RCAB 2

43 A ntonio Serés i Figueras is a doctor in Medicine and Surgery and has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona. He directs the Barcelo- na Art Institute, an entity dependent on the Barce- lona Artistic Circle, which will soon open its doors to barcelonés society, offering a wide and highly interesting programme of taught open courses to anyone who wishes to attend or widen their artis- tic knowledge, both theoretical and practical. Why does the Circle bear the title of an Institute that has never existed? Incorporated in 1940, the Institute was created to fo- llow the precepts of the aims of an institution like the Barcelona Royal Artistic Circle: research, teaching and the promotion of art. 75 years have passed. In the va- rious proceedings that I have been able to revise there is an assumption that the work done by the Circle then was under the aegis of an institute, although never in the form of an institute per se. The BRAC has always taken great care over its responsibility as a reference point, as a documentary archive of artistic events in Barcelona and in other parts of the world. The advisory base to develop this research has been in place since the beginning. And why now? The current governing body of the BRAC is at a moment in which many elements favourable to the launching of the Institute per se are coming together: such as the pre- sence of board members with the academic titles and motivation necessary to definitively construct the bases of something that will undoubtedly be one of the Circle’s great achievements. And, essentially what will be the function of the Institute? The BRAC, via its Institute, wants to get closer to Barce- lona society, thus fulfilling one of its main objectives of research, teaching, and the promotion and publication of art and culture. To do this, it is essential to be present in the various enclaves of the city, so making it easy for any kind of person interested in the varied educational disciplines offered by the Institute to participate. And what are the differences between the Institute and any other pre-existing official training? The Institute offers a complete artistic training through a interdisciplinary system of knowledge transferral. That is to say, theoretical-practical education based on acquiring knowledge that condition the creation of ar- tistic projects and the artistic processes of each of the periods that we study. Anyone who is interested in art or anything related to art, whatever experience or pre- vious education they have, can have access to the study programme offered by the Institute (after an interview), just as the Artistic Circle has been doing to the last 135 years of its history. Nobody has even been denied entry on purely aca- demic reasons. I believe that an artist cannot afford to live in ignorance. So you are suggesting that artists are lacking training? Obviously this is something that cannot be generalised and moreover today there are generations of young artists coming out that are highly trained and understand the importance of human knowledge within art. In fact, over the last thirty years, the people that have attained the greatest levels of recognition worldwide, both in terms of critiques and the art market, are artists trained to the highest level. However, there are all of those who, despite having attained a certain local level of re- cognition, suffer from a complete lack of ‘becauses’ or reasons. A virtuoso at creating images does not an artist make. The interdisciplinary system planned by the Institute seems a little unconventional – are there previous examples? Yes, there have been. One of the most representative of these was Bauhaus, one of the greatest collections of an era’s artists, all interested in studying their context and the possibility of changing it through art, but nearly all of these schools disap- peared, absorbed by the chaos of war. And when is the Institute planning to open? I think that by spring we will have practically everything in place to open our door. Before that, we plan to have a formal presentation at the BRAC, open to both members and to Bar- celona society, where we will explain the details of the process and open up a wide-ranging debate. “An artist cannot afford to live in ignorance” Foto/Photo Víctor Saavedra