The first exhibition at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona was “Desacuerdos: On Art, Politics and Public Sphere in Spain,” and looked great, but was a little hard for me to interpret considering the fact it was all in Spanish and about the more recent culture of art in the country, something I’m fairly unfamiliar with. But I did manage to enjoy the clip for “Me gusta ser una zorra” by Vulpess, a crazy little all girl Spanish punk rock band from the 80s.
The second exhibition didn’t require translation and I loved it. Francis Alys. Walking Distance from the Studio —”Francis Alys trained as an architect and has lived in Mexico City since the 1980s. His walks through the city, the conversations he has overheard, and the stories that come up as he wanders around make up the main source of his activity, which is based in urban contexts and uses walking as part of the creative process. His often ephemeral projects explore anthropological space, social reality and the politics of the megalopolis, through his telling of fables, stories and the random situations that he has seen or actually been involved in during his walks through he streets of Mexico City. What Alys gets from the city – from its immediate physical and human environment – are the contents and the materials for his drawings, paintings, videos, photographs and slides; all techniques and supports which he uses simultaneously.”
It’s weird the way things will come across your path that seem to speak to you so directly. As a traveler, you obviously do a lot of street wandering and there’s a magnification of your relationship with urban spaces. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of flaneurism, and Alys really explores this in so many different approaches through his works. Plus, I fell in love with Mexico City when I was there February 2004, especially the Zocalo (a central public space of the city) from which a lot of Alys’ work is derived from. Fascinating stuff!
For all you music heads you will be most jealous to hear of the lovely 3 nights I spent at Primavera Sound. The last few festivals I’d attended in Oz, had turned me off them for good: Come Together, Big Day Out, Field Day…but Primavera proved that festivals can still be a great thing. Oh it was everything – the vibe was relaxed, the setting beautiful, the schedule spread out to allow for leisurely strolls and down time, the bands varied and a little more left of centre than your average lineup. And bigs up to the Estrella tent which stuck by the successful formula of Indie Djs + Small Space = Crazy, Fucked Up Fun!!!
Managed to catch Maximo Park, The Arcade Fire, Los Planetas (a very popular Spanish band), Radio 4, Iggy and The Stooges (at 50+ Iggy is still going strong with shirt off and cock out! Cannot believe I’ve now seen “I Wanna Be Your Dog”), New Order (Cannot believe I’ve now seen “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by the remaining Joy Division members), Kompakt Sound System (Michael Mayer is a god!!!), Sonic Youth, The Go! Team (sunny 60s fun), Dogs Die In Hot Cars, The Futureheads, and bits of Human League, Mercury Rev, Erase Errata, Gang of Four, They Might Be Giants, Out Hud and Echo and The Bunnymen.
