Exposició 2012

PARAL·LEL

CCCB EXHIBITION October 2012 - February 2013

Production: Collaboration:

PARAL·LEL Curatorship by Xavier Albertí and Eduard Molner A production from Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) With the collaboration of Institut del Teatre de Barcelona

Possibility of touring after its presentation in Barcelona.

An exhibition that will explain the emergence of the new

forms of spectacle as a consequence of the basic trans-

formations undergone by a city and a country in the first

40 years of the 20th century, until they were disrupted by

Francoism.

Josep Llovera Bufill

Avinguda Paral·lel was the centre of nightlife and

bohemia in the Barcelona of the early 20th-century.

Since the construction of the avenue, a series of con-

tradictory urban planning mechanisms prompted the

appearance of ephemeral buildings and the conversion

of this street into a busy area of spectacles.

The result was the appearance of an entertainment

district for the masses, comparable to those in other

built-up urban areas in the Europe of the time, but

quickly becoming a true cultural expression of the politi-

cal and social conflict that characterized the Barce-

lona of the period.

Paral·lel saw the creation of new forms of theatrical

expression based on two vital elements: the representa-

tion of the lifestyles of the city’s most popular areas and

of social transformations and their new codes of va-

lues; and the introduction of popular stage genres from

elsewhere and their “nationalization” to suit the new

audiences.

Paral·lel also became the most visible face of a deep-

seated change in the social perception of sex. This was

a change that affected Catalan society right across the

board and was related to levels of tolerance to the

breakdown of traditional morality.

It was also the venue for the manifestation of the ideo-

logies that moved working-class political and trade

union organizations. Republicanism, socialism and an-

archism spread throughout the city and often found a

meeting place in theatres, with rallies being held in the

mornings and shows in the afternoons and at night.

Rafael Barradas

Gleizes

Francis Picabia

Framcesc Domingo

Picasso

Isidre Nonell Emili Bosch Roger

Ricard Urgell

Manuel Humbert

Barradas

The exhibition sets out to illustrate the modernity of an

avenue that was a point of meeting and, at some points in

history, of collision, between the different social classes

that coexisted in the city and in the country as a whole.

The Paral·lel was the realm of the so-called “lesser

genres”, shows with small or large formats but

definitely popular in nature. These included the café-

concert and its spin-offs, cabaret and music hall, and

its big brother, the revue. There was also the theatre

of texts written specially for the theatres of Paral·lel:

vaudeville and social melodrama. Flamenco and zar-

zuela, the traditional Spanish operetta, were also well

represented. In addition, there was a range of parat-

heatrical arts, such as circus and varieties of all

kinds, often combined with the first cinematographic

screenings.

Music played a vital role in most of these show

genres, composed with a dramatic development to be

performed on a stage. The terraces of cafés along

Paral·lel also provided venues for shows. The terrace

of El Español hosted classical music concerts adap-

ted for small formations. Other cafés, too, devoted

their terraces to cuplés, popular songs, and flamenco.

Modernity in Paral·lel, seen as the experience of

change, had little to do with the “modernization” pro-

ject of the Catalan bourgeoisie. If, somewhere, the

ideal country, dreamt of, sought and projected from

above, met reality head on and smashed into a thou-

sand pieces, it was in Paral·lel.

Opisso

The exhibition comprises 14 sections that re-

count the avenue’s relation with the political and

social pulse of the city and the country: boundary,

urban planning failure, brothel city, links with the

Barrio Chino quarter and the influence of World

War I, concluding with a space entitled “Why didn’t

we know anything?” that invites visitors to unders-

tand the wealth and scope of a unique phenome-

non in the Europe of the time.

Other sections are devoted specifically to various

theatrical and musical genres: pantomime, circus,

magic, illusionism, café-concert, cabaret, cuplé

(popular songs), revue and variety shows, vaude-

ville, social drama, political theatre, zarzuela and

the real-life drama of District V.

Music, the stage, photography and the visual

arts are four of the fundamental elements in the

expository narrative. The exhibition brings to light

the viewpoints of artists who expressed their fas-

cination with a world given over to leisure and

spectacle: Picasso, Le Corbusier, Bosch Roger,

Picabia, Gleizes, Nonell, Opisso, Canals, Barra-

das, Francesc Domingo, Ricardo Urgell, Rafael

Smith, etc.

Project and Curatorship: Xavier Albertí, stage director, and Eduard Molner, journalist and cultural programmer Space Design: Emiliana Design Studio Dates at CCCB: 16 October 2012 - 24 February 2013 Space: 1.200 m2 Production: CCCB Collaboration: Institut del Teatre de Barcelona - Diputació de Barcelona Coordination at CCCB: Eva Gimeno egimeno@cccb.org

Contact: Carlota Broggi Touring responsable - CCCB Montalegre 5 / 08001 Barcelona cbroggi@cccb.org Tel.: +34 93 306 41 00

Production: Collaboration: