The Fundación Contemporánea places LABoral Centro de Arte as the third best cultural initiative in Spain during times of crisis
The “Culture Observatory” of this institution, formed by experts from all over Spain, highlights its contribution to the world of culture in spite of economic difficulties
Ange Leccia's work 'Fumees', part of the exhibition 'Electric Nights'. Photo: Paco Paredes
LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón, is the third best cultural initiative in Spain during times of crisis, according to the “Culture Observatory” barometre, formed by the Fundación Contemporánea for the first semestre of 2011. Ahead of LABoral in respect of public sector institutions were placed the Centro de Artes Visuales Fundación Helga de Alvear, Cáceres and Matadero Madrid.
The Art Centre in Gijón moved up three points in relation to the 2010 barometre in which LABoral, despite its youth, occupied the sixth position, ahead of institutions such as Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, MUSAC of Castile and Leon and Caixaforum. Only Madrid’s Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Prado, the Thyssen, the Casa Encendida, also in Madrid, and the San Sebastián International Film Festival were ahead.
Fundación Contemporánea is a platform for meetings, discussions and debate for professionals from the cultural world’s different disciplines. Its goals are to promote contemporary creation, encourage the work of young talented people and disseminate and foster culture as one of the great collective goods of our times.
The Foundation, which is presided by Alberto Anaut, founder and director of La Fábrica since 1994, head of PHotoEspaña, the magazine Matador, La Fábrica Editorial, La Fábrica Galería and the digital project Notodo.com, carries out the “Culture Observatory” every six months. Its aim is to capture the perception of current culture’s status and trends and obtain indicators that enable us to describe a specific vision of the cultural scene.
In the last report, a hundred top-level professionals in Spanish culture -including writers, artists, actors, heads of foundations, museum directors, publishers, filmmakers, musicians, architects, gallerists, exhibition curators, art critics and cultural managers- monitored the impact of the economic crisis on the sector and analysed possible responses to it.
When asked about the best cultural contribution in recent years, developed in spite of economic difficulties, the experts mention 175 projects and put LABoral in third place among the public sector institutions, only superseded by the Centro de Artes Visuales Fundación Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, and Matadero, Madrid. The panel positioned below LABoral: the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Móstoles, Madrid, and the Centro Cultural Internacional Oscar Niemeyer, Avilés, in this order.
