CERCLE 1

25 N ot especially longago, inmid-December2013, I tookpart in an international colloquium in Italy in a small city I wasn’t especially familiarwith, whichwas part of the attrac- tion. Cuneo, close toTurin,was inwhite truffle season,which wasanevengreaterpull than the former.The titleof thecollo- quiumwasn’tparticularlystimulatingand in factplayeddown part of the real fascination in the topic: Attualitàdel Neogoti- co: il CuneoGotico. The intellectual father of the event, Enzo Biffi Gentili, the director of the MIAAOMuseum (Museu Internazionale Arte Applicate Oggi)—a place of worship in the centre of Turin, housed in the baroque San Filippo Neri church and oratory, byFilippo Juvarra. In fact, it isoneof themostoriginal centres for interdisciplinary arts exhibitions. However, this is not the moment to talkabout the limitsof art andartisanry. Asaper- sonwhohas collaboratedonvariousoccasionswithoutbeing toomuchof apain, Iwill quote thewelcomeof his exhibition La sindrome di Leonardo:Artedesign in Italia 1940-1975 at the Pia Almoina-DiocesanMuseum in 1995. On the occasion of the centenary of theMostra di ArteDecorative aTorino in 1002, IorganisedanexhibitiononGaudí forhim,withauthen- tic fragmentsof thegeniusarchitect’swork, at theCircolode- gliArtisti di Torino - an institutionasvintageasourown, and withwhomwewere later twinned. Whether talking about themore recent relationship, having participatedwitha contribution to theFestival d’Archittetura di Torino in June2012, or in either of the two catalogues, the Album nero from his exhibition Il Futuro nellemani: Artieri domani for Italy’s150thanniversary, or indeedeven inBarce- lona, I remember tasksweundertook together such asMani- pulacions Piemonteses (1997) at the recently vanished (and greatly mourned) Sala Vinçon, or Monuments Futurs at the COAC (CatalanOfficialArchitects’ College) in2001. Imention thispersonal hagiographyasmypresenceat the aforementionedcolloquiumcoincidedwith thepreparationof acourseat theMartin theHumaneFoundationonHistoryand Art in the city of Barcelona, tobe presented at theBarcelona ArtisticCircle (Royal by thegraceof the rovingBourbonKing AlphonseXIII in1917). I had todo the contemporary section andduring the explanation of the course, Iwanted tounder- line the link between our society and the formation of our headquarters (the Pignatelli Palace and Bassols House, both acquired in 1959) and the creation of the Gothic Quarter for touristicandcultural reasons. Andso I added thisdiscourse into theCuneoColloquium, that forusNeo-Gothicwaspartof a foundational styleofmoderni- ty in theCatalan lands—Modernisme— that is often expres- sedwith the French termArt Nouveau. And that it was only in Catalonia - who knows why - where Neo-Gothic becomes a trendswithin themodernistmovement. I only need to cite the three great architecuts Domènech i Muntaner, Puig i Ca- dafalch and Gaudí, all of whom drink from the fount of the MiddleAges.Quitedefinitively, for themNeo-Gothicbecamea necessity toexpressnational representation.TheMiddleAges was thehighpoint of theCatalanCrown, stretching fromBar- celona to Athens, including the Italian islands as well as the Balearics, and down to Naples. I had to calm them, assuring them thatmodernCatalannationalismhasno intentionof an- nexing Italian territory, nor are we as crazed or out-of-time as thebrainless ISISbloodseekers. ANeo-Gothic that ismore theatrical inDomènech iMuntaner andPuig i Cadafalch, and more structural andmystical inGaudí. Recent studies, like theonepublishedbyCócola 1 in2001 , in- terpret Neo-Gothic as the armoured chariot of our enlighte- nedbourgeoisie. The reconstruction or invention of the Gothic Quarter (or Cathedral District as our great-grandparents called it) in the 19th and20th centuries is the expressionof aprogramme of monumentalisation in thecity for thegreatergloryof tourism —which itself has entered a period of crisis and discussion as an industry that hasbecome theprime local business. Dalí makes reference to this fact, anddoesn’t speakwell of it inhis clearly futurism-inspired1928YellowManifesto (sharedwith Gasch iMontanyà), aswell as inotherpieceshewrote. I don’t wish to be rude or an apprentice coprophagist, I’mmerely transcribingwhat thegenius saidon the topic inMay1928at thepresentationof thismanifest: Our artists are fervent lovers of shit. And so, whenour artists, who are loversof theruinous,macabreandputrefied lookofarchaeology wereconsultedon thesolution tobegiven to theGothicQuarter, no- body thought about destroying it, as this gothicquarter is themost dreadful, uncomfortableand shameful place. Thecurrenthomeof theBarcelonaArtisticCircle is, asCócola mentioned,thelastexpressionofNeo-GothicinBarcelonauntil theendofthe1960s.Anoblebuildingbelongingtoarichfamily Distruzione (1911), undelsprimersassajosde literatura futurista. Regal a l’entitat pel seuautor. Arxiu-BibliotecadelRCAB / unode losprimerosensayos sobre literatura futurista, regaladoa laentidadpor suautor. Archivo-Bibliotecadel RCAB /Oneof the first essaysabout futurist literature, agift to theRCAB libraryby courtesyof itsauthor.©RCAB. TheCircle and theContemporary Identity andHistory (1)