Every great artist was, first and foremost, an unknown name. Before finding a place in museums, large collections, or international fairs, they had to learn how to set up an exhibition, convince a gallery to bet on their work, and trust that someone would walk through the door to discover it. But, in the art world, the uncertainty generated by these first times is not only a matter for artists. It is also experienced by gallerists who decide to take the risk—and the economic cost—of betting on an unknown name, and by people who, despite constantly looking at galleries from the outside with curiosity, do not dare to enter, convinced that they are spaces reserved for experts or collectors willing to buy.
After fifteen editions, the emerging art festival Art Nou continues to exist to make that first step a little easier, both for young artists and for galleries and the public. Driven by Art Barcelona, the festival was born in 2012 when the association of galleries detected a paradox: while Barcelona concentrated a new and diverse generation of artists eager to make their way, few spaces in the city were willing to take the risk of giving them a first opportunity.
For galleries, whose survival depends on the sale of works, betting on emerging artists entails a high economic risk. For many creators, however, the challenge begins when trying to make their way in a professional circuit for which their training has not always prepared them. "The objective of the festival was to accompany both parties in that leap," summarizes Pilar Cruz, director of Art Nou. The formula is simple: every summer, the festival gets galleries and art spaces in Barcelona and L'Hospitalet to reserve part of their programming for emerging artists under 35 years old. For many of them, it is the first opportunity to work with a gallery and present their work to the public.
The formula has proven to work. Until September 3, Art Nou celebrates its fifteenth edition with record numbers: more than 110 artists participate in a program that unfolds across 21 galleries, 23 independent spaces, and five institutions in Barcelona and L'Hospitalet. "Having doubled the number of participants means, on the one hand, that the young and emerging artistic ecosystem is in good health, as there are galleries willing to bet on new artists and also a new and talented generation of creators. And, on the other hand, it shows that the festival continues to grow as an inclusive platform, capable of giving visibility to the largest possible number of proposals," says Cruz.
But what does it mean to be an emerging artist today? The answer is no longer as simple as setting an age limit —although Art Nou still sets it at 35 years old—. "Emergence actually covers a very wide range," summarizes Pilar Cruz. Under that umbrella coexist those who have just left university and are presenting their first exhibition, artists who are starting their first professional relationship with a gallery, and others who, despite having worked for years, take advantage of the festival to experiment with new techniques or formats.
Precisely for this reason, Art Nou's objective is not only to offer a first exhibition, but to become a meeting point capable of strengthening these trajectories, whatever stage they are at. The aspiration is that the relationships born during the festival do not end when the exhibitions are dismantled, but rather lead to lasting collaborations between artists, galleries, and institutions. But for that first step to be a little less uncertain, the work begins long before an exhibition opens. For this reason, Art Nou in this edition has strengthened its ties with universities and schools, such as the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona, La Massana, BAU, and the Interactive Arts and Science Lab of La Salle, with the aim of narrowing the distance between artistic training and the professional art circuit.
That spirit of accompaniment is also how BETA Contemporary, one of the participating galleries in this edition, works. Established in Barcelona just two years ago after an initial phase in Berlin, the space was born almost by chance, when a shared studio between a photographer and a painter ended up becoming a gallery. Since then, BETA has committed to accompanying artists with whom to build a long-term relationship. "There are artists with whom we started from the beginning and have grown in parallel," explains its co-founder, Mauricio Sauma.
This way of understanding work with artists is also reflected in its programming. In contrast to collective exhibitions, BETA has almost always opted for individual shows. "A solo show is a very important moment in an artist's career. We like to go into their studio, get to know their practice, and build the exhibition with them," adds the gallerist. "Above all, we are interested in accompanying processes."
Accompanying artists also implies facilitating these encounters between gallerists and artists. With this idea, this year Art Nou has acted as a bridge between galleries and creators. To do this, it has connected spaces that wanted to participate in Art Nou but had not yet found the right creator, with portfolios submitted to public calls such as those from Sala d'Art Jove or Sant Andreu Contemporani. Several of the exhibitions that are part of this edition have emerged from this exchange. Added to these are the open calls promoted by Espai Souvenir, Fundació Úniques, Anywhere or Afterschool, conceived to discover new talents and broaden the perspective beyond the usual names.
The route to get lost in contemporary art
After fifteen editions, Art Nou is no longer just a festival: for a few weeks, it draws a different map of Barcelona and L'Hospitalet. A map made of galleries, workshops, and independent spaces that open their doors to the talent of the new generation of artists. Thus, the best way to understand the festival's philosophy is not to consult the program, but simply to start walking. Just follow the X's -on the street pavement- that identify the participating galleries: each one marks a stop on the Art Nou route, but also that behind those doors lies a treasure to discover.
Following the X's also allows one to observe how, behind the enormous diversity of proposals —from figurative painting to sculpture, installation, or digital art—, many of the works share the same concerns. Housing, migratory experience, memory, mental health, the body, or the ecological crisis reappear again and again. "Art Nou thus ends up being a generational portrait," summarizes Pilar Cruz.
This generational portrait has an almost inevitable starting point: Trafalgar Street. Just a few years ago it was just another street in the Eixample; today, it's enough to walk a few meters to link one gallery with another and check, door by door, where a large part of the city's youngest contemporary art begins. Thus, the first stop on the route can be Sorondo Projects, with the exhibition The Heat of Other Suns, which brings together four Latin American photographers based in Europe who portray common concerns such as migration, memory, and identity.
A few meters away, Aura Roig transforms Prats Nogueras Blanchard into a universe of hybrid creatures and changing forms that challenge the boundaries between human, animal, and plant; while Marcel R. Nuliana immerses us in the marine universe at Galeria Senda, filling it with mural paintings, sea creatures, and organic forms that invite us, at least for a moment, to forget the city's heat.
But Art Nou, like emerging art, does not end in Trafalgar, but extends throughout the city. In Gràcia, BETA Contemporary presents Velar, Carlos Herraiz's third exhibition with the gallery. The space has accompanied the artist almost since his beginnings, when he was still developing a practice focused on painting. "I remember the day he told me: 'there will be no more painting,'" recalls Sauma, co-founder of the gallery.
That turn marked the beginning of a new stage: today Herraiz gathers found fabrics and documents —from notes written by her grandmother to love letters rescued from oblivion— and covers them with layers of wax that reveal fragments of these stories. The words still remain, though only half visible, turning each piece into a constant game between what is revealed and what is hidden. A few meters away, photographer Marta Gironès also resorts to family memory. Her photographs are born from the diaries her grandmother wrote for years and build an intimate narrative about mental illness and the capacity of everyday bonds to sustain us when everything seems to falter.
But the journey does not end there. It also delves into neighborhoods where perhaps few would expect to find a contemporary art gallery, such as Sant Andreu, El Clot, Les Corts, or Sarrià. And, of course, it invites to cross the Gran Via to L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, where spaces like ethall, Tangent Projects, or Raccoon Projects confirm that the art map —and especially that of emerging art— long ago ceased to have a single creative center.