Slider Image
Projecte

For the 6th time, the Institut Ramon Llull presents a Collateral Event for the Biennale Arte. Pedro Azara curates the exhibition Catalonia in Venice_To Lose Your Head (Idols).

The multi-authored exhibition explores the theory of art reception and documents the complex life of public statues in our time. In a world of images, iconoclasm and iconodulia this exhibition questions the fetishism of images as living entities and encourages conversations as a way to foster human happiness, awareness and freedom.

With a performance by Marcel Borràs, video works, photography, an artist's book and an archive, Catalonia in Venice_To Lose Your Head (Idols) investigates the issue of art reception with a specific focus on naturalistic and figurative statues.

. Using 20th-century statues in public spaces in Catalonia as a starting point, it considers the objectives of images from a theoretical point of view, moving between paradigms of old and new, documenting and analysing the experiences of statues, which could be enriching or destructive, lucid or irrational. The exhibition narrates the history of these statues from Catalonia, their experiences, the passionate relationship they have maintained and maintain with us, experiences that have left traces. These recent histories are similar to those that have taken place and are happening all over the world, in all cultures in which the image has played or plays an important role in personal and community life. The participating artists will interpret the ability of images to create feelings and to generate physical reactions beyond kitsch, beyond contemporary iconodulism and iconoclasm, while exploring the fascination and meaning of the power of images, as well as how and why works of art attract our attention and “awaken” passionate “feelings”.

Supported by four main pillars: performance, video works, an artist's book and an archive, and accompanied by references to poetry, literature, theatre and architecture, the exhibition documents cases in which statues from public spaces have the power to change their meaning despite their author and commissioner’s will, or the passage of time and space.

The ambitious performances of Marcel Borràs, whose explorations of identity have made him one of the most renowned theatre and film artists in Catalonia, will bring the power of images to a territory where representation, action and word play a fundamental role. With Marta Aguilar, the human statue actress, ‘She appropriates in present’ is a performance that will relive and contextualise, both historically and aesthetically, the experiences of statues in the exhibition. The performance will evolve to be complemented by the interactive sculpture ‘E.Y.M: (a f****** vending machine)’, a response to the work which will take on its own identity.

With the documentary, “EYES/EYES/EYES/EYES”, Albert García-Alzórriz will present the statues examined by the exhibition, focusing on the ambivalence of image, matter and subjectivity of naturalist images expressly created for public spaces. The space design by architect Tiziano Schürch is also inspired by the murky, disturbing and devastating impressions left after a visit to a municipal storehouse to search for monuments that have been removed from public space. The worn, mutilated, profaned and irrecoverable statues offer a poignant reminder of the complexity of life.

Catalonia in Venice_To Lose Your Head (Idols) and Pedro Azara's curatorial research will culminate in an artist’s book published by Tenov publishing house, in which six of the most relevant artists in Catalonia across two different generations reflect on the power of images. With designs, illustrations, poems and essays, David Bestué, Lúa Coderch, Lola Lasurt, Daniela Ortiz, Perejaume and Francesc Torres will explore how concepts such as iconoduly, iconolatry and iconoclasm are confronted with the history of public art and perception of art.


Portfolio Image

Frederic Marés, Antonio López. La Victoria, reservas del MUHBA.

Foto: Pedro Azara

Portfolio Image

Ella se apropia en el presente”, Marcel Borrás, 2019. Performance rehearsal.

Photo: Lluís Tudela

Portfolio Image

Clean Design

Photo: Pedro Azara

Portfolio Image

#ToLoseYourHead

Photo: Tiziano Schürch

Portfolio Image

#ToLoseYourHead

Photo: Tiziano Schürch

Portfolio Image

#ToLoseYourHead

Photo: Tiziano Schürch

Institut Ramon Llull
Generalitat de Catalunya
Govern de les Illes Balears
Ajuntament de Barcelona
Top

This website uses its own and third party cookies to offer better browsing. By browsing in it the user agrees to the way we use cookies. Users can prevent cookies from being generated and erase them by using the options on their browser. Blocking cookies may mean that some of this website’s services and options do not work properly.


Cookies are small pieces of data that websites send to browsers and which are stored in users’ devices: computers, mobile telephones, tablets, and so on. Their purpose is to improve the experience of using the website, as these archives make it possible for the website to remember information about the user’s visits, such as preferred options or language. In this way the website personalizes its content and becomes more agile and useful for the user.

By browsing this website users agree to cookies being installed in their equipment that enable us to find out the following information:

Types of cookies

This website uses session, or temporary, cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies merely keep data while the user is visiting the website. Persistent cookies store the data on the device’s hard drive so that it will be accessible in more than one session.

Depending on the type of data obtained the website can use technical cookies.

These allow users to browse the webpage and use the different options or services it contains. For example, controlling data traffic and communication, identifying the session, entering restricted access areas, requesting enrolment or participation in an event, using security features while browsing and storing content.

Personalization cookies.

These allow users to access the website with some general characteristics that are either already predefined in their hard drive or defined by the user. For example, the language, the type of browser used to access the website, the chosen content design, the geo-location of the device or the regional configuration from where access takes place.

Statistical analysis cookies

These make it possible to monitor and analyse the behaviour of visitors to the website. The information gathered is used to measure a website’s activity and to produce users’ browsing history, making it possible to improve the service.

Third party cookies

Third party cookies that manage and improve the services offered can also be installed. For example, statistics services like Google Analytics.

Managing the cookies in my browser

Users can allow, block or erase the cookies installed in their device by configuring the browsing options.

If the use of cookies in the browser is blocked, some services or functions of the webpage may not be available

This website uses its own and third party cookies to offer better browsing. By browsing in it the user agrees to the way we use cookies. Users can prevent cookies from being generated and erase them by using the options on their browser. Blocking cookies may mean that some of this website’s services and options do not work properly.


Cookies are small pieces of data that websites send to browsers and which are stored in users’ devices: computers, mobile telephones, tablets, and so on. Their purpose is to improve the experience of using the website, as these archives make it possible for the website to remember information about the user’s visits, such as preferred options or language. In this way the website personalizes its content and becomes more agile and useful for the user.

By browsing this website users agree to cookies being installed in their equipment that enable us to find out the following information:

Types of cookies

This website uses session, or temporary, cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies merely keep data while the user is visiting the website. Persistent cookies store the data on the device’s hard drive so that it will be accessible in more than one session.

Depending on the type of data obtained the website can use technical cookies.

These allow users to browse the webpage and use the different options or services it contains. For example, controlling data traffic and communication, identifying the session, entering restricted access areas, requesting enrolment or participation in an event, using security features while browsing and storing content.

Personalization cookies.

These allow users to access the website with some general characteristics that are either already predefined in their hard drive or defined by the user. For example, the language, the type of browser used to access the website, the chosen content design, the geo-location of the device or the regional configuration from where access takes place.

Statistical analysis cookies

These make it possible to monitor and analyse the behaviour of visitors to the website. The information gathered is used to measure a website’s activity and to produce users’ browsing history, making it possible to improve the service.

Third party cookies

Third party cookies that manage and improve the services offered can also be installed. For example, statistics services like Google Analytics.

Managing the cookies in my browser

Users can allow, block or erase the cookies installed in their device by configuring the browsing options.

If the use of cookies in the browser is blocked, some services or functions of the webpage may not be available