There are ways of approaching art that do not necessarily involve creation, but rather the will to accompany and promote. Claudia Elies has never imagined herself as an artist, but she has built a solid career from proximity and sensitivity, through writing, curating, and art direction. A vital journey marked by a constant and almost invisible gesture: accompanying creative processes, especially in their beginnings. Emerging art, more than a field of work, has been a common thread, from spaces like Can Felipa or the Art Nou festival to her current stage at the head of Fabra Centre d'Art Contemporani, which she has directed since May 2025.
Her career cannot be understood without the context in which it has unfolded: a Barcelona artistic ecosystem where the public network plays a key role in the production and promotion of emerging art, with agents such as Sala d'Art Jove, Sant Andreu Contemporani, or La Capella, but also with private initiatives such as Art Nou, which fills the city's galleries with emerging artists during the summer months. A solid and well-articulated circuit that contrasts with other contexts such as Madrid, where, despite its international projection in the art market —with ARCO as its main reference— and a more consolidated collector base, this fabric of support for emergence does not have the same structure or relevance.
Elies now contributes to this vibrant ecosystem from the direction of Fabra. A space she conceives as a "resonance box": one that emits sounds, but also listens and gathers its surroundings. This will for openness is also reflected in the architecture: large windows that open towards the city and its immediate surroundings and that make natural light dialogue with exhibitions such as LALIRIO, by the Fuentesal Arenillas tandem, curated by Elies herself. A proposal that dialogues with the industrial past of the building, but which, at the same time, understands contemporary art as a tool to rethink the present.
— How did your relationship with art begin? What is your first memory?
— My first approach to art is architectural: through the Romanesque of the monasteries, in Poblet or Vallbona, when I visited them with my parents.
— Your career, however, has moved away from Romanesque to approach contemporary art.
— I believe I am interested in contemporary art because it is the art that looks at and understands our present. This fact implies that it is a very changing and diverse practice, sometimes difficult to define, but precisely because it is linked to a reality that is also changing.
— How does the transition from an interest in art to a professional career happen?
— Very naturally: when I had to choose studies, I thought I was passionate about writing, and my brother reminded me that, to write well, you first need to think about what you want to write about. And I had it clear: about art and culture. That's how I graduated in Art History in Barcelona and later in Art Theory in London.
"It is not always necessary to understand a work in its entirety: it often allows for multiple readings, and all are valid"
— In these studies, were you able to deploy your passion for contemporary art?
— In reality, at university we only got as far as the 90s. It was mainly through my first professional experiences that this passion consolidated: with an internship at MACBA, which I started with Teresa Grandes and the exhibition Poesia Brossa, and also at the Estrany-de la Mota gallery.
This professional immersion allowed me to gain a dual perspective: that of the public institution and that of the private gallery, which are the two key pieces of the artistic ecosystem. In the institution, everything works with large structures and slower tempos, while in the gallery, the work is more immediate and direct with artists and productions, with smaller teams.
— And, from this dual perspective between the public and private sectors, you have developed a career closely linked to the promotion of emerging art.
— Can Felipa and Art Nou are two very privileged spaces: you are part of processes that are just beginning; it is a delicate but also exciting moment, because you work with artists who are having their first exhibitions. Seeing how this support bears fruit is especially gratifying, as in the case of Mònica Planes, who exhibited for the first time at Can Felipa and who today is part of the Reina Sofía collection.
"Sustainability is not only material but also human: how we program, when we do it, and how we accompany artists in their vital moments, to try not to oversaturate them"
— An spirit that, since last May, you deploy at Fabra.
— I like to think of Fabra as an open and diverse space: multidisciplinary and multi-generational, a place to rehearse, experiment, try… All, without forgetting sustainability, which is not only material, with structures that are recyclable and reusable, but also human. That is, to think about how we program, when we do it and how we accompany artists in their vital moments, to try not to oversaturate them, but to give them space.
— What particularly interests you about the programming?
— I am interested in working with artists who help us think about today's world, and at the same time incorporate voices that have not been so present into the Barcelona scene, such as the Fuentesal Arenillas tandem through LALIRIO or the artists from the Eastern Mediterranean who make up the other current exhibition at Fabra: Like stones in the palms, embers and flame.
I am also interested in exploring hybrid formats between exhibition and public program, programs that play a central role at Fabra, thanks also to the work of Jordi Ferreiro. In fact, my debut at the helm of Fabra was already a declaration of intent: the summer school in July and Interval #1 in September, a sound piece by Rubén Grilo that was activated with different performances, halfway between exhibition and public program. Contemporary art has this: it must be porous and changing, because it reflects on a context and a present that is also so.
"We try to break with the idea that contemporary art is always complex. It is true that it can have many layers and its own language, but it can also be very direct"
— You speak of the importance of public programs and of connecting with citizens and, in fact, you often define Fabra as a "resonance box" that emanates and collects.
