the city has for some time centred its attention on artistic vanguards.

The visual arts are in evidence all over the city, in open-air sculptures, in the activities of the numerous art galleries -gathered together in Consell de Cent Street, the Born district or, more recently, in some of the streets of the Cuitat Vella, the Old Town- as well as in exhibitions organized by cultural centres and institutions. These include the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art MACBA, the CCCB, Centre d'Art Santa Mònica; as well as specialized institutions such as the Museu Picasso, Fundació Miró, Fundació Tàpies which, along with the work of the artists whose name they bear also disseminate the art of their contemporaries, allowing us an insight into the historical and artistic context of the period.

Barcelona is also a model of permanent research into the contemporary art of the new languages, of the new instruments of expression using new technologies, video and the Internet.

The city counts on a stable public interested in all such variants of contemporary art and nurtures spaces where it can be expressed: it acts as host and welcomes artists from abroad with proposals like Hangar; it opens doors, with activities like the Open Workshops (in Poble Nou and the Raval districts), demonstrating the existence of a network of artistic creation and dissemination; it organizes events connected with contemporary art (among which Barcelona Art Report - Experiències) is worthy of mention) that represent spaces of interchange of contemporary art in the city (Artexpo as a meeting point for art galleries and new art) and so on.

Amongst all of this activity, the contribution made by Virreinae Centre de la Imatge to the cultural fabric of the city must not be overlooked: one municipal institutions (the Virreina Palace through Espai 2 and Espai Xavier Miserachs) stand out as a platform for the dissemination of contemporary art.

History of the La Virreina Centre de la Imatge

The activities organised by La Virreina Exposicions are held in rooms in two historic buildings in Barcelona: the Palau de la Virreina and La Capella in the Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu.
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