The last year on Metàfora’s Studio arts Program is a time for preparing the first major art event in the life of any upcoming artist: Presenting the Thesina and participating in the Final Show.
Metàfora’s advanced level students spend the last months of their training on perfecting their artistic discourse and preparing a substantial and coherent production of artworks to be presented at the end of the course.
At the beginning of the winter-spring semester, each student meets their external tutor for the first time. The external tutor is most often an artist, curator or cultural agent from Barcelona’s art context. Metàfora chooses the external tutor of each student with great care, making sure to find the perfect match of affinities in discourse and interests. The function of the external tutor is to help open doors to the art world and offer an additional perspective on the art work of the student.
Towards the middle of the last semester, the first draft of the thesina is due. The thesina is an extended artist statement, with referencies of influential artists, thinkers etc. The draft is reviewed by Critical Theory teacher, Rubén Verdú. Once the final version of the thesina has been presented, the student prepares a presentation of the main ideas and conclusions to be presented at the end of the semester. The presentation is public and takes place in Barcelona’s prestigious Contemporary Art Museum, MACBA.
The day after the thesina presentation at MACBA is the opening of the final exhibition of works by the advanced level students. The exhibition will normally take place in venues belonging to important Contemporary art galleries, such as Ángels Barcelona or Galería Joan Prats.