b-inspired Artists
The Green Parrot
Without doubt Barcelona’s cultural offering is extraordinary, however there are relatively few projects outside the official institutional context. Last April a new cultural space opened in the city The Green Parrot which departs from the usual local models by organising its artistic practices along Anglo-Saxon lines. The Green Parrot is the initiative of two curators João Laia (Lisbon, 1981) and Rosa Lleó (Barcelona, 1980) and is located on the first floor of a building in the Ciutat Vella neighbourhood maintaining its original layout as a residential apartment.
“From our office window we can hear the squawks of Argentine parrots, a bird that has adapted very well to the Mediterranean climate and has coexisted with other species in the city for several decades. It provides an element of colour that contrasts with the traditional pigeons and sparrows of European urban fauna. These green parrots reinforce the pseudo-tropical image of Barcelona and situate us closer to southern regions rather than the northern climes beyond the Pyrenees. The Green Parrot wants to see whether it can adapt to specific conditions, through other financial models and other ways of making, linked to generosity and the close relationship with the artists and the public and with its critical discourse.” With this declaration of intent Lleó Rosa and João Laia present The Green Parrot Project (referred to as TGP in this text) together with the support of the curators Beatriz Escudero and Zaida Trallero as part of the team; Miguel Amado, Carles Guerra and Martí Manen acting as consultants and Hijos de Martín creating the graphic identity.
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Screening room with the artwork Catoptrophilia (2013) by David Ferrando Giraut.
Courtesy: The Green Parrot. Photo; Roberto Ruíz
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View of the exhibition "The World of Interiors" with the artwork By dint of walking among the areas of the uncertain (....) (2014) by David Mutiloa
Courtesy: The Green Parrot. Photo: Roberto Ruíz
TGP takes its name from the characteristic green parrot of Barcelona’s cityscape. The first specimens of this species of parrot settled in the Ciutadella Park back in the seventies, but this quirky and outrageous South American bird has invaded several Spanish cities thanks to its incredible ability to colonize any territory using all available resources and displacing local birds. It is considered one of the most invasive alien species and is a source of serious problems for conservation organizations, city councils and citizens who have to live with the communal nests created by these birds in urban parks. Perhaps this association is not entirely accurate in terms of the link with TGP project, despite its interference with Barcelona’s cultural policies its stance is more peaceful and less aggressive.
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View of the exhibition "The World of Interiors" with artworks Untitled Composition (Woodpecker) (2013) by Henning Lundkvist (7 inch vinyl) and Traditional Wallpaper (2008) by Marc Camille Chaimowicz (wallpaper)
Courtesy: The Green Parrot. Photo; Roberto Ruíz
TGP is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to contemporary artistic practices that presents a programme of four different exhibitions annually as well as a series of activities (talks, projections and presentations) within several varied formats; TGP Readers, TGP Cabinet, TGP Editions and TGP Colony. Its capacity to generate cultural content is more limited than other more commercial and institutional circuits, however the same criteria applies in terms of quality and responsibility as other artistic spaces that operate in/from Barcelona. TGP is organised like an organic platform whose intention is facilitating dialogue between artists drawn from the local, national and international scene, the promotion of experimentation and critical thought as well as encouraging the inter-actuation of visitors to the space.
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View of the exhibition "Unforeseen Changes" with artworks Settlement (2014) and Self-organising system (2014) by Eva Fàbregas
Courtesy: The Green Parrot. Photo: Roberto Ruíz
Up until now the TGP has only held two exhibitions that accurately reflect the interests of Rosa Lleó and João Laia. The first, entitled 'The World of Interiors' brings together works by Lúa Coderch, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Diogo Evangelista, Henning Lundkvist and David Mutiloa. This group exhibition adopts the format of the famous interior design magazine The World of Interiors at its leitmotiv in which the French artist Marc Camille Chaimowicz made an artistic intervention during the seventies. Images of bourgeois interiors were combined with texts and personal photographs in that edition suggesting a reading where the decorative could not be separated from the political, nor the critical from the personal. That publication served as an introduction and unifying parameter for the five artists who “also explore the different meanings of the word interior as a term related not only to the domestic but with the most intimate aspects of our subjectivity, whether it be through objects or their imaginations.” TGP acts in a similar fashion since, given its architecture, it also suggests a relationship with the artists and with the more intimate and emotional exhibition space where other discourses and economic possibilities can be experienced.
