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Cycle of debates co-ordinated by Enric Berenguer and Francesc Puntí

Does art exist only for its own sake, or is there a more necessary art? There is an art of the cure and a cure for art. At times the formeris possible, at times it is not possible, or not wanted; at times the latter is necessary and wanted and needs to be possible. In either case, we can say that the best art is always a symptom, and make of that symptom a healing art.

And what is a cure, when we all know that some things are incurable? Being cured is, or can be, a matter of finding the style that needs to be found, of converting into words, or images, or things, that which cannot be said. A matter of saying even silence, of showing that which is invisible. This generally requires the presence of an other. An other that is, in part, some one in particular, but also some one a poco general and anonymous (se suele decir a public) that the pueda escuchar, that the pueda ver.

In many cases the most necessary art is the art that can create a calmer and more habitable silence, that stills the voices and screens the gaze of others. The best poem, for the person who creates it, produces a great, clear silence: everything is said and there is nothing more to add. The best picture, for the person who creates it, also stills the clamour of the most disturbing looks.
Whether we believe it or not (there are those who live in a state of exposure, and suffer as a result), all of us speak, read or write in order to still the voices, and we look or cause others to look in order to shut out the intrusive gaze.

Madness shows us this if we know how to listen and are willing to see it. Art is in itself a madness that shows us this, and also cures us.

Zush. La campanada

Programme

Wednesday, 17 January, at 7.30 p.m.
Madness as one of the fine arts
With Zush, artist, José Lebruary Stals, organizer of the exhibition Zush Tecura and Teresa Camps, professor at the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona.

Friday, 26 January, at 7.30 p.m.
The most necessary art
With Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger, artist and psychoanalyst, and Alejandro Gómez Franco, psychoanalyst.

Wednesday, 14 February, at 7.30 p.m.
Poetry and madness in Hölderlin. A style risen from the ashes
With Pedro Ancochea, philosopher, and Ana Nuño, editor of the magazine Quimera.

Monday, 19 February, at 7.30 p.m.
Art that cures
With Suely Rolnik, psychoanalyst, and Guillem Homet, psychiatrist and director of the Maresme Therapeutic Community.

Wednesday, 28 February, at 7.30 p.m.
Mones com la Becky
Film session with a screening of Mones com la Becky, (1999, 97 mins.) by Joaquim Jordà, followed by a discussion with Valentí Agustí, mayor of Palafolls and psychiatrist, and Montserrat Puig, psychoanalyst.

MACBA Public Programs
Tel. (+34) 93 481 46 81
programespublics [at] macba [dot] cat

Exhibition