[In Hänsel i Gretel. Diàlegs Barcelona. June 2018]
The idea of a cultural district is based on a belief in progress. It stems from the conviction
that the values inherent in culture — knowledge, critical thinking, creativity, commitment and
awareness of the past, present and future — improve people’s lives. It responds to the view
that the globalised — algorithmic, standardised, profit-driven — age, needs a humanistic
element to reach its fullness. It is also indicative of a European perspective, which
envisages a professional horizon that is increasingly intellectual and creative. Furthermore,
it arises from the belief in a great Barcelona, much-needed, in its bid to become a global
metropolis, a metropolitan cultural hub.
The cultural district of L’Hospitalet was created in 2014, as a result of a citizen’s request to
promote culture — at the L’H’On discussion panel — and a philosophical interpretation of
this petition by Josep Ramoneda and Miquel Espinet. The ideologists made an active
proposal for culture, placing it at the heart of society, education, the economy and the urban
fabric. This led to municipal leadership, which adopted the cultural district as a strategic city
project in 2015. Culture was thus positioned as a priority among the different departments of
the municipality. An office was created to attract cultural agents and promote the arts. A
working group, made up of the city’s cultural agents, municipal technicians and government
officials, was formed. And a long-term project was committed to, the first fruits of which are
just becoming apparent.
Since 2015, around two hundred and fifty cultural agents have settled in L’Hospitalet, in
addition to the two hundred previously registered. In three years, therefore, the cultural
mass of the city has doubled. Most artists have settled in an area of creative density: the
industrial zone of L’Hospitalet, the area of warehouses and factories that stretches from the
border with Cornellà to the district of Santa Eulàlia, with the Tecla Sala factory — and the
potential Can Trinxet and Cosme Toda factories — as the epicentre of activity. Although
large companies like Cirque du Soleil or the Village Underground have landed there, the
Cultural District is today mainly inhabited by small collectives of visual artists, actors,
publishers, designers and music producers. Many are drawn, of course, by the prices in the
area but it is well known that artists also look for other contextual criteria: the network of
exhibition spaces, grants for carrying out projects, quality of the activities and artists and
synergies with the environment. It is these characteristics on which the Cultural District is
focusing its efforts, looking to stand out as a cultural destination.
From the Culture of Proximity to ‘Bottom Up’
In L’Hospitalet, a network of public and private cultural workers welcomes newly arrived
artists and invites them to collaborate, if they wish, with the city’s cultural, social and
educational network and listens to their ideas and initiatives. This policy of proximity, which
is more onerous in large cities, encourages a lively and sympathetic cultural activity that is
crucial despite not being well organised and features ideas that have come from the agents
themselves in part and are coordinated by mediators in the industry. This is how a large part
of the Cultural District’s programming is constructed, following the English-speaking world’s
ethos of bottom-up — knowledge created from the ground up —, as opposed to top-down
— the paternalistic cultural policy imposed from the higher echelons —. This reality also
gives the Cultural District the function of a laboratory for experimentation, where great
cultural and artistic ideas can be projected.
As a result, on the initiative of the Nogueras Blanchard and Ana Mas Projects galleries
(which arrived in 2015), the edition of BCNGallery Weekend was extended to L’Hospitalet,
which has helped to structure L’H’s rich system of contemporary art; with artists from the
Salamina collective (2015), interventions were made in disused spaces, walls and schools,
in collaboration with institutions such as the Arranz-Bravo Foundation and Gallery
Weekend; following the idea of the Trama collective (2016), support was given to the Meta
Monumental Market, the first countercultural contemporary art market in Catalonia; listening
to those in charge of Sónar (2017), the exhibition celebrating its 25 years was created at
Tecla Sala; supporting the ideas of photographic producers Addretouch (2017), an
exhibition of Manu Brabo’s work, the Pulitzer Prize winner for breaking news photography,
was held at Mercat de la Florida; and under the coordination of the designers Karakter
(2017), the festival CREA was held at Tecla Sala, dedicated to the dissemination and
meeting of the creative community of L’Hospitalet.
