New exhibition spaces, more exhibition shows, which doubles up to eight annual exhibitions, and above all, greater ambition. This could be a summary of David Armengol’s (Barcelona, 1974) project for a church, the space in Hospital Street that the new director claims is an art center that aspires to amplify the scope of its activity by creating a network of collusion with other “related” spaces both in the Catalan and national regions (CA2M, Condeduque, Matadero, Tabacalera, Bombas Gens.. .) and international (Stockholm Index Corporation, Hangar Lisboa or MO.CO from Montpellier). “The idea is that the galleries leave the walls of La Capella and have a second life and that people from other contexts come to work here and artists or curators from here come out,” he says.
Armengol was elected director at the beginning of the month through a public competition for a term of four years, with the possibility of an extension for another year. A senior expert on both the emerging landscape and the space occupied by the Hospital de la Santa Cruz and Casa de la Convalescència, the focus of his program will continue to be projects for emerging creatives advocating Barcelona production, by the jury, although it will open an independent line of exhibits. To house more experimental projects, the Espai Rampa, which is currently used as an auditorium, and a multipurpose room on the upper floor, Espai Finestres, will be rehabilitated. He will also go out to the park.
David Armegol seeks to internationalize the center through a network of collusion with related spaces
La Capella will establish a collaboration with the Museum of History of Barcelona (Muhba) to deepen knowledge of the building, will have a series of training programs and will launch four lines of research on text (Alexandra Laudo and Enrique Faris-Duran), performance (Laya Estros and Marc Vives), activity (Daniel Gasol and Jara Rocha ) and the Territory (Sitesize, Agustin Ortiz-Herrera and Kuchara).
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The 2021 budget is 389 thousand euros, of which 155 thousand are for operating expenses and the rest for programming. With regard to new activities, it has increased by 50 thousand euros.