When we talk about an anecdote in 19th-century painting, we refer to human figures, cattle or even the smoke of a chimney that appears in a painting. In the work of the painters of the l’Escola d’Olot, the landscape was not autonomous, the presence and anthropocentric vision was dominant. It took the painter Joaquim Vayreda a lifetime to be able to free himself from the ‘anecdote’ and to paint landscapes without these elements that revealed human presence.
This exhibition proposes to disfocus the anecdote in these paintings where the instrumentalization of the landscape was and is relevant. Based on the vision explored in the company of the l’Observatori del Paisatge – organism located in the same building as the Museu de La Garrotxa – we propose a choral rereading focused on the painting l’estiu, by Joaquim Vayreda.
As the geographer Joan Nogué writes, “the landscape is simultaneously significant and meaning, continent and content, reality and fiction”. We are thus approaching a perceptive dimension that invites us to take a turn and speculate new narratives that allow us to “reenchant the world so that it returns to collect its agency”, as Edu Rubio and Blanca Arias narrate, within the central videographic piece of this exhibition.
An invitation to reorient ourselves from the call and its echo, proposing more horizontal views, where the anecdote is revealed through the subjectivity of color, landscape and the construction of images.
A project by nyamyam (Ariadna Rodriguez and Iñaki Alvarez) With the collaboration of Observatori del Paisatge de Catalunya Director of photography Pau Castejón Camera Pau Castejón, Iñaki Alvarez, Pol Aregall and Rita Andreu Camera assistant Eduard Roigé Sound design and music Dani Moreno Roldán and Andi Stecher Texts Anna Dot and Ariana Rodriguez Graphic concept Iñaki Alvarez With the participation of Josep Caldes, Joan Nogué, Eulàlia Soler, Xevi Roura, Amor Rumor (Blanca Arias y Edu Rubio), Jordi Zapata, Pere Sala i Martí, Laura Puigbert, Gemma Bretcha and Albert Escriu Executive Production Helena Febrés Communication Olga Alvarez Internationalization Alessandra Simeoni Production Coop ny ny SCCL and Museu de la Garrotxa – Ajuntament d’Olot. Cultura i Educació With the support of Fundació La Caixa and the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya Language advice SC d’Olot – la Garrotxa. Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística.
FREE ACTIVITIES OPEN TO EVERYONE
1 | OPEN CONVERSATION ACTIVITY
23 February, at 7 pm
Conversation between Gemma Bretcha, head of the Documentation Centre; Pere Sala, director of the Landscape Observatory, and Ariadna Rodríguez and Iñaki Álvarez (nyamnyam).
Conversation around the project in relation to the materials of the Documentation Centre
Place: Landscape Observatory of Catalonia, Olot
2 | TRAJECTORIES
Saturday, March 9, at 12 p.m.
Conversation between Anna Dot, artist, and Ariadna Rodríguez and Iñaki Álvarez (nyamnyam).
Place: Hall of events of the Hospice, Olot
3 | Conference Landscape and Color. Perception, meanings and intervention
April 5, at 9 am
Presentation of the project “Defocusing the anecdote”, by Ariadna Rodríguez and Iñaki Álvarez (nyamnyam), within the program of the day.
Organize: Landscape Observatory.
Support and collaboration: Bòlit, Centre d’Art Contemporani de Girona.
Place: Espai Cràter, Olot
4 | FESTIVAL SISMÒGRAF
From 18 to 21 April
Declination of the stage project that opens within the framework of this festival.
Place: Outdoor space, Olot
More information at www.sismografolot.cat
