Ricard Planas: "Costa Brava - Babel of the arts"
FROM THE ASKLEPIAN OF EMPÚRIES TO THE «PASSAGES» SCULPTURE
From the ruins of Empúries to the embodiment of memory in a 21st century sculpture in Portbou. From Josep Puig i Cadafalch (the driving force in 1908 behind the excavation of this important archaeological site in the municipality of L’Escala) to the memorial-sculpture Passages, a work erected by Dani Karavan in 1999 in the border town of Portbou to bear witness to the persecution and death of the German-Jewish thinker Walter Benjamin, who committed suicide there in September 1940. From the Asklepian of Empúries to this memorial-sculpture, interpreted as an architectural installation without frontiers. For more than one hundred years, the Costa Brava, from Blanes to Cadaqués (as sung by Sopa de Cabra in their famous song, failing to include Colera and Portbou) has been a crossroads of art in the Mediterranean. Already a historical landmark in the time of James I of Spain, in the 20th century it became a focal point in the history of world art, partly thanks to two key towns: Cadaqués and Tossa de Mar. The 21st century has brought with it fresh impetus and the Costa Brava is back on the map where culture constitutes the lynchpin for an area’s development and excellence.
It is no easy task to pinpoint the most significant artistic figures on the Costa Brava over the last century, yet names like Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp and Dani Karavan-Walter Benjamín stand out in particular, helping to make the Costa Brava known all over the world. At the same time, perhaps this phenomenon would not have been possible if the artistic and intellectual life of this area with its seaside towns had not enjoyed such a great (and more or less consistent) dynamism over the centuries and right up to the present day.
Picasso, Sert and Kitaj also left their mark on the area. All of them were here before the arrival of mass tourism and the building boom with its easy money, although such initiatives were even promoted by them. Kitaj forged a strong friendship with Josep Vicent Roma, director of a cork factory and socialist mayor in the post-Franco era. Vicent shared his recollections in an interview published in bonart magazine: “I introduced this American artist to the realities of Spain at that time and to Catalanism. All of this left a profound mark on Kitaj’s conscience. The fact is that the Costa Brava has not only been about sun, sand and rocks but also the construction of a new multicultural reality, apart from its identity as a country and its ancestral culture, which interacts with the progress of the present, looking ahead to the future.” Ferran Adrià, the artistically-inspired chef based in Roses, was recently invited to participate in Documenta, one of the world’s most important art shows, held in Kassel, auguring a bright future and strengthening the fusion of fields such as gastronomy and art: a symbiosis implemented by Adrià, motivated by the enthusiasm instilled in him by the artist friends who came to visit him from Cadaqués, in whom he took artistic refuge.
It is true that the Costa Brava (sometimes an unknown and Wagnerian place) has not only prospered through artists but also from patronage and the role played in recent years by businesspeople like Antoni Vila Casas. This Barcelona-based patron of the arts has installed his national and international contemporary photographic collection in the Solterra Palace, a magnificent mediaeval building in Torroella de Montgrí. Meanwhile, Can Mario de Palafrugell, an industrial building dating back to the turn of the 20th century, houses the archives of contemporary Catalan sculpture. These are both first rate collections for Catalonia and the rest of Spain.
Mention must also be made of the imminent installation of the Catalan painting collection of Baroness Carmen Thyssen in the old Serra Vicens factory in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. The restoration and architectural projects have been presented and are already underway. This is one of the most ambitious initiatives in recent years and has enormous potential given the symbolic importance of the collection belonging to a patron of the arts with family ties to Sant Feliu de Guíxols. The Walter Benjamin Studies Centre in Portbou, for which a pre-project has already been drawn up by Norman Foster, is also a welcome addition to the rich heritage of the Costa Brava, stretching from ancient times to the present day. [...]Download the file "Costa Brava - Babel of the arts" (8 pages - PDF)
