Photos: Álex Godoy
The Minister of Culture, José Guirao Cabrera, wanted to show the recognition of the Government of Spain to César Manrique, "a multidisciplinary artist dedicated to art, who always advocated for sustainable development, knowing how to influence his land and its people to preserve the landscapes, the culture and the future of the island." Thus, this Tuesday he traveled to Lanzarote to maintain an agenda linked to the celebration of the artist's birth centenary.
Around 6:15 p.m., José Guirao arrived at the José Saramago Room of the César Manrique Foundation of La Plazuela de Arrecife, accompanied by the Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, Juan Salvador de León, and the island director of the General State Administration, Juan Ramón Pérez. At its doors, he was received by the president of the FCM, José Juan Ramírez, and by the director of the institution that manages the artist's legacy, Fernando Gómez Aguilera.
After greeting the press, the Minister of Culture entered the José Saramago Room, where he visited the exhibition 'César Manrique, word and commitment: The power is disturbed', an exhibition that shows his most social and political profile through reproductions of newspapers, manuscripts of his manifestos and photographs and audiovisuals.
José Guirao made a special stop, accompanied by the rest of the authorities, before the showcases where fragments of some of the last texts and handwritten notes by César Manrique kept in a folder that he kept in his studio in Haría and the originals and the publication in the press of the manifesto 'Time to stop' that the artist made in 1988, to later continue visiting the rest of the exhibition and attend the master lecture by the anthropologist Eudald Carbonell, Prince of Asturias Award, entitled 'Human evolution and operational consciousness.
Will officially open the centenary this Wednesday
The Minister of Culture's agenda in Lanzarote will continue this Wednesday, when he will officially open the centenary of César Manrique with his presence at the FCM headquarters in Taro de Tahíche.
José Guirao Cabrera will open the cycle of conversations led by Iñaki Gabilondo, who will talk with the political scientist Sami Naïr about Europe, geostrategy and migrations, as well as the exhibition 'César Manrique. Lanzarote', which contains the mural painted by the artist in 1953 for the passenger terminal of the island's first airport, a piece that has not been exhibited for almost fifty years. The minister's official agenda also includes visits to the César Manrique House-Museum in Haría and the César Manrique Foundation.