Added Cultural Value and Territorial Empathy
The district promotes cultural initiatives with a high added cultural value that contribute
knowledge, a critical spirit, a vision of the future and also empathy with the territory. The
municipality is very clear about this last principle: the Cultural District project either has the
city’s support or it will cease to exist. Every single initiative is linked to some element or
another of proximity: a market, an association, a local artist or a neighbourhood group. This
approach was evident, by way of example, in the Silver Songs. The Music of Andy Warhol
exhibition, which involved associations of Alzheimer’s and cancer patients, as well as pupils
from the city’s primary and secondary schools. Another case is that of Cirque du Soleil: in
return for the facilities given to them in the Cultural District, they were asked to give training
workshops to the city’s young people.
This dual principle of quality-territory is the result of a reaction against the ideology of the
hegemonic creative district, one that is unequivocally committed to the implementation of
large-scale cultural projects with a large media impact. The contradictions of the 22@ model
are very evident today: a project based on attracting high creative or technological culture
that ends up expelling or eclipsing the basic cultural fabric. Paradoxically, building a cultural
district without considering the circumstance in which it is located represents its death, in
the same way, that a protectionist commitment to local talent without attracting qualified
culture does. An oxygenated cultural district is one that is capable of welcoming knowledge
before imposing it and transferring it before speculating with it. Building culture means
receiving high culture, obviously, but above all, it means being able to expand it throughout
and through the surrounding community.
Challenges, Preventions, Horizons
With the consolidation of the project, the Cultural District faces two major structural
challenges, at a micro and macro level. The micro challenge has to do with a radical
commitment to transmitting culture to the public. Local creators have been successfully
challenged but local residents have not been challenged enough. To fulfil this objective,
actions must be taken on different fronts: increasing the commitment to cultural mediators
and enriching the communication network. We must also make a more ambitious
commitment to the city’s cultural facilities, in terms of structure, offer and funding (placing
particular emphasis on Tecla Sala as the beacon and on cultural centres in the
neighbourhood). As Ramoneda warned, we must not falter in the unconditional and
continued commitment to the quality of activities and projects, artists and curators,
mediators and directors.
At a micro level, mechanisms must continue to be implemented to avoid the effects of
gentrification, the real Achilles heel of cultural districts. So far, the city council has fought it
through different actions: opting to recycle industrial heritage instead of constructing new
cultural facilities — the so-called Guggenheim effect —; encouraging the installation of
agents on uninhabited industrial land or promoting the sensibility of grassroots culture as
opposed to large multinationals.
From a macro point of view, what role should the district play in the cultural action of greater
Barcelona? We maintain that if the Catalan capital wants to play the role of global capital, it
has to be able to advance in twin-engine flight, both economically and culturally.
L’Hospitalet, with the Cultural District, has laid the foundations to position itself as a
spearhead of contemporary metropolitan culture, together with other areas close to the
Besós (Sant Andreu, Badalona). But how do we work together on a large scale? When will
the Catalan Government commit to a metropolitan cultural territory? And will Barcelona City
Council be capable of looking beyond Nou Barris and Sants? Will our city have the ambition
and initiative necessary to make the leap required to think metropolitan?
From the micro to the macro, the proper functioning of the Cultural District requires the
maintenance of its general machine — governance — and of its driving principles. It
requires blind faith in culture and not being afraid of risk — not being afraid of
counterculture —, accepting the unforeseen events, mistakes and even insults that come
with putting it into practice. It implies not giving in to the temptation of control or tutelage:
culture flourishes in freedom. It pushes us not to be in a hurry for results. To never lose sight
of the compass of quality or territory. If it stands by these principles and horizons,
L’Hospitalet will be unstoppable.
La traducció d’aquest text ha disposat d’un ajut de l’Institut Ramon Llull
albert mercadé 