Pere IV street is the Diagonal of Poblenou or, as it was formerly called, the Mataró road. In the middle of this street, very close to Sala Beckett and not far from the illusory center of Barcelona that, according to Cerdà, Glòries should have been, located in a triangle that is almost a block by itself between schools, shops, gas stations, a modernist house and the upcoming 22@ brunches, the Carulla foundation has decided to install its headquarters, after several years of being a simple office closer to the Teresianas de Ganduxer.
The obsession of the management, led by Marta Esteve but shared by the presidency and the board of trustees, has finally materialized under a narrative that has been transforming the Carulla foundation from top to bottom for years. It is about bringing several things together, but with the land as a common thread, the land in a broad sense: Catalan culture and the vindication of the rural world, putting a piece of Espluga de Francolí in the middle of an industrial neighborhood of Barcelona. And, above all, betting on the transformative power of culture: the Carulla foundation decided to become a butterfly transformed into a driver of transformations, of incidences, of social metamorphoses that should have their origin in culture. Marta Esteve talks to us about all this in her speech, under the watchful eye of president Nicolau Brossa, taking advantage of a special day like February 29 and mentioning the need for this new space to dialogue with the neighborhood and with the city. We are witnessing the materialization of an idea, the physical birth of a butterfly that had been gestating for some time in the cocoon of Ganduxer and that has now decided to fly to its own space. A headquarters. A laboratory. What is surely also, with all due respect, Marta's playroom.
She talks to us about the architecture, the interior design, the spaces, and the teams that have collaborated: Bonsfills, Laia Ubia, Núria Vila. We are in an immense four-story triangle with a spectacular terrace, a miniature rural road museum on the ground floor, offices and event rooms on the intermediate floors, plenty of space for workshops and offices (even prepared for certain coworking) and designed with a familiar and welcoming spirit, a feel at home, a no need to leave, whites and grays and woods and feng shui and lots of glass.
The Carulla foundation decided to become a butterfly transformed into a driver of transformations, of incidences, of social metamorphoses that should have their origin in cultureAnd after explaining all this and giving many thanks, Marta cannot help but be Marta and involve people. It is logical, being a foundation that has decided to work very much from the bottom up and in contact with the ground."When a child is born," she says, "people make wishes about their future."And from there the microphone passes to popular expression (and that of the team of collaborators, that is, not always spontaneous) around desires such as the production of workshops for children on sustainability; radiating the Catalan language especially towards young people (says Magrinyà, director of Barcino); the complementarity of the city with the countryside in a circular economy (representative of the neighborhood association); being an agora around culture and the arts (Elisenda Guiu, creator, fan ofMutare, which is the dynamic of the foundation to attract and develop transformative ideas); doing things jointly with other entities like Òmnium (Laura Cendrós, needs no introduction); being a pole of attraction for talent and social agents of the neighborhood, given that now the creation factories have become apartments where people from the neighborhood do not live (the co-founder of the Escena Poblenou festival); and above all (it was about time someone said it) promoting and disseminating Catalan identity. Do not forget that the trunk of the foundation is Catalan identity, and then, "make as many branches as you want." Oh: and now we expect much more from the foundation, so yes, feel pressured (Artur Carulla, patron).
The reminder also serves to say that until now the foundation did not have a proper activity headquarters and that, therefore, the foundation itself also gains identity. And when the wishes end, Catalunya Freestyle arrives, which is an entity that deserved the Carulla award for the best idea, and which (also wishing that this urban music discipline reaches all of Catalonia) gives us a demonstration consisting of taking four words freely contributed by the public (land, neighborhood, imagination, and Catalan) and improvising a musical piece with a drum machine. Meanwhile, a painted mural is being created on the wall among drawings of artistic activities: indeed, a colorful butterfly.
The glass of cava and the carquiñoles on the terrace (Bernat Puigtobella, Eva Piquer, Gemma Ventura, Joan Oller, Carles Duarte, Esteve León, Joan Herrera, etc.) then lead to a visit to the museum downstairs, where, in addition to exhibiting rural life utensils and references to aspects of life that are being lost (such as grandmother's recipes or lullabies, or the dairies that abounded in this neighborhood), a sand path is traced for us. Of earth. In the middle of the floor. I realize late that the thing can be stepped on; I had been thinking for a while if that rectangle of nature perhaps existed to be seen, and not stepped on, as if it were the grass of a park. And I felt so well-behaved, walking on the surrounding tiles. Then I realize the extreme to which city life has led us, the disconnection with a fact as natural as stepping on the earth, putting our feet on the ground, being on solid ground. And I believe that, despite the butterflies in the head or in the heart, the great contribution that this true cultural super-block on Pere IV street can make to Barcelona is to make it return to the earth. To its land. Welcome, then, to the new headquarters, if this will be its way of taking root.
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