— Exactly: collect and project. That's why I planned a very situated program, connected with the past of the space and its current importance for Sant Andreu and the local fabric. We have promoted a Citizen Council with the most immediate surroundings: the Meridiana CAP, the library, the nursery school… to listen to what they expect from the center. It's about turning the usual logic upside down: not only for the neighborhood to come to the center, but to generate a real relationship of accompaniment and listening.
This close relationship is also created with the Barcelona art circuit, always from an idea of sustainability: if the city already has key moments, such as the Barcelona Gallery Weekend or Art Nou, we join them instead of constantly generating new ones. When I was studying in London, I thought it was a culturally unattainable city, and now I have that same feeling with Barcelona: that it has become an increasingly culturally vibrant city, with more activity, spaces, and voices.
— Is it difficult to bring the neighborhood and the city closer to art, especially when the term 'contemporary' is added to the equation?
— It's still difficult, yes. We do a lot of pedagogy: we accompany the exhibitions, explain the projects, and offer texts, room materials, and guided tours that give tools to the public. We also try to break with the idea that contemporary art is always complex. It is true that it can have many layers and its own language, but it can also be very direct. It is not always necessary to understand a work in its entirety: it often admits multiple readings, and all are valid. When you enter this language, it becomes much more accessible. You have to lose the fear of approaching contemporary art and let yourself be challenged, rather than looking for a single correct interpretation.
— How to approach and accompany contemporary art?
— Each artist needs a different type of accompaniment. I like to think that we, the curators, adapt to the artists, not the other way around. It is a choral process: you enter their universe and you have to detect what they need, sometimes it is an accompaniment from the design of the exhibition space, others from writing or from the workshop. Everything also depends on the artist's vital moment: it is not the same to accompany someone who is starting as to review a consolidated career.
"Barcelona has been and continues to be a unique ecosystem, with a shared pride for this crop of young artists and a clear will to nurture it"
— Is there emerging talent in Barcelona?
— Yes, very much. There are also many spaces and programs that promote it: La Capella, Sala d’Art Jove, Can Felipa, Art Nou or Sant Andreu Contemporani. When I worked at Can Felipa, we opened the call at a national level and it was fascinating to see artists coming to Barcelona because they found here the right ecosystem to start their career. In other contexts, this circuit for promoting emerging art is not so structured. Barcelona has been and continues to be a unique ecosystem, with a shared pride for this pool of young artists and a clear will to nurture it.
— How would you define emerging art?
— It's a very fine line. It often has more to do with exhibition experience than with age. Sometimes emergence can be stretched a lot: for example, an artist who at 50 years old has their first public show. But, on the other hand, it is the artists themselves who want to leave this label behind and be recognized as mid-career artists. For this reason, I believe that emergence is not a fixed category, but a condition that needs to be constantly reviewed.
"Contemporary art must be porous and changing because it reflects on a present context that is also so"
— You were commenting that in Barcelona there is a very marked circuit for the emerging artist, and that this does not happen in other contexts…
— This circuit exists in both the public and private spheres, and galleries are also part of it. It is important for artists to engage with all these agents from the beginning, because their career largely depends on this network. The Barcelona circuit works very well and should be valued.
But it still needs to be explained more, especially from the university and at the end of training. That's why, at Fabra, we have created a program with universities to show the professions behind an exhibition: production, audiovisuals, communication… to complement studies that can sometimes remain in a very theoretical field.
— How do you combine the promotion of local talent with the presence of international artists?
— Exchange with other contexts enriches practices and gives visibility to artists. But exchange not only projects local artists outwards, but also helps us to value our own context and detect its strengths and weaknesses.
— What weaknesses do you detect?
— Above all, the need for more spaces and resources to accompany the growth of the sector. There is a very rich network of production centers, both in Barcelona and in the territory, from l'Hospitalet, Mataró, Amposta… but it is never enough: more resources, more spaces, and more residencies will always be needed.
"There is no need to wait for big events to discover art: we are open every day so that anyone can approach it, just as galleries are"
— Another challenge for the artistic and gallery sector is the pedagogical one…
— It's a key challenge: it's important to insist that we are public and free spaces, designed for citizens. We are a public service that must appeal to very diverse audiences. Sometimes, on special days like the Open House, many people come, but it's important to remind visitors that they don't have to wait for big events to discover art: we are open every day so that anyone can approach it, just like galleries are.
— An openness to the public that, at Fabra, is also reflected in the building itself, with large windows connecting to the city. What feelings would you like visitors who dare to enter Fabra to experience?
— That they want to come back. That they have seen something that made them think, feel, or stir. And that they make Fabra their own: that they understand it is an open, free, and accessible space, to which they can always return.
Questionnaire
— A contemporary art fair?
— I can't not choose Arco.
— An emerging artist we should know?
— Jone Erzilla.
— If you were a collector, what work would you like to have at home?
— The Clock, by Christian Marclay.
— An exhibition that you have liked or moved you in recent months.
— Trinh T. Minh-ha's exhibition at La Virreina particularly moved me.
— A lesson you have learned from the art world?
— No success or failure is definitive. That fact that at one moment seems decisive: not winning a call or not participating in a competition, is not so much. There are no established steps: the artistic career is built step by step and each one traces it in their own way.