The lecture series Cultural Evenings of UIC Barcelona’s Faculty of Humanities began on 6 March and ended on Wednesday 22 May with the session “The photographic archives of the Amatller Institute, from analogue to digital.” The session was given by Santiago Alcolea, director of the Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic, one of the organising institutions of this series, together with Cases Singulars and the Faculty of Humanities of UIC Barcelona.
This first edition of the Cultural Evenings series consisted of six sessions in which attendees were able to enjoy lectures on various current topics related to the culture in the city of Barcelona. In addition to Santiago Alcolea, the experts in this edition were UIC Barcelona lecturers Xavier Baró, Albert Moya, Anna Pou, Gabriel Fernández and Judith Urbano. The topics discussed during the series were: the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the history of feminism and environmentalism, the completion of the Sagrada Familia, Dalí and his relationship with science and the importance of ethics in artificial intelligence.
The course took place in the former photographic studio of Antoni Amatller, located in the attic of Casa Amatller, on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona. ‘This first edition was a success because of good participation and especially because of the splendid setting and sharing of topics of interest with the city, from our lecturers and experts,’ explained the dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Judith Urbano.
In both the opening and closing sessions, Urbano thanked the two collaborating entities for having set up this ‘enriching’ cycle. Urbano recalled the beginnings of the relationship between Cases Singulars and UIC Barcelona, which ‘has existed for many years and thanks to it many interesting proposals have come together, such as conferences, visits to house museums, and more.’
The dean also highlighted the work done by the Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic, ‘one of the reference centres for research and dissemination of art history, which is currently in the process of digitising analogue photographs.’
Isabel Vallès, co-founder of Cases Singulars, also took the opportunity to speak during the inauguration of Cultural Evenings to highlight the mission of her institution: ‘At Cases Singulars we like to have a lived experience of the houses, not just visit them, and with this course attendees can enjoy this unique space.’ Vallès recalled the years of collaboration with UIC Barcelona and expressed her satisfaction for holding the cycle in such an emblematic place as Antoni Amatller’s former photographic studio.
After the success of the first edition of Cultural Evenings, the Faculty of Humanities of UIC Barcelona is already working on launching a new edition for next year.
