18 October 2013

Passages at the Ateneo of Madrid

Sculptures by Ulla Haga. Paintings by Erica Fromme
Photographed by me.


Calderón de la Barca and Velázquez believed that artists were intellectuals to be treated with respect. After three days of socialising with magnificently inspirational artist in Madrid, I cannot see how anyone could think any other way.

I originally went to the capital as moral support for my mother, Rosa Mascarell-Dauder, who co-curated with Trevisan International an exhibition at the heart of Madrid. Artists from all over the world had sent boxes of paintings and sculptures to her and my father's apartment to the point where navigating the living-room was a task for Theseus and Ariadne. A few transports to the exhibition hall later and I was soon talked into being the event's photographer and hired as a translator for next day's tour of Madrid.

Rosa (Mother), Rosario, Paola and Borja (Father) unpacking artwork at the venue.

After days of unpacking and whitewashing and fixing lights, everything culminated with a congregation of great thinkers at the exhibition opening. Essays could be written on how inspirational not just the minds behind the artworks were but the people standing behind the artists too. I will not attempt to condense the genious and say, if you are in Madrid, swing by the Ateneo and contemplate their magnificent artwork.

The artists.

As for the tour of Madrid, did you know the Calle del León is called that way because a man used to keep a lion on that street as an exotic pet and let people see it for some coins?

16 October 2013

___ in [ ___ ] Development

You can replace the  ___  in [ ___ ] Development with nearly anything. Space, game, historial, scientific, personal...

I wrote the title for this blog in the middle of my architecture course at a time of doubt. It was around when I was creating the UCA Engineers club because I missed sitting in my further maths class solving away at mechanics problems or when I picked up a bit of programming because of the fascinating things you can do with computers and robotics or philosophising with Samuel Lowe because of everything new I learned when we did.

Only one thing has been very clear to me since the beginning: I want to push things forward. So think of this as a bit of a disclaimer for this blog. I am not a master, simply an overly eager mind making sense of the information and problems that she stumbles upon.