Bilbao bound!

 

The City

 

It’s a well worn and well heeled city! It’s a city that the deeper you go the more you feel at home. It’s a city that has its own clock but it’s not compulsory. It’s a city that caters for the latecomers and the early risers. It’s a city that has shared mobility. It’s a city that has seats for viewing and taking a breath. It’s a city easy to find a seat. It’s a city that runs on food and wine. It’s a city that has a human scale. It’s a city that exudes friendliness. It’s a city that also exudes acceptance. It’s a city with a morality. It’s a city that stands up for what it believes. It’s a city that expresses……

Real Jardin Botanico

 

Today we walked the Real Jardín Botánico with its collection of over 5,500 species of live plants. The current location is not coincidental as it is the result of the enlightened monarch or ‘city mayor’  Carlos III’s. 

His wish to create a complex dedicated to the natural sciences in Madrid is why it is next to what is now the Prado Museum, which was built in the late 18th century to house the Museum of Natural History. 

The scientific spirit albeit a consequence of colonialism supports all kinds of educational activities such as conferences and exhibitions. 

The photos taken speak to the gardens but also the art to the gardens. 

“Day and Night. Rhythms of the Soul” is an exhibition in the Real Jardin Botanico  Pavilion organised by the Royal Botanical Garden in collaboration with Villa del Arte Galleries Barcelona and the Dutch artist Claudy Jongstra.

The exhibition is curated by Bert van Zetten, and is “a dialogue between art, fashion, and nature to reflect on some of today's major environmental challenges, such as the loss of natural habitats, the preservation of native flora, and the environmental impact of wool use and waste in the textile industry”.

“The exhibition includes designs by Marcos Luengo, created with textiles from the LOADS collection by Claudy and Jesk Jongstra, the first internationally Demeter-certified biodynamic textile brand committed to luxury textile production based on responsible ecological and ethical practices”.

War begets way

 The CaixaForum Madrid is a cultural centre in the heart of Madrid and was a former power station, it is owned by the not-for-profit banking foundation "la Caixa" and  opened its doors in 2008 and hosts temporary art exhibitions and cultural events.

The exhibition is titled ‘I AM ASURBANIPAL. KING OF THE WORLD, KING OF ASSYRIA’ traces through images, artefacts and digital imaging the life and times of Ashurbanipal, the King of Assyria and King of the Universe who ruled from 669 to 631 BC. 

The King of Assyria employed both violence and terror whilst housing in his palace a library of cuneiform tablets with the ambition of compiling all existing knowledge and the spread of artistic styles, schools of thought, and human migrations throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The contradictions are stark. 

But whilst we are directed to travel through the collection symbolising the life and times of this all powerful king and the expansion of his empire through wars and its ultimate defeat at the hands of its vengeful enemies it is the final room with its focus on the Iraqi wars (Gulf War 1990 - 91) and the 2014 - 2017 destruction by Islamic State of the cultural heritage of Iraq including the ancient sites of the King of Assyria that the exhibition hits home. War begets War!

Museo La Neomudejar



A space of epic and decaying proportions that would overwhelm most art and the work of artists. However the space was filled with an industrial world past and a country striving to find its future in a tumultuous time. 

“30 Years of Irreverence and Vision in the Fuentes Angarita Collection

February 25 – April 26, 2026

A journey through three decades of resistance, identity, and critical thought.

With more than 100 works and 68 artists, this exhibition is not just a display of contemporary art; it is the living archive of one of the most significant private collections of political art in Latin America. Through the eyes of artist and collector Andreína Fuentes Angarita, we enter a territory where art does not offer definitive answers, but rather activates an intimate revolution of thought.

Curated by Néstor Prieto and Omar Castañeda, the exhibition unfolds in four sections that function as spaces for reflection on the "collective self," the experience of the diaspora, and queer identity.

Venezuela: Cartography of a Wound

Venezuela is not just a country: it is a wound that moves.

A geography marked by broken promises, excesses and absences, by a wealth that shone like a mirage and ultimately revealed its fragility. Over the last three decades, its history has been written between euphoria and collapse, between the yearning for justice and the erosion of the common good”.