BARCELONA.- The Fundació Joan Miró presents A place where artists have the right to fail. Stories of Espai 10 and Espai 13 at the Fundació Joan Miró, an exhibition on the programming of emergent art in these two spaces since 1978.

In 2013 Espai 13 celebrated its thirty-five years in existence. The exhibition A place where..., which will be open from 14 March until 25 May, and the publication marking the occasion will commemorate this anniversary.

The exhibition, with Manuel Segade as its curator, is organised around seven thematic chapters that show and explain the links between different artistic generations and languages over the past four decades.

A place where... brings together a total of sixty works, representing the more than 250 exhibitions programmed for Espai 10 and Espai 13. This is the first time that works produced for these two spaces will occupy the temporary exhibition rooms of the Foundation.

The exhibition A place where... reviews the body of artistic creation arising from the regular programming for Espai 10 and Espai 13. The former was opened in 1978 and was moved to another part of the Foundation in 1989 after Sert’s building was renovated, whereupon it became known as Espai 13. Taking as its starting point a selection from the works produced throughout its history, the exhibition presents this space as a laboratory that has served as a testing ground for artists and curators.

The exhibition opens with a chronology showing the history of Espai 10 and Espai 13 from the beginnings of the Fundació Joan Miró in 1975 through to the present day. From its very inception, the programming for this space has aimed at responding to the needs of the sector and also to Joan Miró’s desire to create an experimental venue for the projects of young artists. The space has embraced both the local art scene and emergent art in the international sphere, showing the work of almost five hundred artists and thirty curators since it first opened its doors.

Structure and Layout
The task of reviewing the last four decades of emergent art has enabled the exhibition curator, Manuel Segade, to analyse artistic trends and movements and to identify points of contact between different generations and practices. Seven thematic chapters have been established on the basis of these relationships and will occupy the exhibition spaces with the following titles: Pictorial Phenomena, Sculptured Objects, Culture and Nature, Phenomenology of the Body, Postcolonialisms, Processes and Events, and The Uses of Popular Culture.

The sixty works brought together for this show are fragments from earlier exhibitions, taking the form of a temporary collection. The exhibition design by the artist Xabier Salaberria consists of a series of modules and devices by means of which the pieces are presented with the aim of giving coherence to this wide-ranging narrative. Salaberria’s pieces are functional sculptures that house other pieces, somewhere between exhibition design and autonomous works.

At the end of the exhibition there is an information area where visitors can find the catalogues and publications that have been produced throughout the programming of Espai 10 and Espai 13.