“And, suddenly, chance”: a traveling exhibition about uncertainties, destinies and coincidences

The Barcelona Provincial Council, in collaboration with MACBA, presents the new travelling exhibition of the Visual Arts Programme I, de sobte, l'atzar , curated by Claudia Elies. The exhibition invites the public to embark on a journey that reflects on chance and destiny, on the uncertainty that precedes the unexpected. An artistic itinerary that explores how the unforeseen, the fortuitous and the uncontrollable can transform our perception of the world and art. The exhibition brings together the visions of chance of twelve artists from different generations, both Catalan and international, from the MACBA Collection.

The new traveling exhibition of the Visual Arts Program of the Barcelona Provincial Council, And, suddenly, chance proposes a journey through everything that escapes our will: chance, destiny, uncertainty. An artistic reflection on the role of the unexpected —both in artistic creation and in life experience— that unfolds as a journey through several cities in the territory of the Barcelona Provincial Council.

• Teresa Margolles - 40 km – 2014 - MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Álvaro López de Lamadrid Deposit - © Teresa Margolles - Photo: La Fotogràfica.

Between November 2025 and January 2028, the exhibition will travel to municipalities such as Manresa, Martorell, Terrassa, Ripollet, Badalona, Vilafranca del Penedès, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Vic, Granollers and Mataró, becoming a kind of constellation of spaces where chance takes shape and meaning in the search for a beginning and an end, alpha and omega.

Structured around three thematic axes—chance, destiny, and uncertainty—the exhibition invites us to rethink the way in which what seems accidental can become revealing. The works that make up the exhibition draw an open path, full of unexpected discoveries, as if art itself were an essay on surprise, on everything that, without foreseeing it, ends up giving meaning to our passage through the world.

Based on a careful selection of works from the MACBA Collection, the exhibition constructs an open and non-linear narrative that explores three ways of understanding chance. Uncertainty is approached from doubt and ambiguity, fate evokes a superior and unattainable force, while chance invites the viewer's gaze to discover the unforeseen.

• Allan Sekula - Prayers for the Americans (I) - 1999 - 2004 - MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Work acquired thanks to David Armengol - © The Estate of Allan Sekula.

This triple conceptual axis finds correspondence in the verses of Ausiàs March —“Quant plau a Déu que la fusta peresqua”—, where the image of the sea that dissolves matter becomes a symbolic starting point. Water, present throughout the exhibition, acts as a metaphor for perpetual change, the uncontrollable and the fragile, and reminds us that everything, like the waves, is in constant movement and continuous uncertainty.

Manresa starting point

Starting on Friday, November 7, Manresa will host the exhibition And, suddenly, chance. Uncertainties, destinies and coincidences in the MACBA Collection , a traveling exhibition that premieres in the capital of Bages before touring nine more municipalities until January 2028.

The proposal, which can be visited in the Casino's Great Hall until January 11, 2026, will be accompanied by a program of parallel activities, including a guided tour led by the curator, Claudia Elies.

And, suddenly, chance invites the public to reflect on the role of the unpredictable in everyday life, based on three main axes: uncertainty, fate and chance. Through a selection of works from the MACBA collection, the exhibition builds a non-linear journey that explores chance as a constant and unpredictable force, with water as a common thread and recurring metaphor.

The presentation of the exhibition took place today at the Casino Cultural Center with the participation of the mayor of Manresa, Marc Aloy Guàrdia; the councilor for Culture and Language, Tània Infante Martínez; the deputy for Culture of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Pau Gonzàlez Val; the head of the MACBA Collection, Claudia Segura, and the curator of the exhibition, Claudia Elies.

Works by artists from different generations and artistic trends are presented, such as Joan Brossa, Luz Broto, Joana Cera, Joan Jonas, Martín Llavaneras, Teresa Margolles, Fina Miralles, Joan Ponç, Sergio Prego, Enrique Ramírez, Allan Sekula and Oriol Vilanova.

Discover more about the exhibition And, suddenly, chance

Between uncertainty, fate and chance The first concept arises as an approach to chance from doubt, the imprecise and indeterminate fact. Often, behind this idea beats a desire for control: the will to understand or tame the course of events. This tension is manifested in the disturbing harlequin painted by Joan Ponç, in Luz Broto's gesture of intervening in the flow of water, or in Joana Cera's fragile castle, which tries to rebuild what has already collapsed. It is also present in the sculpture of Martin Llavaneras, which addresses the unattainable force of the atmosphere.

Destiny, on the other hand, refers to a higher, almost divine energy that is completely beyond our control. This presence becomes visible in Enrique Ramírez's film, which shows how chance—or fate—determines where we are born. We find the same idea in Teresa Margolles' photographs, where a chance bullet can mark the border between life and death, and in Allan Sekula's portraits, which evoke the tragic fate of war fighters.

Finally, chance places us in the realm of probability and the unforeseen, that which happens without foreseeing it. This drift is palpable in the actions of Joan Jonas and Fina Miralles, who place the body in front of natural phenomena and entrust the movement to external forces. Also in the found postcards of Oriol Vilanova, which reappear again and again in flea markets, as if time plays with them. In this same vein, Sergio Prego and Joan Brossa explore play and force as mechanisms to alter an expected result, whether in the jump or in writing.

Thus, between uncertainty, fate and chance, a map is drawn of artists who reflect on the limit between what we can control and what simply happens to us.

(Text about And, suddenly the chance with the collaboration of the Barcelona Provincial Council)