This Friday marks fifty years since the opening of the emblematic and well-known space 'El Almacén', one of the oldest and pioneering centers of contemporary culture in the second half of the 20th century in the Canary Islands. To commemorate this anniversary, the Cabildo of Lanzarote inaugurates this Friday at 7:20 p.m. a retrospective and anthological exhibition entitled 'El Almacén, 1974-2024'
On February 23, 1974, the Lanzarote artist César Manrique, together with Yayo Fontes, Luis Ibáñez and Pepe Dámaso, inaugurated the so-called Polidimensional Center, conceived as a unique "laboratory" open to experimentation and the promotion of art and contemporary culture.
The president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, has expressed that "fifty years after the beginning of this artistic adventure led by César Manrique, from the Island Council we continue to assume the institutional challenge of supporting and promoting contemporary art and culture that is carried out on the island, as evidenced in this necessary exhibition that shows the important role played by El Almacén between 1974 and 2024."
In the words of the Minister of Culture, Jesús Machín Tavío, "this exhibition is a didactic exercise that highlights the birth and continuation of a plastic and visual tradition with the work of a considerable number of artists from Lanzarote or closely linked to the island that makes us proud, represents us and makes us a territory with an extraordinary avant-garde culture."
Sixty artists linked to Lanzarote
This exhibition, which is curated by the art historian Estefanía Camejo, has as its priority objective "to value the plastic and visual trajectory of contemporary art" of the island through a significant selection of works by Lanzarote artists linked to El Almacén as a catalyst or structuring space for the cultural life of the island during these fifty years.
Sixty artists from Lanzarote or closely linked to the island have been selected, such as César Manrique, Santiago Alemán, Ildefonso Aguilar, Paco Fuentes, Andrés Allí, Carlos Matallana, Juan Gopar, Tayó, Rufina Santana, Eduardo Manrique, Paco Curbelo, Alberto de León, Begoña Hernández, Mario Delgado, Sergio Molina, Elena Betancor, Rosa Vera, Margarita Amat, Elisa Betancort, Mayte Bethencourt, Mariola Acosta, Raquel Plans, Evelina Martín, Caly Velázquez, Francisco Castro, Moneiba Lemes, Fernando Robayna, Moisés Gutiérrez, Nicolás Láiz Placeres, Daniel Jordán, Macarena Nieves Cáceres, Víctor G. Moreno, Rigoberto Camacho, Iván Vilella, Carmela García, Naty Betancor, Pepe Vera, Rubén Acosta, Javier Alonso, Adriana Sandec, David GP, Moisés Fleitas, Guacimara Hernández, Fátima Lemes, José Suárez, Pura Márquez, Flora González, Cristian Schulz, Emma LL, Sara GDM, Juan Muñoz “Juín”, Marina Speer, Esther González, Ayatima Cabrera, Isabelle Mathieu and Rosalía Díe, Nuria Vidal, Bárbara Müller, Damián Rodríguez and FeoFlip.
The exhibition also features a mural intervention that has been specifically commissioned to the urban artist Francisco Perdomo Feo, known as Feoflip, who has titled it 'Homage to El Almacén' in the Salita.
Estefanía Camejo wanted to emphasize that this exhibition "has been a complex and committed curatorial work that aspires to be configured as a significant retrospective of a part of contemporary art that bears the signature of Lanzarote and that is closely linked to El Almacén."
An Arts and Crafts School converted into a Polidimensional Center
The aforementioned exhibition opens this Friday, February 23, 2024, at 7:20 p.m., fifty years after César Manrique inaugurated the space on February 23, 1974. A year earlier, in 1973, he had acquired a building from the late 19th century that had been the headquarters of the School of Arts and Crafts of Arrecife, as well as a home and warehouse for agricultural products, to condition it as a cultural space for the dissemination of art, thought and avant-garde culture of those years. Manrique, after adapting and intervening in the house, opens it to the public housing in it an art gallery called 'El Aljibe', a bar-restaurant under the name of 'Pablo Ruiz Picasso', a bookstore called 'García Lorca', a florist shop baptized as 'Alhelí' and a furniture store called 'Almohada'.
The opening of 'El Almacén' was a double milestone for the island. On the one hand, it made possible the reception of the plastic and visual work of artists both from inside and outside the Canary Islands, as well as, on the other hand, the configuration or the beginning of the first tradition of artists born or linked to Lanzarote, turning it into a cultural center of reference for avant-garde art in the Islands.
From 1990, the space was acquired by the Cabildo of Lanzarote as an institutional space for the development of artistic-cultural activities, a function that it has been developing to date, after several different stages.
Parallel activities
To support the didactic work of the first fifty years of El Almacén, a series of round tables have also been programmed:
- Friday, March 1, at 7:00 p.m. Ildefonso Aguilar, Rubén Acosta, Rufina Santana and Guacimara Hernández will speak.
- Friday, March 15, at 7:00 p.m. Rosa Vera, Emma LL, Juan Gopar and Daniel Jordán will speak.
- Friday, April 5, at 7:00 p.m. Oscar Pérez, Pepe Betancort and Carmensa de la Hoz will speak.
- Friday, May 3, at 7:00 p.m. Tayó, Lana Corujo, Santiago Alemán and Marina Speer will speak.
Likewise, in a complementary way, a talk will be given under the title of 'The evolution of the plastic and visual arts in Lanzarote between 1974 and 2024' by the artist, curator and cultural manager David Machado, on Thursday, April 25, at 6:00 p.m. in the Cubo room of the CIC El Almacén. The talk will include a visit to the exhibition.
It is also planned that the scenic group 'Prototekne', made up of the artists Marta Neme, Emma LL, María Arrébola and Laila Farhang, will stage a performative activity entitled 'Requiem 11.11' on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. in the Buñuel Cinema Hall. This is a scenic performance created specifically for the commemoration of these fifty years of El Almacén.
Guided tours of the exhibition
As usual, a program of guided tours to the aforementioned exhibition is planned by Estefanía Camejo, to discuss the artistic discourse of this exhibition project. These dialogued visits will take place on the following days:
- Saturday, March 16, 12:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, March 26, 6:00 p.m.
- Saturday, April 13, 12:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 30, 6:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, May 21, 6:00 p.m.
- Saturday, June 1, 12:00 p.m.
To attend these visits it is not necessary to register in advance. Access is free and free, until the capacity of the room is complete.
The exhibition can be visited until June 1, 2024. The visiting hours will be from Monday to Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., as well as Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., except for Sundays and holidays. Admission is free.
More information about the cultural program of the Cabildo de Lanzarote on the website of the Cabildo de Lanzarote.