Actress Berta Giraut is one of the most multifaceted and restless figures on the Catalan scene, and one of the most literary. In addition to dedicating herself to acting, in 2020 she published the poetry collection "Com l'estel que no hi és" (El Gall Editor), and she has also directed, is the author of several theatrical texts, and works as a teacher of diction and oral expression. Her latest show as an actress is "L’última entrevista (Roig/Capmany)", in which she has stepped into the shoes of Montserrat Roig in an interview with Maria Aurèlia Capmany, who is played by Anna Güell. It was one of the successes of the past Grec festival and is scheduled to return in May 2027. "In all these works there is a lot of love for poetry, and lately I have investigated a lot about the dialogue between poetry and theater," explains Giraut. The book she recommends is a novel "very hard but very sincere and very authentic": "Génie la boja", by Inès Cagnati (Quid Pro Quo Edicions). "It is a very brief novel, it seems like a poem. It reaches your heart directly, and we lack things that truly touch our soul," says Giraut.

Dromedaries are not native to the Balearic Islands, but, nevertheless, they have been exploited as a tourist attraction. Architect Olga Subirós, curator of the DHub's major exhibition Matter matters, recommends an essay on one of these cases, Treinta mil dromedarios, by writer and traveler Patricia Almarcegui, published by H&O Editorial. Almarcegui recalls the story of Mohammed, one of the three dromedaries brought to Mallorca in the 1960s. "From what might seem like a simple anecdote, the author tells us about the beginning of a process of touristification that still endures, based on exoticization, over-urbanization, and resource exploitation," explains Subirós. The book's title refers to the fact that Almarcegui discovered Mohammed's story on a postcard of which around 30,000 copies were made, with an image showing Mohammed on a beach carrying three women in swimsuits. "It is a brief book with humor and irony, but also with a clear ecological and social conscience," says Subirós.

Maria Buhigas, head architect of Barcelona City Council, talks about her reading with contagious enthusiasm. She assures that she can have up to twenty books on her nightstand, from comics to essays. One after another, she reads them all. The last one she finished is an essay in English that she bought almost ten years ago, Ninety percent of everything [The 90% of everything], by Rose George. "I alternate books that are a bit more freaky with novels and other more frivolous readings to pass the time," says Buhigas. "When I was young, I read many classics – she adds – and now I am very interested in contemporary novels and essays." The book that Buhigas recommends, Solito, by Javier Zamora, published in Catalan by Edicions del Periscopi; it is one of the books that allows her to discover other realities.

The photographs of the North American Minor White (1908-1976) are like strips of his skin. "All his work is very personal," explains Carlos Gollonet, the photography curator at the Mapfre Foundation and curator of the exhibition of the photographer that can be seen at the KBr center until September 6. "In his photographs it is impossible to discover what his feelings were, but they are nonetheless permeated by his way of transmitting emotions and of making the viewer a participant in his vision of photography, which goes beyond what is seen in the photographed image – explains Gollonet–. At that time it was very innovative that he left a space for the viewer to complete the photograph with their emotions, memories, and experiences."

The architect couple formed by Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats, known for being the authors of Sala Beckett in Barcelona, continues to receive international recognition. After the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Arc en Rêve architecture center in Bordeaux has welcomed them with open arms, and until January 17th, it dedicates a major exhibition to them based on their vision of how to intervene in historic buildings. Emotional heritage is three times larger than the space they had at the Venetian Arsenal. On the opening night, the auditorium was packed, and the audience began to applaud before Flores and Prats started speaking. Afterwards, a dinner of honor with paella (à la française).

The darkest side of 20th-century America: boredom, loneliness, racial segregation, and inequality. Photographer Robert Frank marked a turning point in the history of photography with Americans, a photo album with which he revealed the fractures of North American society. He said he wanted to make the invisible visible. His photographs are full of downcast gazes and anonymous characters, those who do not usually appear in photographs. There are also many record players,which the poet Allen Ginsberg said looked like hearses. "My photographs speak of the anxiety and misery of people on the social periphery, of black and white, of a sometimes evident despair," said Frank. The book stirred up a storm among the most conservative and they branded it anti-American. The 83 photographs that make it up, out of the 28,000 he took, can be seen for the first time in Spain at the Telefónica Foundation in Madrid in one of the main exhibitions of the 29th edition of the PhotoEspaña festival. "The American flags mark the four parts of the book, but they are always wrinkled, or even dirty," points out Maria Brancós, head of exhibitions and collections at the Telefónica Foundation. "Frank subverts American symbols and uses clichés in a very passionate way," points out Brancós. "The Americans is a very brave act, it marked Frank for life", he adds.

