In Barcelona's Poble-sec neighborhood, cuisine and art have been united since last year to create artworks that question our relationship with food. From April to June, the El Sortidor Civic Center, specialized in gastronomy, hosts alPlat, a free cycle of cultural activities that transforms El Sortidor's kitchen into a space for expression and reflection.
The exhibition that kicked off the edition, and which runs until June 13, is called Comensalitat. It consists of a long table that hosts, on one side, seven plates decorated by residents of Poble-sec with the accompaniment of artist Ignacio Castelli, and on the other, fourteen more made by artists from the neighborhood. Gerard Calderón is the director of El Sortidor and explains that the objective was to recreate an "imperial banquet" with artistic interventions made with materials such as paint or plasticine.
The residents' plates were created in a workshop at this facility, and those by the artists are the result of an open call. The premise for all of them was that the plates should tell stories. Among the interventions by local artists, Ausencia, by Daniela Cortés, stands out, which, through two dolls embracing on a plate, addresses the issue of migration, or Burrito frito, by Agustín Centollo, which talks about the crisis in Argentina and specifically criticizes the rural producer Julio Cittadini, who has promoted the commercialization of donkey meat. Also noteworthy is the work of Anital Cortés, who has illustrated the plate with tattoo ink, and Plat Endreça, by the artistic collective Lacocota, which refers to the Barcelona City Council's Pla Endreça.
Collaboration with Antoni Miralda
Overall, the project has featured the collaboration of a renowned artist who has been uniting gastronomy and art for years: Antoni Miralda. He, along with Montse Guillén, is the driving force behind Food Cultura, a non-profit organization dedicated to food culture based in the Poblenou neighborhood.
Specifically, Miralda has designed the stomachs that have decorated the ten-meter tablecloths baptized as MANTEL- STMK, on which the plates rest. The idea is for visitors to draw what they associate with being a diner at a table. With these different elements, the proposal invites collective reflection around food and digestion.
From Sortidor they are satisfied to be able to collaborate with Food Cultura. “We have a relationship with them because we visited their studio in Poblenou and they were encouraged to collaborate with us,” details the director, who adds that the inauguration was “a success” and that it was very festive, as it was held in the center’s courtyard, from where they were able to hang the tablecloths on the balcony.
More activities that mix art and cuisine
The program of alPlat is in its final stretch. This Thursday, June 4, at 7 p.m., the play Malas Hierbas, by La Simbiótica, will be presented. The show is an invitation to the intimate and poetic universe of a Colombian herbalist. The show refers to stories related to plants and their adaptation processes to the territory.
On the other hand, on Thursday, June 11, at 7 p.m., there will be an event with Conversas Barcelona Associació, where three speakers will share views and experiences around gastronomy and the arts, exploring the links between cuisine, creativity and culture. From the civic center they assure that they are already preparing the spring edition of alPlat.
