Le Corbusier and Jean Genet in the Raval
06 Jun - 21 Oct 2012
MACBA Collection
LE CORBUSIER AND JEAN GENET IN THE RAVAL
6 June - 21 October 2012
Le Corbusier and Jean Genet’s juxtaposed visions of Barcelona in the early thirties invite us to revisit a modernity that is close at hand, and return to a debate that remains relevant today. Le Corbusier scoured Barcelona’s city centre in order to diagnose and remodel the city. His proposed Macià Plan for a 'New Barcelona' implemented the hygienist principle as a means of eradicating social decay. Meanwhile, Jean Genet, who became familiar with the streets of the Barrio Chino, defended the marginal and amorphous identity of the district. His novel The Thief’s Diary, published in 1949, testifies to this vision. Modern rationalism and constructivism, dialogue with an exploration of the nocturnal life of the city and the power of the irrational.
The MACBA Collection traces the aesthetic implications of these two forms of life in relation to a specific urban setting. The diorama of the Macià Plan places the physical and moral cleansing of the city up against the narrative stemming from the journalistic genre around “noir” Barcelona. The Civil War truncated all the urban remodelling plans for the future city. In 1995, the construction of MACBA revived part of the historical debate around the Raval. In 2000, Spanish filmmaker José Luis Guerín created a frieze of the profound changes that had taken place in this neighbourhood in his documentary En construcción.
LE CORBUSIER AND JEAN GENET IN THE RAVAL
6 June - 21 October 2012
Le Corbusier and Jean Genet’s juxtaposed visions of Barcelona in the early thirties invite us to revisit a modernity that is close at hand, and return to a debate that remains relevant today. Le Corbusier scoured Barcelona’s city centre in order to diagnose and remodel the city. His proposed Macià Plan for a 'New Barcelona' implemented the hygienist principle as a means of eradicating social decay. Meanwhile, Jean Genet, who became familiar with the streets of the Barrio Chino, defended the marginal and amorphous identity of the district. His novel The Thief’s Diary, published in 1949, testifies to this vision. Modern rationalism and constructivism, dialogue with an exploration of the nocturnal life of the city and the power of the irrational.
The MACBA Collection traces the aesthetic implications of these two forms of life in relation to a specific urban setting. The diorama of the Macià Plan places the physical and moral cleansing of the city up against the narrative stemming from the journalistic genre around “noir” Barcelona. The Civil War truncated all the urban remodelling plans for the future city. In 1995, the construction of MACBA revived part of the historical debate around the Raval. In 2000, Spanish filmmaker José Luis Guerín created a frieze of the profound changes that had taken place in this neighbourhood in his documentary En construcción.