Time Out Barcelona-Gallery Tour II

It’s time for galleries again. In this post I am going to share some more of the galleries `i’ve visited. Seriously they are endless, they are everywhere and waiting to be discovered. So here are my new favourites.

Olivart Art Gallery

A cute tiny, workshop kind of gallery situated on a small narrow street in the Gothic. They have amazing art work a piano, for those who want to play, and a puppy welcoming all the guests, how cute is that?

Just in front of Olivart Art gallery there is a curious place to visit, called Barcelona visions.

Another hidden gallery and workshop is Taller Bencini.

Leaving the old quarters, we are going to the more contemporary part of the city with Ángels Barcelona. The gallery forms part of an event called Barcelona Gallery Weekend which is happening 1-4 October. Unfortunately I won’t be there, but for sure is something worth visiting.

I will finish this post with a place I should have visited a lot earlier-[La Virreina] Centre de la Imatge.

Barcelona Contemporary-Architecture

Barcelona has always been known for its Art and Architecture, and especially contemporary architecture. Since I’ve been here I’ve been walking around a lot and saw so many magnificent buildings, I just couldn’t help myself but share some of my favourites.

First I will start with Fundació Mies van der Rohe or also known as MIES VAN DER ROHE PAVILION. This is a place everyone who has even a slight interest in architecture, should visit. It is considered “one of the most influential works of modern architecture”. This work is the culminating point of the Mies van der Rohe’s European stage. The architect had great freedom to apply his ideas in which modernism is conveyed. The radical structural simplicity became a distinctive feature of the architect’s work that popularised the theme “less is more”.

Following Caixa Forum. One of the masterpieces of industrial Modernisme, this former yarn and textile factory was designed by Puig i Cadafalch. Fundació La Caixa, the charitable arm of Catalonia’s largest savings bank, bought it and set about rebuilding. The original brick structure was supported, while the ground below was excavated to house a strikingly modern entrance plaza by Arata Isozaki, a Sol LeWitt mural, an auditorium, a bookshop and a library. In addition to the permanent contemporary art collection, there are three impressive spaces for temporary exhibitions – often among the most interesting shows to be found in the city.

I was lucky to see Encants Vells or Fira de Bellcaire before and after its renovation. This is a ‘crazy’ market of over 15,000 m2 and visited every week for 100,000 consumers. one should definitely visit. It’s usually open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and is always super busy.

And of course Gaudi and Casa Mila or La Pedrera Nowadays it is the headquarters of Catalunya-La Pedrera Foundation and houses a cultural centre that is a reference point in Barcelona for the range of activities it organises and the different spaces for exhibitions and other public uses it contains.

And some more Inspiration…

Barcelona Street Art 3 PHOTOBLOG-Lata Edition

Translated from Spanish lata means tin. And Barcelona has a lot of this ‘tins’ art. You can find them mainly in the Gotic, Born, Raval and Poble Nou neighbourhoods in the small, not too crowded streets, hidden under balconies, scaffoldings and sheds. What i love about them is that they kind of invite you to be curious, look for them around the city and pay attention to the little details.

This post is to show you my ‘collection’ so far. I am sure there are so many more of them waiting to be discovered and I can assure you, I keep looking.

Time Out Barcelona-Museums

As I already said in my previous posts Barcelona is so rich in exciting places to visit and because it is Spring break I decided to check out some of the most popular museums, which somehow I still haven’t visited. By museums I mean art museums, I find them extremely inspiring and in this post I will share my experience.

Firstly, I will start with the fact that a big part of the museums in Barcelona are free of charge every first Sunday of the month and the rest of them are free every Sunday, which means that even if you don’t have a lot of money to spend, you can still check them off your list and appreciate what they have to offer.

Unfortunately there is one negative thing about the museums being entrance-free, they get extremely busy, and the queues are endless, especially now-spring break, when the tourist season is just about to start. I would advice you, if you’re staying for a longer period in Barcelona, like me, go in the months January and February when it’s still quiet.

Anyways, talking about museums, in this post I will talk about the 3 most worth visiting ones:

MNAC

or Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. What can I say, WOW, a magnificent building, situated in a magnificent place, with magnificent view, and even more magnificent exhibition. It shelters parts of all the arts (sculpture, paintings, drawings, prints, posters, photography and coinage) and has the task of explaining the magnitude of Catalan art from the Romanesque period to the mid-twentieth century.

I was amazed by the exhibition, but I can tell I was also really impressed by the architecture. May be it is just my professional distortion, I will let you decide.

CCCB 

or Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona. The CCCB is a public consortium created by the Diputació de Barcelona (Provincial Council) and the Ajuntament de Barcelona (Barcelona City Council). There were some extraordinary exhibitions, by ARISSA, Kazuhiro GOSHIMA, Sabald, etc…, but somehow i was again stroke by the architecture.

Picasso Museum

Picasso Museum is may be the most famous art museum in Barcelona and sure it should be. I was lucky enough to visit a really interesting exhibition called Picasso/Dali. Dali/Picasso., which examines for the very first time the relation between those two key figures of the XX century. And since I am a big fan of Dali’s odd work I was really excited.

Time Out Barcelona-Gallery Tour

http://www.villadelarte.com

One thing I love about Barcelona is that there is always some interesting place to visit and something inspiring to see. I am from the people that like to spend their free time visiting galleries and museums, and I’ve definitely chosen the right city, it is so connected to art I can’t even describe. Almost every street has it’s small gallery or art shop or any shop that’s super exciting and inspiring and enhancing in a way (i hope I make sense).

In this post I decided to share some of my favourite galleries that I’ve visited so far and I can tell they are forming a big part of my ‘international’ experience.

http://www.laplataformabcn.com

La Plataforma BCN, this is may be the first gallery that I visited. It’s situated on the same street as my University  and put the start of my symbolical tour.

http://www.ambitgaleriaart.com

Ambit Galeria Art is everything a gallery should be, only with a really cure garden on the back.

http://galeriamaxo.com

Galeria Maxo is such an unforgettable place, with a stunning, awkward ceiling and number of cool original souvenirs, that you can’t find anywhere in the city. It is definitely worth visiting.

http://en.validfoto.com

This one I found while wondering around the city. Photographers would be interested.

http://www.galeriatrama.com/

Hidden in the streets of the old quarter with an interesting interior and some lyric quatations a place one should visit.

http://www.n2galeria.com/galeria.php

Amazing expositions always!

Barcelona Street Art 2 PHOTOBLOG

To be continued…

Barcelona Street Art 1 PHOTOBLOG

Barcelona is an amazing city with beautiful and unique architecture. Seriously, there is not a single building that I don’t like or I’m not amazed by. You have Gaudi and Miro‘s work almost everywhere, which makes Barcelona even more interesting and attractive, but for this post I’ll guide your attention to Barcelona’s street art. You’ll need a good eye for the detail and plenty of free time to explore the city, but you’ll definitely find art worth seeing. May be it’s not for everyone, may be someone will say that it’s just stupid drawings or ugly scribbles, but it expresses opinion, ideas, personality and for me it’s truly inspiring. How can street art inspire an interior design student? You’ll see in my future posts.

To be continued…