This new scene has gained credibility through the support of arts and literary institutions. Barcelona, too, has caught the wave. Now, the MACBA presents its collection of alternative publications in the exhibition ‘The Malady of Writing’, which also includes books of art criticism and a hilarious display of letters that two Barcelona-based artists wrote to unsuspecting recipients. At the time of writing, the library consisted of some 150 works by 60 international writers, and will continue to grow as new texts are found. Visitors are invited to sift through the works but will find no Dewey Decimal system to assist. The lack of order in the library permits a singular experience of first discovery and then literary pleasure, a subtle antidote to the larger literary world in which the texts reside.
Of similar note, albeit more historical, the Museu Diocesà hosts ‘Muses of the Printing Press’, an exhibition that features text and illustrations printed by women between the 16th and 19th centuries. The curators contend that women were not only printing at this time, but also sustaining and evolving the form, and were often so active in their work that they were the sole economic providers for their households.
El mal d’escriptura, PEI Building, MACBA, until April 25th, 2010; www.macba.cat
Muses de la Impremta, Museu Diocesà de Barcelona, until January 31st, 2010; www.arqbcn.org
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