From Thursday, October 20, CentroCentro, a space of the Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Madrid City Council, opens Underground and counterculture in the Catalonia of the 70s to the public, an exhibition that offers an exhaustive look at the protagonists and the movements social and cultural aspects of a transcendental era. The exhibition is co-produced with the Palau Robert in Barcelona, a cultural institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya that hosted this exhibition in 2021 and through which more than 65,000 visitors passed.
During the presentation of the exhibition, the delegate for Culture, Tourism and Sports, Andrea Levy, highlighted that this exhibition is the best example of collaboration between institutions from different parts of Spain and allows, in turn, “to bring the culture of an accessible and enjoyable way.
Over 700 pieces for a tour starting in the mid 60’s
With more than 700 pieces, the exhibition brings together publications, posters, photography, comics, videos, poetry, music, scenery and biographies, among other materials. The journey begins with the arrival of the new countercultural currents from California, London and Amsterdam, since the mid-1960s. Then, through different thematic spaces, the tour documents the irruption of the communes, feminism, psychedelia, ecology, spirituality, avant-garde music and arts, among many other references. It also stops at places such as Casa Fullá, Instant City, the Canet Rock festival, Casal de la Floresta and Barcelona’s Ramblas along with the streets of Chinatown and El Born, where counterculture was experienced on the street.
Comics and fanzines occupy a special section in the exhibition that features original drawings by Nazario and Mariscal, among other creators. As well as counterculture magazines, Star and Ajoblanco. All this in an immersive exhibition design that takes the visitor back to the 70s, with the recreation of some of those scenarios such as the living room of a hippy commune and the Zeleste room. In addition to a soundtrack with themes from Bowie, Rolling Stones, Smash, Pau Riba and Kraftwerk.
One of the two curators of the exhibition, Pepe Ribas, explains that these were times of “overflowing creativity, without imposed canons, lived apart from privileges, parties and institutions”. In which, according to him, “there was a vital need to escape from the clutches of any authoritarianism in times of rock and roll, psychedelia, counterculture and May 68”. For Ribas, this exhibition is an exercise in memory “of transcendental events, but little studied, which perhaps will help to understand part of our present, since those new forms of life were the seeds of the civil liberties that we enjoy today.”
The exhibition has been designed and curated by Pepe Ribas, recognized in 2021 by the Association of Art Galleries of Catalonia and Arts Barcelona at the Nit del Galerismo as the best curator of the year for this exhibition. Ribas is also co-founder of the magazine Ajoblanco and author of Los 70 a destajo with the collaboration of Canti Casanovas. Both are actors and witnesses to the emergence of the Catalan underground. As for the museographic design of the exhibition, it is the work of the architect and National Design Prize winner, Dani Freixes.
In addition, to complete the exhibition, the Blanquerna Cultural Center-Library hosts the SOUNDBAND installation. Notes and lyrics, which brings together the music and musicians who accompanied the events that take place at CentroCentro in the 1970s. Created by Pepe Ribas, Canti Casanovas and Dani Freixes, it reflects the talent, intensity and commitment that helped transform a reality, widening its limits and opening new doors.
Underground and counterculture in the Catalonia of the 70s can be visited until February 12, 2023 on the 5th floor of CentroCentro, with free admission.
CentroCentro hosts a trip to the Catalan underground of the 70s – Revista de Arte – Logopress