The Japanese-American artist Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) had every obstacle against her. But she succeeded, becoming one of the most important American sculptors of the second half of the 20th century, as can be seen in the retrospective dedicated to her by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao until September 13, organized by MoMA San Francisco and MoMA New York, in collaboration with the Guggenheim New York. Asawa carved out her own niche with weightless sculptures made of woven wire, evocative of plant and marine forms. These are transparent, porous works. They are very often hung from the ceiling. And an extraordinary feature of her working method was that she integrated it into her family life.

The artist and patron Teresa Vall Palou, considered a benchmark of abstract painting, died on Sunday at the age of 75, as reported by the Vallpalou Foundation, of which she was president. The artist's death occurred just a few months after several shows of recognition: the Miguel Marcos gallery in Barcelona dedicated the exhibition El vitalisme del color to her in May, and in March, this same gallery, Bonart Cultural and the Tomás y Valiente Art Center in Fuenlabrada (Madrid) had jointly organized the exhibition about the artist the exhibition about the artist Atmosferes cromàtiques.Vall Palou's painting is characterized by its introspective and experimental nature. "His painting, both rigorous and instinctive, is part of a line of organic abstraction in which nature, biology, and color are fundamental elements", could be read in the presentation text ofThe Vitalism of Color. In Vall Palou's compositions, color, gesture, and matter are key, with which he wanted to express intimate emotions and tensions. “I don't like easy art. I believe in difficulty, one must take risks”, said the artist, who participated in numerous individual and collective exhibitions in Catalonia and the rest of Spain, in France, and in Germany. His work is present in institutions such as the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona, the Public Library of Lleida, and Acció Cultural del País Valencià.

"I saw her and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I don't remember how I explained my presence or my camera, but I do remember that she didn't ask me any questions." The photographer Dorothea Lange recalled in these words how she took her most famous photograph and one of the most iconic of the 20th century; Migrant Mother, a portrait of Florence Owens Thompson and three of her seven children. As can be seen in the exhibition dedicated to her by the XIV Xavier Miserachs Photography Biennial at the Bòbila Cultural Space in Palafrugell from this Sunday until October 18, this photograph is the culmination of how Lange progressively approached this woman, who was struggling to survive in a camp in Nipomo (California), while her husband and one of her children had gone to the city to have the car's radiator repaired so they could continue their journey. "There have been many women photographers, but unfortunately they are much less known than men. Dorothea Lange is an essential photographer in the history of photography," affirms the director of the Biennial, Maria Planas. "She worked with a Graflex camera, which was very heavy. She had polio when she was seven years old and managed to take all these photographs despite having mobility problems, which she concealed very well," says Planas.

The 50th edition of the Grec Festival will conclude this Friday with 144,714 spectators, approximately 16,000 more than in 2025, as reported this Thursday by the Councilor for Culture of the Barcelona City Council, Xavier Marcé, and the director of the Grec Festival, Leticia Martín. This Thursday and Friday will feature the last performances of this edition at the Montjuïc amphitheater, specifically the show "Um julgamento", starring Wagner Moura. As Martín assures, the main reason for the increase in audience is that there have been "more sessions at the Grec Theatre", which has a capacity of around 1,950 seats. The festival's average attendance has been 71%, 9% less than in 2025, a decrease that Martín attributes to the fact that this year there were "larger venues" such as the Teatre Apolo that were not fully occupied. This edition, over 200,000 tickets were put on sale, while last year it was 164,000.

Shaved and with short hair like a recruit, the Brazilian actor Wagner Moura almost goes unnoticed. The star of the series Narcos, nominated for an Oscar for his role to The secret agent, it is in Barcelona to finish this edition of the Grec Festival with A judgment [A trial], the show directed by Christiane Jatahy and written in collaboration with Moura himself and fellow actor Danilo Grangheia. The show, which can be seen this Thursday and Friday at the Teatre Grec, resumes the story of the protagonist of An enemy of the people, the doctor Thomas Stockmann, played by Moura himself. Two years after the end of Henrik Ibsen's play, the character returns to his city to demand a neutral process to prove his positions. On stage, this is realized by the fact that each night the character undergoes the judgment of eleven people who have registered before the performance and are randomly selected to form a jury.

The government of Aragon once again attacks the MNAC. The vice-president of the government of Aragon, Mar Vaquero, accused the museum's officials this Tuesday of new "dilatory practices" in the return of the mural paintings from the monastery of Sixena, and of failing to comply for eleven weeks with the schedule set by the magistrate of court number 2 of Huesca, Rocío Vergas. Vaquero explained in a press conference that they have already presented the allegations to the court of Huesca regarding the risk assessment report on the mural paintings submitted to the court by the MNAC, and two more documents: an evaluation of this report and another with information about the monastery of Sixena, the reserve areas where the works will arrive, and their conditions.

