ART Situacions III exhibition wraps up in Barcelona and gears up for its Parisian tour

The patronage project ART Situacions brings together the work of ten emerging artists: five Spanish and five French

The artists have been selected by María de Corral, Lorena Martínez de Corral, Chus Martínez, and Vicent Todolí

The exhibition, which was first seen during the last edition of ARCOmadrid and then in Barcelona, begins its international tour next spring in the French capital

View of the ART Situacions III exhibition at the Centre d’Art la Capella. Photo: Pep Herrero

ART Situacions III closed this November 5 its first tour in Barcelona, where it could be seen at the Centre d’Art la Capella. The patronage project ART Situacions, which has been promoting the diffusion of the youngest sector of contemporary art for more than a decade, is now preparing to start its French stage, which will begin in Paris next spring. The dates for this exhibition, which dialogues the work of five Spanish artists and five French artists, will be announced in the coming days.

ART Situacions has supported each of them in the production of a total of 10 new works created for the occasion, which will be shown alongside a selection of representative pieces by the Spanish artists Elena Aitzkoa, Nora Aurrekoetxea, Lucía Bayón, Aleix Plademunt, and Pablo Capitán del Río, and the French Salomé Chatriot, Marie-Luce Nadal, Benoît Piéron, Elsa Brès, and Yoan Sorin.

“Faithful to our commitment, each of the artists has been able to create a new work for this exhibition. I feel fortunate to be able to share what was the great desire of my wife, Pilar Forcada: that young emerging artists express their art with total freedom,” says Marcel Pascual, general director of Honda – Greens Power Products and head of ART Situacions.

The exhibition space has been scenographically designed by Olga Subirós, an architect who has worked on setting up exhibitions in museums such as MACBA or the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum. For Chus Martínez, a member of the selection committee along with María de Corral, Lorena Martínez de Corral, and Vicent Todolí: “These projects are done so that the public can get to know the artists, so that we all learn to value what it means to work on artistic production from the beginning, but we also do it so that the artists can get to know each other”.

“As a businessman, I felt obligated to contribute to the promotion of culture. With my wife Pilar Forcada, we were always clear that we had a moral obligation to give back to society some of what it had given us. And as we both were art lovers, we thought we could help in making young creators known,” Pascual emphasizes.“To contribute to enriching the artistic fabric, the show, which will later travel to France, has the support of Turner publishing for the edition of a book whose common thread is a text by Chus Martínez. “The featured artists form an eclectic group, both formally and materially, seeking to address the need for tenderness and care, as well as a new love for life”, Martínez assures.

View of the ART Situacions III exhibition at the Art Center la Capella. Photo: Pep Herrero

A patronage project and a passion for art

Aware of the scarcity of opportunities facing the younger sector of contemporary art, ART Situacions, born from the personal desire of the Catalan collector couple Pilar Forcada and Marcel Pascual to contribute to invigorating the artistic fabric, was founded in 2011 to promote emerging art through financial support for creation. As a result, two editions have already been held. The first took place in 2012 with Portugal as the guest country and included the participation of Spanish artists Patricia Dauder, Pepe Cifuentes, Francesc Ruiz, Juan López Díez, Miki Leal, Jaime de la Jara, Santiago Giralda, Nuria Fuster, and the Portuguese Mauro Cerqueira and Carla Filipe. The second was held in 2016 with the Italian artists Ludovica Carbotta, Gabriele de Santis, Anna Franceschini, Diego Marcon, and Alek O., and the Spaniards Miren Doiz, José Guerrero, Rubén Guerrero, Teresa Solar Abboud, and Anna Talens.

After the death of Pilar Forcada in 2021, her husband Marcel Pascual, collector and general director of Honda-Greens, has assumed the direction of ART Situacions with the intention of continuing the project in memory of his wife and their shared passion for art for over 50 years. “For almost half a century we have built together an eclectic and diverse collection, where alongside recognized artists we incorporate works of emerging promises,” states Marcel Pascual. “It has given us many joys to have contributed with our support to a good number of artists being able to dedicate themselves exclusively to creation”.

Additionally, between 2017 and 2022, ART Situacions convened the annual ART Situacions ARCOmadrid Prize to recognize the best emerging artwork of the fair. Its winners have been: Antonio Ballester Moreno (2017), Carlos Irijalba (2018), Patricia Gómez and María Jesús González (2019), Asunción Molinos Gordo (2020), and Irma Álvarez-Laviada (2022).