If it sounds like I’ve got Spring on my mind, I have. It’s saying hello. It’s saying hello with light. 
As I get to the zoo before closing I don’t always have good light (more…)
art
Cursa de Bombers and Winter Hours
The hour change this weekend wasn’t that bad. It’s made it a little easier to get up thanks to it being lighter in the mornings. It’s the getting dark bit around 6pm that’ll take some getting used to. Thanks to the shops already starting Christmas, at least the nights now darker earlier will have light and colour. Until January when you’re plunged into darkness for what feels like the longest month (us in the Northern Hemisphere anyways. The other side of the world’s enjoying summer. Lucky buggers) of the year.
Anyways you know the score. 1st post of the week’s (more…)
Barcelona Street Art AKA Graffiti
Barcelona has a reputation of being hip. One of the cities to visit if traveling in Europe. There’s a bit of something for everyone.
It’s also a city that has a reputation for street art. Especially the graffiti kind. There are a lot of crap tags, but equally there’s a lot of great art work sprayed on the walls. The best pieces get respect and can be around untouched for months. The city’s even dedicated a walls solo for graffiti (the most popular is near Placa Espanya behind the Hilton Hotel). It’s not usual for shops ask graffiti artists to commission pieces on their shutters to avoid getting tagged and there’s always a cheeky piece popping up where you least expect it. These are what I’ve stubbled across out and about in the last few months. Enjoy!
Museum of World Cultures, Barcelona
Last Sunday due to change of plans and that it was too much of a nicer afternoon to be stuck indoors at home, I finally made the visit to the Museu de Cultures del Mon or the Museum of World Cultures. Still indoors, however cycling there meant I got to be outdoors. Located in the El Borne, 2 doors down the from the Picasso Museum in Carrer/Calle de Montcada, it’s home to sculptures and art work from Africa, Oceania, Asia and South America.
Though I went a few years ago, then it just featured sculptures and art from South American up until just after the Conquistadors. Recently refurbished and expanded, I’ve been wanting to check out the new interior for sometime. The museum itself is in a amazing building, Casa del Marques de Llio with some of the original painted beams and courtyards. An hour was plenty for me to look around (I got a little bored half way round, but that’s just me). All information explaining the art, meaning and significance behind the sculptures is in Catalan, Spanish, English and some French (audio guides). There’s also a free app with further information.
Casa del Marques de Llio
The journey starts in Africa, working it’s way through Oceania, Asia, to South America. Some of the African sculpture was amazing, the Oceania rooms gave me the creeps (old wood smell and the room felt heavy. Maybe the face masks were doing their job.) and the Mayans, did anybody survive in those times? Buddha has as many looks as incarnations. Simpler outfits in Japan and South Korea, more elaborate in India and China. A few of my favourites: Polynesian canoe figure heads, bark paper Aboriginal kangaroo dot paintings, an Indonesian gold crown, Japanese paintings and clay horse head, Korean vases and of course nearly all the jewellery!
Africa
Oceania
Australia
Indonesia, India, China (Asia)
Japan, South Korea, China
South America
Entry is free all day every 1st Sunday of the month, free from 3-7pm every Sunday. Closed Mondays except Bank holidays, open Tues – Sun 10am -7pm (8pm Sundays), general admission €3.50. Lockers provided, toilets and photography allowed (no flash).