New milestone for 20th-century architecture: UNESCO has declared thirteen works by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) World Heritage. Among the recognized buildings are some of Aalto's most famous works, such as the Paimio Sanatorium, Villa Mairea, the Experimental House of Muuratsalo, and two works the architect made for himself: the dwelling and a studio. "Rooted in Finnish building traditions and yet open to global modernist ideas, the works express a human-centered, site-specific, and empathetic vision that distinguishes Finland's contribution to modern architecture," states the UNESCO press release, which highlights the architect's collaboration with his first wife, Aino Marsio-Aalto, and with his second, Elissa Aalto, as well as with the workers in his studio.

The art historian, critic, and exhibition curator Joan Maria Minguet Batllori (Cornellà de Llobregat, 1958), a retired professor from the UAB, is a restless and incisive mind. He assures that his new book "Contra l'obediència. Per acabar amb els consensos de l'art" (Raig Verd) is a summary of his career and how he began to rethink it about fifteen years ago. "I go very much against things that I myself had said," he states.

Singer Julio Iglesias has filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court against the second vice-president of the Spanish government, Yolanda Díaz, for "illegitimate interference with the right to honor and personal privacy", due to publications about the singer that Díaz made on her Bluesky account; and requests that she compensate him with 50,000 euros for moral damages.

Change of script in the Catalan pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennale, promoted by the Institut Ramon Llull. According to what ARA has been able to find out, the Llull is pausing to rethink it and add partners, among whom may be the Barcelona City Council, the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, the Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya and the Departament de Territori. Initially, the pavilion for the next edition will not be part of the official program as a collateral event of the Biennale. And instead of a project selected through a competition, as is usual, the Llull will bring to its space at Docks Cantieri Cucchini an adapted version of the exhibition Seny i rauxa. News of Catalan architecture, currently on display at the Dhub until September 6. The exhibition is a production of the Barcelona City Council within Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture.

The architect Denise Scott Brown was born in 1931 in Nkana, Zambia, with the surname Lakofski, which she changed upon marrying her first husband, the also architect Robert Scott Brown, who tragically died in an accident in 1959. As seen in the exhibition that the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum dedicates to her until August 16, her training as an architect began in South Africa and continued in London and Philadelphia, where she met the architect Robert Venturi, whom she would marry in 1967. Their studio was one of the most influential in the second half of the 20th century. Together with Steven Izenour, Venturi and Scott Brown wrote the essay Learning from Las Vegas, which marked a turning point in architecture. However, Venturi received the accolades. The most significant grievance Scott Brown suffered was being excluded from the Pritzker Prize that Venturi received in 1991. In 2013, she stated in a speech that they owed her not the prize, but "a ceremony of inclusion." In fact, Scott Brown did not accompany Venturi to the Pritzker ceremony. Thus, this exhibition, Scott Brown's first retrospective, is an act of justice.

The Sant Jordi Club was, in reality, a training ground annexed to the Palau Sant Jordi. For decades, however, the Sant Jordi Club has functioned as a concert hall with the quality of a shoebox, and as a residual piece in the ensemble of the Olympic Ring of Montjuïc. The access and surroundings are rather depressing. The winning project for the new Sant Jordi Club, which was made public this Wednesday, aims to break with all these inertias: the architect Jorge Vidal (Barcelona, 1980) and the Parisian studio Bruther, formed by Stéphanie Bru and Alexandre Thériot; have won the competition convened by Barcelona Serveis Municipals (BSM) with a project that, beyond a new building, includes improving the connection with the southern sector of the Olympic Ring and the landscape restoration of the surroundings. The future Sant Jordi Club will have a capacity for 9,000 people, almost triple the current 3,500. The Vidal i Bruther project is characterized by its flexibility of use. To create good acoustics, it proposes the construction of a rather hermetic acoustic box within the building. The technical equipment will allow it to be divided into smaller spaces with dividing panels, from 1,000 people, and it will also be possible to create specific layouts for events such as congresses and fashion shows. The objective is to be able to hold concerts simultaneously at the Palau Sant Jordi and the Sant Jordi Club and for the audiences to be able to cross paths. The budget is around 70 million euros. The forecast is to inaugurate part of the building in 2029.

The team formed by BAAS architecture and h3o architects has won the competition convened by BIMSA for the rehabilitation of the Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu de Barcelona complex. The project includes the rehabilitation and expansion of the spaces of the Biblioteca de Catalunya and the future District Library, as well as the rehabilitation of the theater, the chapel, the Icub offices, and various common spaces. The approximate budget for the work is 29.6 million euros.

The painting Wounded Militiaman, by Francisco Mateos, preserved at the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), is in an irrecoverable state. What happened to it? Has its condition worsened over time? Did the painter have anything to do with it? All the answers can be found in the corresponding episode of the series The Science of Art, a production by the museum and Cábala Films, with the associated production of CaixaForum+. The reconstruction of 'Wounded Militiaman' is one of the six episodes that are now available on CaixaForum+. Exceptionally, the making of the documentary led to the painting being exhibited, despite its poor state of conservation, accompanied by a reconstruction made by the artist Pilar Rosado with the help of AI.