VENUES FOR MANIFESTA 8
Manifesta 8 and its accompanying art projects will take over a wide range of spaces including museums and art centres, but also historical buildings opened to the public for the first time, and other non-conventional sites. Seen as a whole, the various venues will become part of a tour acquainting the visiting public with Murcia and Cartagena, while introducing local residents to hitherto overlooked aspects of their home towns.
VENUES IN MURCIA
1. LOS MOLINOS DEL RÍO SEGURA HYDRAULIC MUSEUM AND SALA CABALLERIZAS
Today the old watermills on the Segura River in Murcia are used as the Cultural Centre and Hydraulic Museum, part of a heritage complex belonging to the City Council. The refurbishment project was commissioned from the architect/artist Juan Navarro Baldeweg, and it is considered a key example of 1980s architecture in Spain.
Its program of exhibitions, conferences and concerts is designed to connect the museum’s ethnographic and historic content with contemporary culture. Also part of this complex is Sala Caballerizas, one of the few surviving examples of 18th Century civil architecture in the city of Murcia. This unique building once housed the stables for the watermills and the Parador del Rey.
2. MUBAM (FINE ARTS MUSEUM OF MURCIA)
Strategically located in the city of Murcia, close to the university campus and the bullring, MUBAM is an eclectic building designed in 1910 by the architect Pedro Cerdán on the site of the former Trinidad Convent, and refurbished in 2005. MUBAM owns and exhibits a collection of paintings, sculpture and artefacts from the 16th to 19th Centuries. The museum has eight rooms over three floors plus an annex building, Edificio del Contraste, used for temporary exhibitions.
The Edificio del Contraste is currently being refurbished in order to extend its exhibition space. Two new halls will showcase part of the Manifesta 8 program.
3. ESPACIO AV
Espacio AV is located in Calle Santa Teresa, in former business premises in a space of more than 500 square metres, revamped by the architect Martín Lejárraga with a view to hosting regular exhibitions of contemporary art, photography and video. Architecturally, Espacio AV is a neutral “white cube”, so as not to interfere with the presentation of art works.
Espacio AV primarily produces its own shows, as well as collaborating with other museums and art centres, and occasionally hosting touring exhibitions, underscoring its research, production and educational focus on the art of today.
4. CENTRO PÁRRAGA
Centro Párraga, a centre for research and development of performing arts, is located in Pavilion 5 of the former Artillery Barracks. The architect Antonio Abellán was commissioned with the refurbishment and adaptation of the space, preserving the surrounding walls and the façade’s Neo-mudejar style. Noteworthy is the versatility and convertibility of Centro Párraga’s exhibition spaces. Espacio 0 was designed for the technical and spatial needs of performing arts, rehearsals, workshops and conferences. Other spaces, such as Espacio 3, Espacio 4, and particularly Espacio 5, were conceived for exhibition purposes, although the open-plan design and rectangular floorplans make them equally suitable for other activities.
5. PAVILION 2, ARTILLERY BARRACKS
Pavilion 2 of the former Artillery Barracks is located in Murcia’s popular Barrio del Carmen. The story of these Barracks dates back to the first quarter of the 20th Century, when the Ministry of War commissioned the construction of buildings to accommodate the 33rd Infantry Regiment of Seville. Comprising six pavilions, built from 1921 to 1926, the eclectic complex of buildings boasts many decorative elements borrowed from Al-Andalus.
Today, the newly refurbished Artillery Barracks is the powerhouse of contemporary cultural life in Murcia, comprising Centro Párraga (Centre for Research and Development of Performing Arts) and CENDEAC (Centre for Documentation and Advanced Studies of Contemporary Art).
Owned by the City Council of Murcia, Pavilion 2 is one of the two remaining buildings in the complex that still remain unused. However, with Manifesta 8 in mind, Pavilion 2 will be refurbished and opened to the public, hosting part of the biennial’s exhibition program.
6. FORMER POST OFFICE
The former Post Office remains an architectural icon with a strong presence in the urban memory of Murcia - to such an extent that the street where the building is located is popularly known as Calle Correos (Post Office Street).
In 1930, the architect Pedro Muguruza was commissioned with the design of this building. Muguruza, who ideologically supported the military uprising against the government of the Second Republic, played an important role in Franco’s regime in aesthetically redefining Spanish architecture following the end of the Civil War. He borrowed certain features from the Herrerian baroque style named after the celebrated 16th Century Spanish architect Juan de Herrera, as well as other references to the imperial Spain of the 16th and 17th Centuries.
The building was the headquarters of the central post office in Murcia until it was moved to a new building in the late 1980s. Since then the original building has been disused, gradually deteriorating until it was acquired by the Grupo Orenes in 1998 with a view to converting it into a leisure complex comprising a casino, a hotel, banquet halls and multipurpose rooms.
VENUES IN CARTAGENA
1. MURAM (Regional Museum of Modern Art)
Located in Palacio Aguirre, an eclectic modernista building designed by the architect Víctor Beltrí in 1901, MURAM is an emblematic example of the Belle Époque in Cartagena, coinciding with the prosperity of the local mining industry and business activity, which favoured the emergence of a bourgeoisie who supported the city’s political, social and cultural life.
During the 20th Century, the building has served several purposes: Mortgage Bank of Spain, Falange headquarters, Heritage Office, a centre for the elderly, and the People’s University. In 2009, MURAM was opened after the addition of an annex designed by the architect Martín Lejárraga to increase the exhibition space.
2. EL PARQUE CAFE-RESTAURANT
Built in the 1960s, El Parque Cafe-Restaurant is located on top of Cerro de la Concepcion, the highest of the five hills surrounding Cartagena. A typical example of the international architecture from the time, El Parque features an open, glass structure. Located in the landscaped environment of Parque Torres, the café was very popular for its wonderful views of the coast.
3. AUDOTORIUM, PARQUE TORRES
The auditorium in Parque Torres is close to the Roman Theatre and next to the El Parque Cafe-restaurant. Since it was opened, the amphitheatre has been used for most of the performances in the annual La Mar de Músicas International Festival. Its program, coinciding with Manifesta 8, will also include improvements currently being implemented.
4. ARQUA (NATIONAL MUSEUM OF UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY)
Located on the promenade in Cartagena, the new ARQUA (National Museum of Underwater Archaeology) was designed by Guillermo Vazquez Consuegra, winner of Spain’s National Architecture Award. The design was showcased at MOMA in New York. Apart from its outstanding permanent collection and program of temporary exhibitions, the museum also has a modern restaurant overlooking Cartagena bay.
Open to the sea, ARQUA is an ideal venue for the trans-continental dialogue proposed by Manifesta 8, the perfect setting for rethinking a history of cultural journeys and drawing new cartographies.
5. FORMER AUTOPSY PAVILION
Built in 1768, this pavilion was originally part of the Royal Navy Hospital. Surgeons used to take their anatomy classes in this building and it was also used for research during the epidemics that ravaged the city in 1785. In the 20th Century, due to its proximity to the old bullring, bulls were transported to the pavilion after bullfights. Today, the pavilion hosts exhibitions and art projects conceived specifically for the space.
6. SAN ANTÓN PRISON
The building work on the San Antón prison, with its unusual pentagonal plan, was finished towards the end of the Second Republic. After the Civil War, the prison was overcrowded with political prisoners. During the following decades, the San Antón prison forged a special relationship with its surrounding neighbourhood, becoming part of the community’s everyd
