Exhibition - MIRALDA MADEINUSA | MACBA Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona

Miralda 'Honeymoon (Wedding Ceremony)', 1986-1992. ©fotogràfic: J. Ollé

22 October, 2016 to 9 April, 2017

The exhibition MIRALDA MADEINUSA brings together all the projects of the artist linked to the United States. Curated by Vicent Todolí and produced by MACBA, the exhibition will run from 22 October 2016 to April 2017 in Barcelona. In close collaboration with the artist and his archive, it will document for the first time and in a comprehensive manner the fourteen projects made by Miralda in the United States from the mid-seventies to the late nineties. The most significant installations will be reconstructed showing sculptures, drawings, photographs, visual recordings, sketches and other material. This will highlight the complexity of his projects and the collective nature of the artist’s methodology.

Among the most representative works are Breadline (1977), a monumental line of bread presented at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Wheat & Steak (1981), a food parade along the streets of Kansas City, an exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins Museum and a special event at the Board of Trade of this city; El Internacional Tapas Bar & Restaurant (1984–86), a social and artistic experiment made with the restauranteur Montse Guillén in New York’s TriBeCa; and Honeymoon Project (1986–92), a symbolic wedding between the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Columbus Monument in Barcelona, performed in several locations. The exhibition will also include the large installation belonging to the MACBA Collection, Santa Comida (Holy Food), 1984–89, based on the legacy of Afro-Caribbean culture in America today (until 12 February 2017).

Every Friday and Saturday, from 5 pm to the closing of the museum , you can try a cocktail and tapa from El Internacional. The work recreates the original El Internacional Tapas Bar & Restaurant from New York. A contribution of 3 euros will be charged, with the takings going to the activation of the work.
"EL INTERNACIONAL" PLAYLIST
Listen to this playlist based on one of the cassettes from the “El Internacional” restaurant.

Curator: Vicent Todolí
With the collaboration of: Alteza, Biocenter, Casa Bonay, EGM, Escola del Gremi de Flequers de Barcelona, FoodCultura, Panes creativos, Perelló 1898, Soon in Tokyo, Sr. and Sra. Cake, World Class.

With a career spanning five decades, Antoni Miralda (Terrassa, Spain, 1942) has turned something as universal as food into a creative universe. Having moved to Paris in 1962, Miralda pioneered a type of artistic practice that centred on the collective rituals that celebrate the ceremonial act of eating by using colour and its symbolism. The critic Pierre Restany valued his individual work, as well as his collaborations with artists such as Daniel Spoerri, Joan Rabascall, Dorothée Selz and Jaume Xifra. In 1972 Miralda moved to New York where he initiated a series of participative projects based on the fusion of cultures and their popular manifestations. As Umberto Eco wrote in 1985: ‘Miralda wanders the world recreating the old ritual of celebration.’

Miralda has developed a method based on participation and on the ritual and ceremony related to gastronomy. Employing a non-conformist language, baroque and full of humour, that celebrates the senses and brings art close to life; he undertakes an ethnological exploration of human behaviour in his work.