Andorra Crea: hub of interrelation

“The main objectives of Andorra Crea are to promote Andorran creation through joint support for the artistic sector by the Government of Andorra and the local authorities; to show the country's contemporary creation to citizens, and to open the way for these creations to international circuits. It is also a professional market that brings together and connects artists and their creations with international programmers and contracting agents.” This definition of principles by the organizers perfectly summarizes the philosophy of the meeting, which for the second time was held from April 10 to 12 in Andorra. The event is held every two years and is an effort from the government and its entire culture team, headed by the minister, and by technicians Joan Marc Joval and Meri Blanco. An intense effort to visualize and weave partnerships. In this edition, with good weather included, the truth is that apart from seeing the creators and the creations, another of the stimuli was to travel through the different heritage spaces of the country, museums, interpretation spaces, Romanesque churches... In addition, the conjunction between nature, culture and heritage, what we call cultural landscapes, provides a differential value. And of course, the meeting with friends and programming agents, some known like Xavier Diaz, director of the Canal de Salt and who is developing an enviable task or, others to get to know, like the lucid and active Ricard Pardo Picanyol from the Martorell City Council. By the way!!! A city, the latter, that hosts the Muxart space, a painter by trade and the Francesc Pujols Foundation, one of the most illustrious Catalan essayists of the 20th century with eternal subordinates like those of Oscar Wilde as dominant.

Plasticides, Emma Regada.

The first stop, of the many possible, was to see the performance Plasticides by Emma Regada. A poetic and at the same time distressing action, where the artist with few materials, with black and white plastic as a straw, captures our attention fully and sometimes draws in space with transparent plastic, while other times it is the black plastic that ends up surrounding the body or being almost swallowed by Regada. First of all, before anything else, the artist mysteriously appeared in a bag from nowhere, no one knew that inside some bags that seemed to be waste, as in an art of contortionism, a person was born; and it all happened, in the middle of the mountains of Encamp, in the large and serene park of Ossa, near the Andorran automobile museum. The action's caption reads: "We are what we eat, what we do, what we consume. We handle food, animals, society, the little ones, embryos. We are born from a plastic membrane, almost plasticized, wrapped, prepared for a world where there is more plastic than body. Bubble wrap, alveolar film, plastic film, adhesive tape, bags, sachets, ties... Will we be able to look ourselves in the eye again, feel our skin and reach the most primitive essence of our forgotten roots?"

Credere, Xavi Pérez.

Then, in a few minutes by car, we move to the hermitage of Sant Cristòfol d'Anyós, a Romanesque church in La Massana, an idyllic space between mountains. There, a performative/sculptural improvisational monologue by Xavi Pérez leaves no one indifferent. Disruptive music, monologues of a magical mountain sanctuary by Thomas Mann and contemporary dance dialogue with a sculptural object, a perfect square made with construction props and which becomes a drawing in space. Despite some nuances Credere was titled the action takes us further, interacting with the spectators and causing confusion. And for those who want to know more, the legend of the action says: "Credere seeks the limits between traditional theatrical codes and performance. Starting from the punishment of the myth of Sisyphus where the hero is punished for all eternity to climb a stone up a mountain that, once it reaches the top, will fall again; and the actor's own condition, he will navigate between the very borders of scenic languages such as physical theater and dance, the use of the spoken and sung voice or the theater of the absurd and autofiction".

La Farga Rossell – Centre d'Interpretació

Once the action of Credere o no credere is finished and we have finished well ventilated by the mountain air, we make a stop on the way to end up in an unknown, spectacular space hidden under the surface of the roads that cross the entire country: the Farga Rossell, in La Massana. A slavery that is within the iron route and that has hosted activities of all kinds. While we make time for the meeting of professionals between artists and programmers, a brotherhood lunch on foot that serves to finish getting to know and rediscover "the tribe" of programmers that we go with almost an Easter procession. Among them, the artist Jaume Amigó who together with his partner Olga Tragant are developing a dance and land art festival entitled Natures. I knew Jaume from his works, but I had never had the opportunity to greet him, things of fate. Andorra became the meeting point for connections between people from Catalonia. The particularity of the NATURES festival, which was born in 2019, is that it takes place around l'Alzina (la Noguera, Lleida) also called Alzina de l'Aguda by some and Alzina de Ribetlles by others, a small village of 20 inhabitants located in the region of la Noguera (Lleida), on the threshold of the region of la Segarra. The driving values of this proposal are to energize the rural world, decentralize art, the connection with nature, reflection on the environment and art and promote exchange. And to finish off the meetings, we met the Tartera collective of la Seu d'Urgell, a dynamic entity that brings city and country together. They define themselves as an Association that "was born with the desire to contribute to research, dissemination and artistic experimentation by offering cultural and production equipment in the territory. A space that also aims to become an educational agent through the arts; sharing processes and resources specific to art in the field of non-formal education."

Caminant, els meus refugis, Naiara Escabias.

We continued our wandering and arrived at the La Massana Tourist Office where the artist and restorer Mireia Tarrés was waiting for us, with a large, monumental pictorial work that was impressive, like a Calder mobile, but instead of colored shapes, there were wallpapers painted with a Japanese technique and representing tree branches that climb upwards, connecting the sky with the earth. The work interacted with the architectural space - despite the fact that the space was too crowded - and moved, it must be said, subtly, according to the air currents in the environment.

We deviate a little from the route to visit the exhibition of subtle, small-format and enigmatic photographs by the artist Naiara Escabias, who gives us a guided tour. Entitled Caminant, els meus refugis, the Espai Galobardes in Canillo, exhibits a photographic series that explores the emotional connection with natural spaces that serve as personal refuges for the creator. Through Polaroid photography and the Emulsion Lift technique, the transformed images capture the beauty and fragility of these landscapes. Each piece invites the viewer to reflect on nature as a source of balance and inspiration, proposing an experience of calm and deep introspection. A vintage visual texture and the imperfections of the emulsion paper give the whole set an extra added value. There are still shows left and we are following the troop.

Transitori, Joan Xandri.

The next day, an express visit to the new headquarters of the Ministry of Culture of Andorra, on the ground floor there is a collection of artists from the country and other international creators. Later, an excursion to the Art Center of the Government of Andorra, located in Andorra la Vella, where a retrospective of Joan Xandri, a well-known and veteran Andorran artist, welcomes us through ancestral paintings, pictorial and sculptural installations, informalist, expressionist and magical realism tendencies that are combined in different periods of the author. Under the title of Transitory, the exhibition that can be seen until June 24 and that has been curated by Francesc Rodríguez Rossa, will travel around. So, back to Catalonia and the end of my particular Andorra Crea.