19/06/2024
Episode 19 Week 24/6 to 30/6/24
Hello and welcome to What’s on in Las Palmas where we’ll be looking at events in the city from the twenty fourth to the thirtieth of June.
EXHIBITIONS
And we’ll start with a photography exhibition that’s at the Casa Africa. Here, Paula Anta is showing ‘Akouédo’ her series of photos on the toxic waste dumps that caused terrible health problems around Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast. You’ve got plenty of time to see it as the exhibition closes in early September.
The Casa de Colon is hosting ‘Creando Colecion’, an exhibition of works acquired by the museums belonging to the Cabildo de Gran Canaria. It closes on the first of September.
The Castillo de la Mata at 147 calle Domingo Guerra del Rio is hosting a collection of 69 paintings by Canarian artist, Nestor Martin-Fernandez de la Torre, better known as just Nestor, a painter and theatrical designer who worked in the Symbolist and Art Deco styles. This is a good chance to see the works by this painter as his own dedicated museum has been closed for years for renovation work. The paintings will be on display until March next year.
Also at the Castillo de la Mata is a sound exhibition by José Iges. 160 recordings have been collected under the title ‘El Arte à Veces, mortales acaso’, Art sometimes, mortals perhaps. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to interact with the building through sound art. And the interaction ends on the 29th of July.
At the Mapfre exhibition space at 10 calle Juan de Quesada from May the third until the 26th of July, there is a career tribute exhibition of works by Generation 70’s artist Juan José Gil entitled Mi Sancta Sanctorum.
There’s a new exhibition at the main CAAM building where Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa is presenting Toda Utopia pasa par la Barriga, every utopia passes by the stomach. That is on until the 15th of September.
There’s also a new one at the CAAM’s San Antonio Abad site called Herida Concreta, Concrete Wound. This is by Puerto Rican artist Karlo Andrei Ibarra and that’s on until the 6th of October.
I suppose we’ve all seen those massive concrete breakwaters that have been placed along the Paseo Maritmo, well they and the fauna that lives around them are the subject of an exhibition by Mercedes Mariño, winner of the 2022 Medalla de Oro de Bellas Artes at the CICCA cultural centre on calle Alameda de Colon. You can see that until the 19th of July. And also at the CICCA until the 12th of July the works of the two winners of last year’s grants for young artists are on display. First, Lia Ateca with El Cumplido, a research on recovering the family memory after the eruption on La Palma and a short fiction film by Pablo Borges, La Isla Errante set on a banana plantation in Tenerife.
Finally, at the Centro de Artes Plasticas on calle Colon in Vegueta there’s an exhibition of paintings by Manuel Palomino called re-Paisando or re-landscaping. The works are on the theme of the passage of time on familiar landscapes. The exhibition closes on the 12th of July.
Is it an exhibition or is it a concert? The only way to find out is to go to the CAAM on calle los Balcones on the 27th at 7pm and see or hear or both ‘Anima Mundi’ by composer, ethnomusicologist and phonographer, Carlos Suarez Sanchez. The work is mainly inspired by natural sounds which are reproduced by a quadrophonic system.
THEATRE
It seems to be a quiet week for theatre. On Wednesday the 26th at the Teatro Guiniguada the amartes Escenicas company are presenting La Diva Invisible, a multidisciplinary work which they say promotes diversity, equality, tolerance and respect, through a theatrical experience and a musical monologue.
On the 27th at Teatro Perez Galdos, there’s a new look at Beaumarchais’ play, The Mariage of Figaro, this time set in a 1960’s Canarian cabaret where a colourful cast pokes fun at censorship and dictatorship.
MUSIC
So, what’s happening at the Buenos Aires Jazz Café this week? First a couple of late announcements, on the 21st at 9pm there’s the Sofiband, a four man group but I’m not sure what kind of music they play. The 22nd sees ‘This Kingdom’, give a blues, rock and pop concert also at 9pm. Now a quick leap to the 27th of June with the Juan Martin Funk Quartet at 9.30. The next day there are three concerts, first at 9.30 with Canarian singer and composer Ma***to Ramirez and his group, followed at 10.30 by The Blues Riders with a dose of rock and blues. Finally, at midnight, it’s Marcelo Zaret with Spanish rock and pop from the 1980’s. The week ends with a jam session of Argentinian music from tango through folk, cumbia and rock. That starts at 9 on the 29th and goes on until 3am.
There’s a free concert at the Gabinete Literario on Sunday the 23rd by the Subito Koral, entitled Ecos de la Tierra. That starts at midday.
The gardens of the Hotel Santa Catalina are the site for a gala concert on the 25th by renowned tenor Jonas Kaufmann and the Gran Canaria philharmonic orchestra, along with Georgian mezzosoprano Anita Rachvelishvili. If you pay your €50 you’ll be treated to some of the most emotional moments of the operatic repertoire.
If you like piano music, Saskia Giorgini and the Las Palmas philharmonic society are giving a concert of Liszt, Debussy and Rachmaninov at the University Paraninfo on calle Juan de Quesada on the 26th. The concert starts at 7pm and it’ll set you back €25.
If you are an electric guitar player, you may be interested in a masterclass at the Teatro Guiniguada on the 27th at 5pm. The class will be given by Virxilio da Silva, it’s called ‘Deciphering the Guitar’ and it’s free.
Shostakovich’s 7th symphony, Leningrad, with Joshua Weilerstein and the philharmonic orchestra is at the auditorio Alfredo Kraus on the 28th. It’s followed on the 30th by the Orquesta Comunitaria de Gran Canaria with Camille Saint-Saen’s Organ symphony, Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copeland and a commissioned work by Ernesto Mateo. That’s at 6pm.
And now it’s on to:
Cinema
Filmoteca Canaria’s documentary of the month, Una Vida como cualquier otra, a life like any other, is at the Teatro Guiniguada on the 25th at 7pm. The film is in French with Spanish subtitles. It’s about the director taking another look at her father’s family films and what they say about a mother’s role and its lack of freedom.
The university ciné club continues its Jean Luc Godard cycle with JLG, Autorretrato en Diciembre, a self-portrait at the age of 65. That’s at 7 at the Salon de Actos Humanidades on calle Perez del Toro and it’s free.
There’s another free screening this time at the Casa de Colon on the 27th at 7pm with two films. A short film, El Hombre by Muriel de Armas, followed by Lais Bodanzky’s 2007 Brazilian film, Chega de Saudade about the friendships formed at a dance club in Sao Paulo.
However, if you fancy something a bit scarier, also on the 27th at 7, there’s Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller, Psycho. That’s at the centro cultura audiovisuel on calle Cadiz and it’s free too.
Comedy
There are three comedy shows at the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus this week. On Thursday the 27th at 7.30, Franciso Santana Santos will be taking a humorous look at the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. On the 28th it’s comedienne Maru Candel with her show of stand-up comedy, music and improvisation. Finally, on the 29th at 8.30 the Canarian comedy group, El Supositorio are performing a crazy adaptation of their TV special about a fictional and rather surrealist Canarian village, Chiguesque.
Dance
There’s only one dance performance this week, but what a performance it will be. The 29th sees the return of the fabulous Sara Baras flamenco company to the auditorio Alfredo Kraus. In her new choreography, Sara pays homage to legendary guitarist Paco de Lucia. This will be a really great show so don’t miss it.
Finally, right up to the end of June, there’s a load of different events in the city as part of the Fiestas Fundacionales. To get details of what’s on, where and when, check out the website at lpacultura.com.
