25%. CATALONIA AT VENICE

On 11 April 2014 25%. CATALONIA AT VENICE, which represented Catalan art at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, opens at La Virreina Image Centre. Led by the Institut Ramon Llull, this exhibition looks at the high unemployment rate in Catalonia (which gives the exhibition its title) through the eyes of the art world.

Following the project’s success in Venice, La Virreina Image Centre teamed up with the Institut Ramon Llull, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) and Tecla Sala Art Centre in L’Hospitalet to put the show on in the place and context that inspired it, with the aim of encouraging further social and creative debate on the issues it raises. 25%. CATALONIA AT VENICE is a group project by three creators from the world of the image, plus eight unemployed people who are making their voices heard.

Curated by Jordi Balló, the exhibition has a three-pronged approach: pieces from the MACBA’s permanent collection selected by the eight participants, who were invited to choose a work from its collection; images by visual artist Francesc Torres and films by filmmaker Mercedes Álvarez documenting the different stages of the process; and eight personal objects of sentimental value chosen by each participant, which give the project an overall purpose.

To tie in with the show, there is a programme of activities coordinated by La Virreina Image Centre (which is housing the exhibition), Tecla Sala (which has been involved with the project right from the start) and the MACBA (which has extended this educational and critical initiative into its own museum). This form of collaboration between likeminded centres is very much in keeping with the principles of the exhibition itself: opening up art and bringing it to new audiences.

Opening: Thursday 10 April 2014, at 7.30 pm.