Sunday: La Casa Encendida, from the Foundation of Caja Madrid. Went with (my flatmate) Juliette & (her boyfriend) Sylvain. Saw the Thomas Hirschhorn exhibit, which was kind of crap, although I liked the piece you can see at that link, and kind of enjoyed one or two other things; the waterways exhibition, which was mostly just boring (except for the shadow/sand piece which I can’t describe really well, but involved a curving waterway-like wood cut-out that had been set on the ground, scattered over with sand, and then suspended — so that the pattern was left in cutout on the floor, but also reflected, skewed, in shadows); and the super-awesome camouflage exhibition, which was mainly just cool because I love the sort of image where someone is blending into their background, chameleon-like.
Monday: Museo Reina Sofia, with Pier and Magali, a couple who live with Aitor and who I got to know when I first got here. It was fun walking around with them; the museum is huge and sprawling and I enjoy that about it. We didn’t see any art I hadn’t seen before, which was actually kind of fun, getting to revisit things I like. We did go up onto the terrace, which might not be quite the right word. It’s not a roof and it’s not a balcony, but there’s a middle level of the new building which is essentially empty but for benches, and outside; you can walk around, and look out over the city or the streets. Unfortunately, there’s not a good view of Atocha, but it’s really pretty anyway.
Tuesday: Biblioteca Nacional de España: Exhibition on Sephardic Jews in Spain, with Emily’s friend (and now my friend) Ashley. To be honest, it was kind of boring, although the Library is amazing and beautiful from outside. The photographs were mostly from newspapers, and the exhibition was interesting as a history lesson but not even really as that. There were maybe three or four photographs that had an artistic merit. It was pretty well-curated, though, so it was interesting to read their stories. Although amusingly/annoyingly they kept mis-translating. The word for Jewish in Spanish is Judía; the word for Jew[ish person] is Judio; they translated both of them as “Jewish.” I wonder if it was based in some error, or just was an oversight.
All three fun.
I want to go back to the Reina Sofia to see the exhibition of Francesco Lo Savio’s work, which sounds interesting (google image search him, perhaps?). I want to go to the Fundación Canal. They won’t let me link to individual parts of their site (ugggh, Flash), but I’m interested in the photography exhibit of work by Aleksander Rodchenko, as well as the dance performance on the 29th. Maybe that. I doubt I’ll do that, to be honest. But the other things, aye.
I really want to see Miguel Trillo’s Identidades, which is in the Canal’s exhibition space, but somehow not mentioned on their website. I don’t quite understand. It’s at the Sala de Exposiciones Canal Isabel II, on Calle Santa Engracia 125. That’s for me.
If possible, before the end of the month I want to go to Espacio 8, near La Latina, where there seems to be a cool exhibition right now. (It’s open Tuesday through Friday, from 10-2 and then again from 5 PM through 8. Maybe I’ll make it there this week. Or maybe not.
The Museo del Ferrocarril also has an exhibition that ends shortly, called Caminos de Hierro, which has a great poster but I think will end up being passed on.
Lastly, I want to go to the Proyecto Arte Galeria, which has an exhibit called Ciudad a Contraluz which looks cool. I like when photographers play with lighting. They’re open weekdays from 11 to 2 PM and from 5 to 8:30 PM, which is flexible.
The nice thing about all of these museums, or most of them, is that they’re often free. Hurrah! Woah, that’s a lot. Okay.