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Fabra i Coats

Barcelona Creative Factory

21.11.12

The decision to refurbish the former textile industrial complex Fabra i Coats, Sant Andreu converting it into a contemporary art exhibition complex dates back to the changes at the Arts Santa Mònica in 2008. When the Centro de Arte Santa Mònica became a multidisciplinary exhibition space with Vicenç Altaió as director an alternative venue for a purely contemporary art foundation was proposed for the Canódromo located on Barcelona’s Meridiana (a building completed in 1962 which was designed by Antonio Bonet i Castellana, winner of a FAD award the following year but vacant and in disrepair at the time, see B-Guided #44, Summer 2010). Before the construction was completed however the decision was made to locate the centre to a more neutral venue, the warehouse of the Fabra i Coats complex, an industrial brick building constructed between 1910 and 1920 with exposed metal structure typical of the period. Part of the 'Fàbriques de Creació' (creative factories) initiative funded by the city council in order to increase the number of cultural buildings dedicated to the arts in Barcelona.

  • ©Gunnar+Knechtel

  • ©Gunnar+Knechtel

  • ©Gunnar+Knechtel

    Ultimately the gallery will be located over 3 floors and occupy 2,450 sq.m. the first 600 sq.m. of which was inaugurated in September this year. The opening exhibition titled ‘Esta no es una exposición de arte, tampco’(this is not an art exhibition) curated by David G. Torres looks at the need to formulate new creative and exhibition platforms, it brings together 11 artists whose common denominator is their ability to remain uncategorised, specially commissioned works from Joan Morey, Antonio Ortega, Benjamin Seror, Laia Estruch and Christian Jankowski among others. The exhibition can be visited up until the 27th of January 2013.

  • ‘esta no es una exposción de arte tampoco’, 2012, view of the exhibition. Photo: ©Pep Herrero

  • ‘esta no es una exposción de arte tampoco’, 2012, view of the exhibition. Photo: ©Pep Herrero

    For the first phase of its activities the programme will be established through public competition that will be selected by a committee made up from representatives of Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), the Institut de Cultura (Icub) and the Consell de Cultura de Barcelona, as well as unaffiliated professionals from the city’s art sectors. A new use for the Canódromo will be announced before the end of the year.