This Sunday is March 8, International Women's Day, and for this reason throughout the week we will get to know closely various cultural initiatives that place women at the center of the artistic imaginary, often masculinized.
In Barcelona's Gòtic neighborhood there is an artistic window. Specifically, at number 2 Magdalenes Street. It is a display case that the Fundació Úniques opened this January, dedicated to making Catalan women artists visible so that they have more presence in galleries and, in general, in artistic circuits.
Now, La Finestra is also the gateway to this private foundation, which for almost two years has been investigating, accompanying, and supporting artists and art professionals.
These days, in the Gòtic window, the work of artist Eva Armisén could be seen. Despite being from Saragossa, Armisén is rooted in Barcelona and has become one of the creators with the most projection in the State. The shop window's proposal was an extension of the exhibition La Vida Pintada.
Natalia Foguet, director of the Foundation since last year, explains that the objective of this new window is to generate curiosity from outside so that the public enters it, which can be done for free.
“The women artists abandon earlier”
Foguet points out that the Fundació Úniques was created to defend the professionalization of artists: “This creates more visibility, because women abandon artistic practice earlier than men when they cannot combine it with life.” Therefore, what the foundation defends is not only to make a female collection, but to offer opportunities to women to collaborate with external projects and with collectors to sell their works.
The foundation has a good x-ray of Barcelona and Catalan galleries from day one thanks to the experience of its founders: the artist and graphic designer Adela Beltran and her husband, the businessman Manel Vallet. They created it in 2024 with the intention of “watching over an ecosystem of women around art”. “It's not just about having artists, but also gallerists, curators, cultural managers, journalists who talk about it…”, says Beltran.
The director points out that, despite being a young gallery, everything goes smoothly thanks to the parallel activities they organize, such as for example the session a few days ago called Gestió cultural en l’art contemporani: el repte de conèixer una professió, aimed at international students of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona which served to get to know closely the ecosystem of contemporary art, the professional profiles that make it up and the functioning of the cultural industry.
More works in feminine, the current challenge
“Women have occupied positions of artistic power for years and we apply the feminist perspective, however, in public institutions works of art by women were missing and are missing”, states the director, who looks outside Barcelona to affirm that in recent months a change is being noticed. On the one hand, she gives as an example the new collection presented this February by the Museu Reina Sofia de Madrid, which has incorporated more works made by women into its permanent collection, and on the other, the new acquisition of the IVAM – Institut Valencià d’Art Modern.
“Politics and civil society have demanded it, but, of course, within public policies, art is the last of the last priorities. We must climb and believe more in ourselves,” laments. From all this, draws a clear conclusion: “The situation must be reversed, it is a historical and present debt.”
If we return to the Gothic Quarter, these days inside the foundation you will find an exhibition curated by Montse Badia where, under the title Cartographies of Water, pieces by contemporary creators who have related to this element from different angles are exhibited. There are works by Anna Dot, Caterina Miralles Tagliabue, Stella Rahola Matutes and Fina Miralles.
After the work by Eva Armisén, La Finestra will exhibit Mariatxi, by the artist Isabel Servera, which coincides with the exhibition she has at the Palau de la Música Moviment Continu. Both La Finestra and the exhibition in the general space open on March 14.
