A Work of Art

A Work Of Art french

Art

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A Work Of Art

Thanks to a number of striking museum and gallery openings, the sunny city of Alicante is vying to become Spain’s next big cultural city Derek Workman

Spain has produced some of the 20th century’s most exciting artists (Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí to name just a few), and over the last couple of decades, new museums and galleries have transformed the country into one of the world’s most influential art destinations. The Guggenheim in Bilbao; the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA); Valencia’s City of Art and Sciences complex; and Madrid’s Prado: all these now-iconic institutions house some of the most exciting and progressive art. But Alicante? This sun-kissed city on the south-eastern coast of Spain hardly epitomises cool and cutting-edge art. But it has recently emerged as major player in the European arts scene, investing heavily in a number of new galleries as well as exhibition and performance spaces. Alicante already has a number of wellestablished cultural venues – La Lonja de Pescado, MUBAG, Castillo de Santa Bárbara to name a few – but it’s the new Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante (MACA) that has put Alicante on the map.

MACA (3 Plaza de Santa María, tel: +34 965 213 156) opened in March after years of planning. It was the lifelong passion of one of Alicante’s most famous sons, abstract artist Eusebio Sempere, who passed away in

1985. He bequeathed his stunning contemporary art collection – the centrepiece of the museum – to provide a legacy for his fellow towns-folk. Throughout his life, Sempere bought, begged and bartered his own work to add to his personal collection. (He exchanged 20 of his own pieces for a single, tiny Juan Gris – an oil painting that many major art galleries would give their right arm for.) His catalogue reads like a list of the greatest names in 20th-century art, with pieces by artists including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Joan Miró, Max Ernst, Francis Bacon, as well as some of the major Spanish vanguardia artists of the period, such as Alberto Sánchez and Pablo Palazuelo. Now, some 26 years after his death, this impressive collection has found a permanent home in a converted 17th-century grain warehouse.

Rosa María Castells is the Curator of Exhibitions at MACA, and is justifiably proud of the art she oversees.

‘Part of what’s so special about this collection is that it’s one of only a handful throughout Spain that is specific to 20th-century contemporary art. It was driven by one man’s desire to provide the best work from the greatest artists of the day so that people from his home town could appreciate them for generations to come.’

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left Eusebio Sempere below Painting

by Joan Miró

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I think this is Alicante s time. As well as Las Cigarreras we have MACA, MUSA and more Whatever anyone might think about the evils of smoking, one of the (few) benefits it has brought to Alicante in recent times is Las Cigarreras (Calle San Carlos, tel: +34 965 206 674, lascigarreras.com), an enormous multidiscipline cultural and arts centre. (Las cigarreras was the name given to the women who made cigarettes; perhaps the most famous cigarrera being Carmen in Bizet’s opera of the same name.) Parts of the building date back to the 18th century, but over the last 200 years it grew to become one of the largest and most important cigarette producers in the region.

When it closed its doors in 2002 it was taken over by the city council who began work to create a 3,000 square metre cultural and arts centre, the biggest city-centre development of its kind in Europe.

The first phase opened in November 2010, as part of a four-year plan that will eventually see recording studios, production and postproduction of video, sound insulated band practice rooms (it already has a well-established small concert hall) alongside the established exhibition and theatre spaces that are already up-and-running. For Gertrud Gómez, the Director

of Las Cigarreras, this is the job she’s waited for since she cut her teeth on the Seville Expo in 1992, and then worked world-wide, including five years in Paris, promoting art and culture in all its various forms.

‘I think this is Alicante’s time. As well as Las Cigarreras, we have MACA, the excellent new Auditorium, MUSA (Museum of the City of Alicante), the ceramics museum, the massive

restoration of the Castle that has opened up new gallery space, and much more. I believe that not only will we see a development of the arts in the city, but also we’ll see the development of artistic and cultural tourism, because Alicante has one of the best transport infrastructures in Spain and this is extremely important in developing everything the city has to offer.’

So is this the emergence of Alicante as a major artistic centre in Spain? ‘I don’t think it’s really an emergence,’ says Gertrud, ‘I think it’s more of a return. Prior to the development of tourism in the 1950s, Alicante was always an important city for artists, poets and intellectuals, such as Joan Miró and Óscar Esplá, so I think it’s a return to what we had, but opening it out on a national and international scale. Unfortunately at the moment, most young artists have to leave the city to develop and promote themselves. I’m hoping spaces such as Las Cigarreras will give them the opportunity they need to develop and succeed in their home town.’

Twelve years ago, Paco Vinal was listening to a talk on architecture with only three other people in the audience. He was always on the look-out for interesting seminars and arts events, but YEAHBABY

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discovered that they were usually poorly attended because there was almost no publicity.

So he decided to do something about it. It took Paco a couple of years to get going, but in 2001 his arts website (www.alacalle.com) went online and is now the most complete guide to what’s happening in the arts in Alicante, which is updated on a daily basis.

Although Alicante’s new museum and gallery openings have catapulted the city’s art scene into the international gaze, Paco doesn’t think we’re seeing the ‘return’ of arts to the city because he believes it never really went away.

‘I think a lot depends on how you define ‘arts’.

Most people just think of it as galleries and theatre, but from my point of view it’s much broader than that – including cinema, dance, music and even architecture. If you look at it this way, Alicante has always had a cool arts scene – it just wasn’t the big idea of big name artists that people might think of.’

But what is it like for the working artist? José María Moran Berruti has been a ceramic artist in Alicante for more than 30 years and says he prefers to reserve his judgement about the 38

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difference these new arts and cultural developments will make. ‘There is no shortage of artists in Alicante, of whatever kind of art you are talking about, and I include rock bands and musicians in this. Until now, there has been a desperate shortage of exhibition and performance space. If you can’t exhibit your work, how can you ever become known? And how will you ever get your work into the major galleries? The larger galleries, and even most of the smaller ones, are only really interested in named artists. Art is a business, but hopefully now there will be more galleries prepared to take a risk with an unknown artist.’

So how can artists be part of ‘arts-Alicante’, whether it’s an emergence or a re-emergence?

‘We do what we’ve always done. We just keep working. Very few artists can make a full-time living from their work, but that doesn’t mean we stop doing it. There is an enormous amount of ‘art’ to experience in Alicante. Perhaps as these venues develop and the local authorities see the value of artistic and cultural tourism they will see the value of promoting their home-grown artists.

We’ll just have to wait and see.’

Above Eusebio Sempere sculptures right Ceramic work by José María Moran Berruti

Getting there

bmibaby flies to Alicante from Birmingham, Cardiff and East Midlands from just £42.99 one-way including taxes. For more info, go to www.bmibaby.com