The 'blockbuster' exhibitions arrive at the Maritime Museum

A reproduction of the work Metamorphosis II welcomes visitors to the Museu Marítim de Barcelona these days. It is the welcome to the exhibition on the visionary world and impossible forms of M. C. Escher, which will occupy the Sala Gran of the venue until September 26. With this exhibition, the Drassanes museum debuts as one of the venues for major exhibitions promoted by the Italian company Arthemisa. In this way, Barcelona joins an international circuit that will also bring exhibitions on Chagall and Monet to the Catalan capital.

These blockbuster exhibitions, a cinematographic term dedicated to highly successful and high-budget productions, will be one of the strong points of Barcelona's cultural reactivation in the post-pandemic era. In the first article I published in The New Barcelona Post, I spoke about how it is now our turn to be cultural activists, after the sector has been one of the great victims of the coronavirus crisis. To this end, I encouraged Barcelonans to visit exhibitions, to once again take over cultural spaces. And culture has proven to be decisive for a city's economy. I will only recall a couple of figures I cited then: for every 100 euros invested in culture, 250 are added to GDP, and for every three jobs created in the sector, two more are generated in the private industry as a whole.

Last weekend I fulfilled my cultural activism and visited the Escher exhibition. I liked it. Although this Dutch artist has inspired album covers, comics, and even advertising, I didn't have his geometric universe very internalized, although I recognized some of the works that I now associate with him.

From that dreamlike world of forms within forms, I was particularly struck by Metamorphosis II, whose actual size is much smaller than the one reproduced at the museum entrance. The work is based on an evolution of forms. It starts from the geometric arrangement of the word metamorphosis, which transforms into squares, hexagons, insects, birds, fish, a village with a cathedral, and a cubic chessboard, to return to squares and end again with the word metamorphosis. It produced a hypnotic effect on me, as did some other works with which one can even interact. I would highlight a set of hanging white birds in a mirror enclosure that reproduce infinitely.

Some purists will say that culture cannot rely on the blockbuster phenomenon, and they are right. But only in part, in my opinion. Just as cinema is not only blockbusters and literature goes far beyond bestsellers. But it must be recognized that they help both industries, by attracting audiences to movie theaters and to reading. Furthermore, this first major exhibition on Escher and those to come will contribute to highlighting the entire Gothic complex of the Drassanes, a unique ensemble that was a factory for the galleys of the Crown of Aragon and later a barracks and artillery arsenal. It is almost a miracle that it has survived to this day, converted into the Museu Marítim and even preserving the only section of the wall that, until the mid-19th century, stifled the city's desire for economic and urban expansion.

These exhibitions are set in the spectacular Sala Gran, a 1,700 square meter hypostyle room that invites one to look up, abstract oneself for a few seconds, and admire the ceiling's architecture. The rental of this room for various events accounted for 30% of the museum's income before the pandemic. The agreement now with Arthemisa establishes that the Marítim will receive a fixed amount for each ticket sold.

The inclusion of the Marítim in this circuit of major exhibitions is a new element that will contribute to revitalizing and consolidating the Rambla-Paral·lel-Montjuïc cultural axis, an asset that Barcelona has not sufficiently exploited as a whole. Now we have the opportunity to strengthen this project, key for the city to display the muscle of its cultural capital. So far, more than 3,000 people have already visited the Escher exhibition at the Marítim.