The Backpackers Hostel Blog

Until Sun 31 Aug

At Artesania Catalunya (C/ Banys Nous, 11) Free Admission

Mon-Fri 9am to 7pm / Sat 10am to 2pm & 3pm to 7pm / Sun 10am to 2pm

“Dones D’Aigua” (Women of Water) or Fairies. These particular mythological beings are the spirit of the exhibition by the artist Carme Bosch.

From the floral art and the audiovisual technology, she intends to show the legendary history of these mythical women. The photographic images and the projections of video will introduce the viewer to several Catalan places, where the women of water live together with the landscape´s elements. (Taken from http://www.bcn.es)

Wed 18 Jun

9pm at Razzmatazz Sala 1 – (C/Almogàvers, 122)  27-30€  Buy tickets

27 – 30€ Buy tickets at http://www.ticktackticket.com/

“Bad Religion“  is the master hardcore punk melodic band formed on the eighties.

These Americans, from the north California suburbs have their own seal, Epitaph and now they are launching their second album “Suffer”.

With Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz as leaders of the band, they are coming back on stage with “New Maps of Hell”.

Sat 21 Jun

6:30pm to 9:30pm at La Pedrera (Pg Gràcia, 92) Free admission

(Taken from www.fundaciocaixacatalunya.org)

From Tue 17 Jun to Sun 14 Sep 2008

Japanese Prints of the 18th and 19th Centuries, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Kitagawa Utamaro (1753?-1806)
Takashima Ohisa - Towards 1793
Bibliothèque nationale de France, París

Watch video

Mon – Fri from 10am – 8pm at La Pedrera (Pg Gràcia, 92) Free admission

The exhibition includes more than one hundred prints from the BNF’s Département des Estampes collection by such representative authors as Harunobu, Kiyonaga, Utamaro, Hokusai or Hiroshige, and is divided into five thematic sections: theatre, female beauty, parody, eroticism and landscape.

The ukiyo-e are xylographs made in Japan between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that began to reach Europe during the first decade of 1860, as a result of the trade and cultural exchanges following more than two centuries of isolation and protectionism in Japan. These works captivated French collectors and artists, immersed in an anti-academia mood and the spirit of experimentation of the prevailing impressionism and symbolism in Europe.

Theatre and sumo, female beauty, parody, eroticism, flora and fauna and the landscape are some of the subjects, a reflection of the ephemeral worldly life in contrast with the immutable and sacred world. Whether in the eighteenth century with Harunobu and Utamaro, or in the nineteenth with Hokusai or Hiroshige, the Japanese world takes on the appearance of a frail and highly exquisite spectacle. (Taken from www.fundaciocaixacatalunya.org)

Fri 27 Jun to Sat 26 Jul

9pm at La Pedrera (Passeig de Gracia, 92) 12€ Buy tickets

Program

Fri 27 & Sat 28 June – Marc Ayza

Fri 4 & Sat 5 July – Andreu Zaragoza Quartet

Fri 11 & Sat 12 July – Five in Orbit

Fri 18 & Sat 19 July – Horacio Fumero Trio

Fri 25 & Sat 26 July – Oliver Nelson Project

More info

Fri 27 Jun

9:30pm at Palau Sant Jordi (Pg. Olímpic, 5-7) 36 – 45€ Buy tickets

TOKIO HOTEL are Bill Kaulitz (vocals) & Tom Kaulitz (guitar), Georg Listing (bass) and Gustav Schafer (drums), and their story reads like the script for a blockbuster movie…

‘… A band from a town in East Germany become the biggest stars of the past 20 years in their native country, charting records at No. 1, playing to ten or 20 thousand each night and being feted with every German industry award. Before long, the four musicians are traveling farther afield, and demand is growing fast – not just from an increasingly manic fan base, but from the mass media too. Tokio Fever rages out of control…’

Since signing with Universal in May 2005, TH have sold approaching three million records & DVDs in Germany alone, making them the country’s most successful band, with a host of domestic awards jostling for space in the collective cabinet (nine platinum/four gold, at last count, plus an additional four platinum awards for sales in Austria & Switzerland). And they played the most successful debut live tour EVER to grace German stages. (Taken from http://tokiohotel-uskith.nireblog.com and http://www.tokiohotel.com)

Thu 26 Jun

10pm at Palau Sant Jordi (Paseig Olímpic, s/n) 35 – 44€ Buy tickets

Miguel Bosé is celebrating his 30 years as a singer, and in order to do so he released an album called “Papito” that contains remakes of his previous songs, re-interpreted in duets with Alejandro Sanz, Fangoria, Laura Pausini, Shakira, Julieta Venegas, Ricky Martin, Amaia Montero, and Michael Stipe from R.E.M., his niece Bimba Bosé, along with many other singers.