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TGP Cabinet curated by Ana Pahissa, "Artificialia" containing artworks from Joan Brosa, Jordi Pablo, Pere Noguera, Fina Miralles, Eulàlia Grau, ed. Vicenc Altaió, Neón de Suro, Grup Machines, Grup de Treball and Antoni Miralda.
Courtesy: The Green Parrot. Photo: Roberto Ruíz
The current exhibition deals with artists Eva Fábregas (Barcelona, 1988) and David Ferrando Giraut (A Coruña, 1978). Their work sets out a confrontation and establishes a dialogue which leads the visitor’s view both forwards and backwards. Fábregas presents 'Unforeseen Changes' (2014) which concerns itself with contemporary themes such as the circulation and movement of goods, the signifiers and the people exploring her interest in Modernism and industrial design as an 'international style'. On the other hand, and explored though a complex cinematic narrative is Ferrando Giraut’s 'Catoptrophilia' (2013), an animated feature in 3D structured around the meeting between two objects that belong to two different historical periods but whose function connects them closely: and Egyptian hand mirror dating from the New Kingdom (15th C B.C.) dedicated to Hathot, Goddess of beauty, and an iPhone Elite originally launched in California back in 2011. Both the opening exhibition 'The World of Interiors' (April / May 2014) as well as both of the current exhibitions 'Unforeseen Changes/Catroptophilia' (June, July 2014) put the focus on the now traditional relationship between design and art well established in the city of Barcelona, although on this occasion they are presented as two paradigms of complexity belonging to the very contemporary artistic languages.
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Other TGP initiatives are carried out in parallel with the exhibition programme: while TGP Editions (limited edition from the artists featured in the exhibitions) and TGP Colony (support programme) serve to help finance the project, TGP Readers is a series of publications which generate critical research beyond the works featured in the exhibition. TGP Reader No.1 includes an intervention from Swedish artist Henning Lundkvist and the essay 'Do objects have a good life?' written by Peio Aguirre (art critic, independent curator and editor) which, according to its author, is “a short text about objects, the art of collecting, about storytellers, crafts men and women, and the dialectic of history. It’s also, obviously, a text about design. About our use of objects. A meditation on domestic interiors and experiential thresholds. It’s also to do with memory.” Perhaps this approach allows us to better navigate the curatorial narrative followed by TGP.
On the other hand and dedicated to the exhibition of materials related to writing, publishing and contemporary art TGP Cabinet came about: a library-book cabinet (a left-over from the original architecture) where writers, editors, designers and artists would come up with a specific project. The first of which is undertaken by Ana Pahissa (art historian and founder of the Múltiplos distribution company which specialises in artists’ publications) taking as her inspiration the Wonder Rooms or Cabinets of Curiosities, the precursors of modern day museums. The Cabinet of Curiosities as an exhibition format first appeared during the era of great explorations and discoveries (during the 16th and 17th Centuries) where multitude and diverse rare exhibits were collected and displayed that represented the three kingdoms of nature as were understood at the time, ‘animal’ ‘vegetable’ and ‘mineral’. Other manipulated or man-made objects were also featured as ‘artificialia’, this is the category that Ana Pahissa uses as the title for her project which in her role as book seller starts a journey through the Catalonia of the 70s in order to make contact with artists who were producing publications at that time. The many discoveries that are made during the journey feed into a series of reference objects that form a narrative.
In addition to the contents of the Cabinets several talks and presentations will be organised outlining the scope of activities at TGP. Without doubt The Green Parrot will become a landmark in Barcelona, especially for those viewers/users who want to visit more than just an exhibition, widening that experience through their activities or actively participating with the project. To access TGP just ring the bell, wait for one of its attendants to let you in and, if you wish, accompany you through a guided visit, a veritable luxury.
e luxury.
- The Green Parrot, Carrer d’en Bot, 21, 1er piso (Ciutat Vella). From Wednesday to Friday, 4 PM till 7 PM or by appointment.
- ADDITIONAL INFO at: www.thegreenparrot.org