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Indepth Arts News:
"Cosmopolis. Borges and Buenos Aires"
2002-10-31 until 2003-02-16
Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona
Barcelona, ,
ES Spain
This 29 October, the CCCB presents COSMOPOLIS. Borges and Buenos Aires, the fourth exhibition in the cycle Cities and their Writers, which opened in 1995 with James Joyce’s Dublin. Every two years, this cycle presents an exhibition about a writer who has established a critical and passionate relationship with his or her city, exploring all the nuances of the urban world with imagination and freedom.
The title of the exhibition, curated by Juan Insua, takes as its departure point the cosmopolitan attitude which, with variations and nuances, breathes life into the evolution of the ethic and aesthetic of Jorge Luís Borges.
Like the previous exhibitions in this cycle, COSMOPOLIS. Borges and Buenos Aires aims to trace the relationship between the writer and the city of his birth. An exploration of this relationship necessarily involves an immersion into the history of Argentina and the life of Borges. With its sights set on the literary evolution of the Argentinian writer, the exhibition analyses how Borges mythically founded his city, moving from the specific setting (Buenos Aires) of his early works to a universal city, in one of the century’s most singular aesthetic operations. The exhibition also aims to situate the main themes of Borges’ world (mirrors, tigers, labyrinths, the Other, etc.) in a new light. All this with the ultimate purpose of expounding the stylistic evolution of his work, from the baroque tone which characterises his beginnings to the simple mastery of his best known texts and his final desire for an almost anonymous style of writing.
A basic feature of the cycle Cities and their Writers has always been to create a differentiated aesthetic experience which allows us to continue exploring the resources and limits of the exhibition genre. The mounting of COSMOPOLIS therefore offers a unique experience, with the inclusion of original objects such as manuscripts, magazines, first editions, previously unexhibited photographs, works by his friends and teachers, books from his personal library, historical documents about the city and a selection of the main lectures and television interviews given by the writer.
COSMOPOLIS. Borges and Buenos Aires aims to trace the relationship between the writer and the city of his birth. This necessarily involves an immersion into the history of Argentina and the life of Borges. The exhibition also analyses the literary evolution of the Argentinian writer, leading from a specific setting to a universal city, in one of the century’s most singular aesthetic operations. Thirdly, it aims to situate the main themes of Borges’ world (mirrors, tigers, labyrinths, the Other, etc.) in a new light. The exhibition’s ultimate purpose is to expound the stylistic evolution of Borges’ work, from the baroque tone which characterises his beginnings to the simple mastery of his canonical texts and his final desire for an almost anonymous style of writing.
Not forgetting the basic feature of the cycle Cities and their Writers, the creation of a differentiated aesthetic experience which allows us to continue exploring the resources and limits of the exhibition genre: the exhibition includes manuscripts, magazines, first editions, previous unexhibited photographs, works by his friends and teachers, books from his personal library, historic documents about the city and a selection of the main lectures and television interviews given by the writer.
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