Three singles were released off “Papito”: the first is a re-make of his hit Nena, featuring Paulina Rubio; the second is the big success Si tú no vuelves (originally taken from his 1993 album “Bajo el signo de Caín”), this time sung with Shakira; the third is Morena mía, with Julieta Venegas. (Taken from www.musica.pro and www.wikipedia.org).

Mon 16 & Tue 17 Jun

7pm, 8pm & 9pm at Sala mas i Mas (C/ Maria Cubi, 199) 6€ Buy tickets

Miquel Bofill (saxo), Carme Vilà-Sanmiquel (piano)

Mon 16 Jun
Singelée; Andante et allegro, A. Challeaux; Fantaisie-Impromptu, A. Jolivet; Sonata, P. Hindemith; 5 Danses exotiques, J. Francaix; Memorias, P. Iturralde.

Tue 17 Jun
Petita Suite, Xavier Boliart; Primer moviment, Enric Ferrer; Sonata, Salvador Brotons.

(Pictures taken from www.wikipedia.org)

Fri 20 Jun – Sun 28 Sep 2008

At Fundació Joan Miró (Parc de Montjuïc s/n) Admission to temporary exhibitions only: 4€

10am- 8pm Tuesday to Saturday / 10am – 9:30pm Thursdays / 10am – 2:30pm Sundays and public holidays. Closed on Mondays (except public holidays)

“The nature of things”, is an exhibition by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, winner of the 1st Joan Miró Prize in 2007.

This will be the first major showing of the artist’s work in Spain. The 50 artworks in the exhibition exemplify his output from 1993 to the present, including new works produced specifically for the Joan Miró Foundation. The photographs, sculptures and large-scale installations examine the relation between visitors, museum spaces and works, while enhancing the awareness of sensorial experience.

The exhibition is divided into two parts: at the Centre Cultural Caixa Girona-Fontana d’Or in Girona, Eliasson will show smaller works produced with light as well as numerous photographic series and prints, investigating the rugged and varied landscape of his native Iceland, while the Barcelona exhibition will include installations that explore the perception of light, color, space and the ephemeral “nature of things” through physical experimentation. (Taken from http://fundaciomiro-bcn.org and http://greg.org).

Sun 15 Jun

View of Montjüic (Barcelona) from Park Güell

Castle of Montjuïc in Barcelona. (Photography by: J. M. Jerez)

11am – 7pm Free buses from Plaza España every 5 minutes (from 10am to 11pm) Telepheric Free

The top of Montjuic* hill (a height of 173 metres) was the site of several fortifications, the latest of which -the Castell de Montjuic remains today. The fortress largely dates from the 17th century, with 18th century additions. In 1842 the garrison (loyal to the Madrid government) shelled parts of the city following disturbances. It served as a prison, often holding political prisoners, until the time of General Franco. The castle was the site of numerous executions.

At its entrance there are two engraved stones bearing the dates 1679 and 1704. By the road up to the castle there is a winged victory sculpture on a pedestal, which commemorates the aviator Juan Manuel Durán, one of the heroes of the seaplane Plus Ultra which in 1926 made a non-stop Transatlantic flight from Spain to Argentina.

This Sunday 15 of June there is going to be the Castle of Montjuïc’s Festival that consist of a day of open doors to all the citizens, so they will be able to see some spaces that up to now were closed to the public, like the snail stairs that are on the wall and that conduct to the ditch of Saint Eulalia or the rain water cistern excavated under the castle.

There they will be diverse activities and spectacles of music, dance and circus, giants “Pasacalle” and bestiary figures, five workshops and at 12 hrs “fideuá” will be served. At 6pm Raimon (famous singer from Valencia) will offer a concert.

The exposition “¡Barcelona has castle!” will show the future project to locate the Center of Peace at the Castle of Montjuïc. This institution will be in charge of teaching the citizens about how to build the world’s peace from the cities, and also will promote the respect by the human rights and will form professionals to work for the peace and in the conflict resolution. (Taken from www.wikipedia.org, www.euro-senders.com, http://w3.bcn.es & www.bcn.es/turisme/ )
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* Montjuïc is translated as Hill of the Jews in the medieval Catalan language, or as a corruption of Latin Mons Jovicus (that is, hill of Jupiter).