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Mèdol celebrates five years expanding contemporary art throughout the spaces of Tarragona
The Contemporary Arts Center has promoted more than 225 artistic proposals and has brought together nearly 120,000 participants in a trajectory marked by the desire to take creation out of conventional exhibition spaces and bring it closer to the public. Casa Canals is hosting its fifth anniversary party this November 5th.
A stately home, an old bank, a fortification, a market, a disused factory or a theatre. For five years, Mèdol – Centre d'Arts Contemporànies de Tarragona has built its own way of understanding the dissemination of contemporary art, bringing creation to diverse spaces in the city and establishing new relationships between artistic practices, heritage and everyday life. The centre celebrates its fifth anniversary on 5 November with a party at Casa Canals, its main headquarters, which will bring together music, artistic experimentation and gastronomy.
Since its launch, Mèdol has developed more than 225 artistic proposals that have had the participation of nearly 120,000 people. An activity that has allowed to activate around forty spaces in Tarragona, combining cultural facilities with heritage buildings, disused facilities, markets and unusual places for artistic exhibition. From the Bank of Spain to the Mercat del Fòrum, passing through the Tabacalera, the Moll de Costa, the Fortí de Sant Jordi, the Guàrdia Urbana police station or the Teatre El Magatzem, the project has invited to discover the city from different perspectives.
The director of Mèdol, Vicent Fibla, has highlighted that this way of working has expanded the places where citizens can encounter contemporary arts and the possibilities of coming into contact with them. It is not only about moving exhibitions to different settings, but also about generating new forms of relationship between art and the urban context, making contemporary creation dialogue with spaces that are not usually part of exhibition circuits.
The balance of this first five-year period is specified in 72 exhibitions, 16 collective and 56 individual, and 145 activities that have included performances, interventions, actions and training proposals. Nearly 400 artists, curators, speakers and professionals from various disciplines have participated in the programming, configuring an ecosystem of complicity with facilities, entities and cultural agents. The center has also promoted calls and awards to support contemporary creation and promote new opportunities for artists.
This presence has gone beyond the municipal area of Tarragona, with initiatives developed in Reus, Vinyols i els Arcs, la Pobla de Montornès, la Nou de Gaià, Alcover and Montbrió del Camp. A territorial expansion that reinforces Mèdol's desire to articulate a cultural network connected with the whole of Camp de Tarragona.
The critical dimension of art has also been one of the project's axes. Over the past five years, the proposals have addressed issues such as the environment, gender identity, animal abuse and armed conflicts. The Minister of Culture of the Tarragona City Council, Sandra Ramos, has claimed art as a powerful tool for reflection and the ability to put into circulation social debates that challenge citizens.
The fifth anniversary celebration will take place this Thursday at Casa Canals and will combine different creative languages. The program will feature an intervention by cabosanroque, recognized this year with the National Culture Award, and a gastronomic proposal by chef Iolanda Bustos, known as the 'cuinera de les flors', who will prepare an experience structured around five tastings. The music will be provided by DJ Wilko from Tarragona.
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