Barcelona Gallery Weekend: a piece, an exhibition, a surprise, a space

For the 7th edition of the Barcelona Gallery Weekend we’ve prepared a TOP 5 with five short questions and we’ve send las kunst to the participant galleries to meet with five art related agents willing to answer them: Sofía Farjiani (artist), Iván Forcadell (artist), Semíramis González (curator), Ianko López (journalist) and Joaquín Jesús Sánchez (art critic). 

Which was the goal? To know things like which piece they would take home without even thinking about it, what has been the exhibition proposal that most interested them, which artist or gallery they didn’t know and surprised them or which space they found the most stimulating. A different way to approach this annual event, promoted by the Art Barcelona association, which seeks to strengthen and make visible the rich and varied artistic context of Barcelona and its metropolitan area, encourage art collecting and highlight the work of the galleries and their artists. 

1 – A PIECE

So, considering that one of the objectives of the Gallery Weekend is to promote art collecting, the first question was a must: Which piece would they take home without thinking, on a whim, and which as an investment for the future. 

For Sofía Farjiani this was an easy answer, since she has fallen in love with Rafel Bestard’s work and would take the piece Link (Galeria Contrast) without giving it a second thought, although as a future investment she would opt for one of Henri Michau’s works exhibited at the Galeria Marc Domènech. 

Semíramis González, who we met in ADN Galeria, would choose one of Marinella Senatore’s pieces that can be seen in this same space: “It’s interesting for how it addresses the conflict in the street; everything we are experiencing, the demonstrations, the protests and this return to the streets”. But she doesn’t consider it as an investment for the future, sinc for her “buying art also has that impulse, that kind of passion in which one throws oneself into buying somethings and bets on an artist hoping that in the future he will grow because their work is worth it”. 

On the other hand, Joaquín Jesús would take an Enrico della Torre, from the exhibition at Galeria Alegria and thinking about the future he confesses that even if he is not a great expert he would take a Guillermo Pfaff from Galeria Carles Taché. 

2 – AN EXHIBITION

With a total of 33 participant galleries, which have presented both collective and solo shows of more than 70 artists, we know it’s very difficult to choose, but we like challenges and we wanted to know which has been, for each one, the best exhibition of this year.

In this edition of the BGW 33 exhibitions have been presented, both collective and individual, created, designed and curated by different agents. And we know that it is very difficult to choose but we love challenges, so we ask which is for them the best exhibition of this year. 

Here they’ve highlighted the exhibition Our Hours by Rafel Bestard in Galeria Contrast; the show El tiempo de las lombrices by Teresa Solar at Galeria Joan Prats; Cuatro paredes by Luz Broto at etHALL; Indignadas by María María Acha-Kutscher at ADN Galeria and the tandem that is generated between the exhibition at Nogueras Blanchard, about a fictitious encounter between Alberto Cardín and Pepe Espaliú, and the show Contact! Together Again at House of Chappaz, “closely related to the previous one because it’s based a bit on an artistic analysis, from an artistic perspective, of HIV ”, Ianko points out. 

3 – A SURPRISE 

Beyond collecting, it is important to highlight the work of galleries as art spaces open to the public. The BGW is undoubtedly a great opportunity to cross its doors and discover new places and new artistic proposals. 

Semíramis, for example, has been surprised by the contrast between the new work and the work from the nineties by artist Yamandú Canosa, who exhibits at Galeria Zielinsky, while for Iván Forcadell the surprise has been the Dilalica gallery, which he had not yet had the opportunity to visit and where he has found a piece by Lúa Coderch, who was his teacher. 

Ianko, on the other hand, can’t get Dorian Sari’s video Loop at Bombon out of his head, “a video in which something that is out of the field is pointed out and we don’t know what it is; it generates a very peculiar energy in the room and above all it stays in the viewer’s mind. I actually keep thinking about it”. 

4 – A SPACE

Visiting an exhibition means, inevitably, going through it. Physical interaction becomes inevitable. With this question we wanted to know what is the relationship established between the works, the space and the observers, and what has been the space they found most stimulating. 

Joaquín Jesús Sánchez: “I really liked the exhibition that Joaquín Garcia has curated at Nogueras Blanchard, which is a unique space that can be filled with almost anything, and giving it personality seems to me a complicated thing and I think he has achieved it something as simple as hanging some texts”. 

Sofía mentions Galeria Alegria: “I find it very modern, very different as a space and with options and offers for artists who want to create an installation or an exhibition”. 

Ianko López highlights the proposal by Luz Broto at etHALL, “which precisely intervenes the space with four walls that prolong the pillars of the space and that achieves something that I think is very rare, which is that we effectively perceive the space in another way and ask ourselves about those small negotiations that often in everyday life exist between the spaces themselves and also between us and those spaces”. 

5 – THE UNEXPECTED

Finally, as the kunst team love to go for it all, they came up with five surprise questions for each of the people interviewed: Which gallery has treated Sofía the best? Which piece would Joaquín Jesús give to his brother? Who would Iván collaborate with? Who would Ianko support if he were a patron? Which material has caught Semíramis attention?

To know all the answers, you’ll have to watch the IGTV videos. 

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APROPOS are contents made about something that happens in our artistic context. In this case, with the intention of approaching the Barcelona Gallery Weekend in a different way, from GRAF we have generated this content in collaboration with las kunst and the Art Barcelona association.