The sculptures do not all share the same erotic undertone. Some are stark, and overtly political, such as Txernóbil made in part by a rusty disused bomb-casing and a collection of skull-faced pebbles, or A la llibertat, a giant concrete and iron chain obelisk rising towards the sky. Cabanyes claimed that in every work in the park there lurks a political edge: “Love, birth, death—they are all ideologies.”
Most of the materials used in Can Ginebreda are sourced locally—the iron comes from a friend’s scrapyard, and every time Cabanyes visits he comes away with something new. It adds an extra personal dimension to the work. “Every material is a language,” he said.
One of his most innovative uses of local resources comes in one of the forest’s larger offerings, a giant cupola formed from metal and housing insulation. Inside the huge, hollow structure, the walls are covered with a collection of second-hand religious icon moulds salvaged from nearby Olot, known for its iconography industry. It is possible to enter and walk round the eerie church-like enclosure, with a single round window at the top providing natural light. In the cupola’s centre, Cabanyes has carved his own icon, a towering, paganesque, concrete nude woman.
All the sculptures at Can Ginebreda are Cabanyes’s, but he is open to supporting the work of other emerging artists from Catalunya and the rest of Europe, and invited several to contribute the sculptures that line the car park and approach to the forest; German sculptor Bernd Zimmermann, for example, contributed a stone piece called Ganimedes. In addition, Cabanyes is currently housing an exhibition of new European art in a gallery space in the park’s restaurant—a modern, terraced eatery where, among the juniper trees and views of the Pyrenees, fresh gin and tonics provide the perfect relaxation after an afternoon’s exploration of the strange and wonderful world of Can Ginebreda.
HOW TO GET THERE:
Take the AP-7 / E-15 heading North from Barcelona until you pass Girona, then C66 to Banyoles. Finally the Carretera de Mieres (GE-524) towards St Miquel de Santmajor leads straight to the left-hand turn off for the forest. Road signs begin to appear once in Banyoles. See their website for more information and a map.
Entrance to the park costs €4.
www.canginebreda.com (in Catalan, Spanish, English and French)
First published July 2008. Updated August 2010.
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