Barcelona Metropolis

The Fundació Joan Brossa - Centre de les Arts Lliures is committed to fulfilling a dual mission: preserving Brossa’s legacy and memory, while also establishing itself as a centre for contemporary creation. To support the first of these aims, Joan Brossa. La sensació mental d’una felicitat completa [Joan Brossa. The Mental Feeling of Complete Happiness] was created – an exhibition curated by art historian Anna Llopis, who has outlined out a personal interpretation of the poet. The exhibition starts with a point of departure, but without an endpoint, inspired by Brossa’s words: “We are more interested in what is yet to be done”.

The Fundació Joan Brossa - Centre de les Arts Lliures is a unique space that, in line with Brossa’s own vision, is committed to the avant-garde and transgression. For this reason, it defines itself as “a house of contemporary creation dedicated to experimentation and the exploration of new expressive languages”.

With bold leadership, the centre maintains a constant and dynamic presence of transformation and movement. And that is no small feat: it forges new directions with uncertain outcomes – some lead to fertile ground, others to dead ends – but it refuses to cling to conventional, safe formulas. To give just one example, at the start of 2025, the “Exorcismes. Patrimoni i performativitat” [Exorcisms: Heritage and Performativity] programme showed us how Joan Brossa, resurrected, strolled through his foundation as if he were just another visitor. After all, if Brossa was a free poet, the foundation that safeguards his legacy – and, when necessary, resurrects him – must move, define itself and programme with the same freedom.

From eye level to shoe level

The viewer swiftly moves from dream to wakefulness and from rebellion to silence: the stops are brief and come one after the other at a fast pace. However, we soon realise that this rapid succession of spaces conceals a trick, forcing us to circle the exhibition three times if we want to fully engage with it (which is why the route is circular rather than chronological).

At eye level, in the most accessible space, are the artist’s books, magazines, poetry collections, audiovisual materials and a wealth of content that forms the heart of the exhibition. When the visitor looks up to catch their breath, the poet reveals himself in the uncomfortably high sections of the walls, through brief fragments of his texts. And when, eager to digest the new information, the visitor looks down at the floor, they encounter a new and unexpected display level: at shoe level – alluding to Brossa’s quote, “Now I no longer want any pedestal but shoes” – are the well-known visual poems, which strike again and hit the visitor’s heels. With his words, Brossa addresses our intellect, reaching our highest and deepest selves, but also shaking our very foundations, what holds us up, what ties us to the ground.