Off-site excursions, teachings from the curator and Metàfora student exhibition
The kick off of the new semester at Metàfora has been packed with exciting events, a wide selection of art courses plus a fantastic student exhibition at a local gallery in the centre of Barcelona.
While following all the health measurements to secure a safe and comfortable environment for both students and staff, we continue classes on campus as well as online. Several courses this block also included off-site excursions, amongst those a class on artist collaborations where students visited the iconic art factory Fabra i Coats.
The art of collaboration – sharing, caring and creating
It goes without saying that through the long history of art, the focus on the individual artist and singular authorship of a work of art has been a highly dominating factor – a factor whose impact on how we think about and perceive art and artists is still very present to this day. Over time though, many artists has sought to challenge the structures and ideas around artistic individuality and authorship and explored the many possibilities that comes along when a diversity of creatives join forces and work together.
This subject was on the schedule for the students joining the advanced level course Collaborative Work, run by visiting artist and lecturer Arash Fayez. The class took shape as a dynamic workshop where a variety of artistic collaborations where tried out – from working together in duos to creating as a group, and together in the class as a whole.
An off-campus excursion to the art factory Fabra i Coats was also part of the course program, and here the students visited an exhibition by the famous artist duo Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin. Last, but not least, the class included invited speakers, the performance duo CMMC, who’s online presentation and following Q&A gave the students a closer look into the work process of this intriguing, contemporary duo.
The visit to Fabra i Coats was not the only off-campus event. The course titled Exhibitionism: Display is not Innocent started off with the first class held in the impressive building of the cultural center CaixaForum.
Creating a space for art – debating display
As an art student you are of course mainly focused on the actual work you are creating and maybe not so much on the way to display it, but having this part in mind as well can make a great difference to your work and how it is perceived.
At Metàfora we create courses that provide the students with the best possible tools and extensive knowledge on all the elements that encompass an artist practice to ensure the optimal possibilities for each artist as they graduate from the school. This is why a class on exhibitions and display was implemented in this block and taught by the people who works with this every day – the curators.
Art students on the Training Program had the opportunity to attend a class with curator Beatriz Escudero who together with co-curator Francesco Giaveri is behind the current group exhibition So Lazy. In praise of squandering at CaixaForum.
And what better way to start a class on exhibitions than to actually go and experience one? During the exhibition visit both of the curators were present to answer questions from the students, and the day ended with an open debate between students and curators on the broad subject of how you create a space for art. In the following classes Beatriz Escudero gave inspiring lectures on the significant moments in the history of the exhibition format combined with debate sessions on the many aspects of display.
The co-curator of the CaixaForum exhibition, Francesco Giaveri, who is also the gallery manager at the prestigious ADN Gallery in Barcelona will return to Metàfora for the next block as visiting lecturer in Critical Theory classes for the students on the Training Program.
Closing the block with an art opening – student exhibition at Mutuo Galeria
To wrap up this active and inspiring beginning of the new semester, a group of advanced level students had the chance to put the exhibition theory into practice and exhibit their work in the beautiful space of Mutuo Galeria located in the centre of the city. The exhibition featured works by seven selected art students and was skillfully curated by artist and in-house tutor Michael Lawton.
