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MACBA presents a comprehensive survey of the work of this pioneering artist, through his books, his visual investigations, and including his work in the theatre, cinema, music and artistic actions.

Joan Brossa (Barcelona, 1919-1998) was first and foremost a poet, but we believe it is necessary to see this in relation to his way of working, his poiesis. This exhibition establishes a dialogue and confronts Brossa’s work with the artists Marcel Marien, Nicanor Parra and Ian Hamilton-Finlay. Brossa was a poet, but his works stood at a crossroad of languages. Frequently collaborating with other artists, musicians, filmmakers, dancers, comedians and even magicians, his work constantly went against the grain and beyond the limits between disciplines.
Brossa developed his artistic practice in the 1940s in a social-political context marked by Franco’s dictatorship and in a cultural milieu characterised by the absence of avant-garde and innovative proposals. From the beginning, Brossa’s work was one of aesthetic renewal, based on literary and artistic research. Up until his death, his extensive production never ceased to develop new forms of expression and ways of experimenting with different media.

In 2011, the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona was made the depository of the Fonds of the Fundació Joan Brossa, which contains the legacy of the artist. The Fonds consists of manuscripts, documents, correspondence and his personal library, among other materials. It is a unique tool for understanding Brossa’s extremely interesting work.

The exhibition that MACBA is preparing approaches Brossa’s work by reappraising his influence and interrelationship with the practice of other artists. The project brings to the fore the constellations of artists around Brossa, his interrelationship with works he may have been unaware of, but which allow us to establish parallels and seek dialogues and tensions. It also aims to emphasise the performative aspects of Brossa’s poetic practice, his poiesis. Accompanying the exhibition there will be a publication exploring these aspects.

To secularise this great poet is not an easy task and this is the challenge facing this project, half way between Marx and Mallarmé: to give Brossa back his simple and popular voice, the voice of the people, whether they wear a hat or not; the voice of a light bulb, a train ticket, a playing card, a set of handcuffs or confetti. People speak Brossa.

Curators: Teresa Grandas and Pedro G. Romero

A group of performers integrated by Anna Berenguer, Elena Blesa, Gala Gabaldón and Ricardo Pérez-Hita develop the work of Joan Brossa in the galleries every Friday and Saturday in the afternoon and Sunday mornings, at different moments during the exhibition period.

Exhibition organised by Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), in collaboration with Artium, Vitoria, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA), Centro Cultural Kirchner (CCK), Buenos Aires, and the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), UNAM, Mexico City.

With the support of:
Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat
Gobierno + AC/E
Institut ramon llull
logo Tram
In collaboration with:
Fundació Joan Brossa

Itinerances

29 MAY - 23 SET. 2018 ARTIUM
09 OCT. - 08 DEC. 2019 Centro Cultural Kirchner (CCK), Buenos Aires
08 OCT. - 08 DEC. 2019 Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires
30 OCT. 2021 - 27 MARCH 2022 MUAC (Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo), Mexico City


Related

Activities

Videos

Images

Joan Brossa "Tinter abocat", 1969. Foto: Toni Coll

Audios

Let's talk about... Teresa Grandas. Brossa Poetry
Let's talk about... Eduard Escoffet. Brossa Poetry
Let's talk about... Oriol Vilanova. Brossa Poetry

Publications