Since 1871, a festival of modern culture has been held in Barcelona, where dancers, artists, singers and other representatives of contemporary art show what they got. Annually, La Merce invites 1 foreign country or organisation to share their culture with the festival attendants. This year, Kyiv and its installation became an invited foreign city.
The curator of the Ukrainian program was Kateryna Pidhaina, founder of the modern Ukrainian art gallery Test Gallery in Barcelona. She contacted the festival organisers and approved the Ukrainian program at the Institute of culture of Barcelona. So this year, guests and residents of Barcelona saw:
- Musical and dance performance of the Kyiv ballet Apache Crew;
- DJ set from the Ukrainian presenter and musician Daria Kolomyiets;
- Giant sculptures of Ukrainian Prince Volodymyr and his mother Princess Olha (baptisers of the Kyivan Rus, by the way);
- Musical shows of the Ukrainian singers DakhaBrakha, Gogol Bordello and Alyona Alyona.
Kyiv, replete with frescoes and murals, promised to gift Barcelona a mural. The artist and subject have not yet been announced.
