Dear people:

I greet you, at the end of this Sunday. I like the fact that the days of the week are originally named after celestial objects: Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, the Sun. Anyone who knows me with a bit of curiosity knows that Saturdays are special for me. Whenever I can, I claim pleasure and rest for the day of the Lord of the Rings. Sometimes, though, it simply can't be done. So, over time I have learned to navigate my way in and out of the weekend entity without an agenda, and even on some Mondays I can celebrate St. We Want, a walking holiday. But Sunday has a different smell, doesn't it? It's more of a family day than any other, so I guess it's not such a coincidence the Sunday Roast in "Merry England, or the queue for roast chicken here. If my uncle insists on cooking his famous paella on a Sunday, there's a reason for that too. We'll either take a siesta afterwards (that's how it was), or we'll organise the week ahead (that's how it is), or ideally both (that's how it will be).

Be aware that this coming week is the last one you can see the exhibition COUSCOUS, by Marina Sagona, as part of the Loop Festival of video art. On Saturday 20 November we bid farewell to the exhibition with a dinner impregnated in the aroma of the artist's father's recipe. As a cooking performance, Oreste Sagona will travel from Rome to Barcelona to cook his favourite dish here in the gallery and offer it to whoever wants to taste it (reserve your plate here). In this way, we close the circle of the project of which he is the main protagonist.

In the central video of the exhibition, Marina delicious and tenderly portrays the dichotomous father-daughter relationship, and in the course of Oreste's words, there is a succession of ingredients, migratory journeys, real communication problems. "This pot, as family territory, is a sensorial place and an emotional epicentre", says curator Kosme de Barañano on the video, and Marina invites us to recover the smell of her memories. From the bottom of my heart I say to you, don't miss the opportunity to come and watch this video if you can, which is food for loving, and to eat Oreste Sagona's unparalleled couscous.

A couple more recipes to follow.

👉 When we have washed the couscous dishes, we will receive a brief visit from Isabel Banal i Xifrè's Trajinadoras. From Wednesday 24 to Saturday 27 November you will be able to see the installation on display at the gallery because we want to share some great news with you: this piece has been selected in the 2021 acquisition campaign to join the National Collection of Contemporary Art of Generalitat de Catalunya and will soon be deposited at the Abelló Museum in Mollet del Vallès. 

Isabel Banal's rural origins and her link with nature have always marked her work. In this series, the artist places herself inside an a basket, a bucket, a plastic fruit box, making the gesture of carrying herself. With these absurd and impossible images, the artist evokes the anonymous and constant work of so many peasant women, who for so long have been made invisible throughout history. For this reason, artist and gallerist are happy and very grateful to be able to show them here briefly.
 

👉 We are also excited to present the book of lost steps, by Isabel Banal herself, on Sunday 28 November at 12 noon in the context of the group exhibition Quatre dietaris, curated by Gisel Noé for Mataró Art Contemporani. If there is one thing that more or less everyone gained during the weeks and months that the pandemic forced us to stay at home, it was time. The time to notice time. That was the time when I began to write these letters to you, dear people, and when Isabel made the frottages of all the shoes that were in their boxes. In the exhibition at Mac Mataró you can see the original drawings installed on the floor and, in addition to this one, three other diaries: by Lluís Alabern, Alexandra Laudo and Dani Montlleó, which were shared on Instagram as a way of accompanying those strange days. Although none of them were created with the purpose of becoming an exhibition piece, they are now brought together to be seen in the space-time of a collective show.
 

💔 Today I say goodbye with a farewell. Heavy-hearted to hear that the great poet, painter, and philosopher Etel Adnan died this morning in the early Paris hours, less than 1.000 days shy of having lived 100 years. No amount of life is enough life, and any amount of life is enough life. Which is also true of love. May she rest in poetry. Here is one of heres, from One Linden Tree, then Another Linden Tree. 

 

With love,  
Chiquita