Inspired by the tension between private and public spaces, Barcelona's contemporary art scene has recently seen the emergence of a series of events based not in galleries, but instead in the home. Such projects aim to bridge the gap between artists and their public by breaking down the boundaries between sites of production and exhibition.

Founded by Barcelona residents Olivier Collet and Jérôme Lefaure, Homesession is an ongoing project encouraging “site-specific creation,” supporting and exhibiting the work of a wide and varied range of international artists. Their Invited One Day initiative sees artistic events produced in private places: each month several artists are, as the title suggests, invited into a private flat for one day to create a unique installation inspired by their physical surroundings. This month, Homesession presents performance artist Ramon Gimaraes (October 6th) and painter Javi Moreno (October 29th), two very different Spanish artists who make use of various media to explore identity, love and sexuality in contemporary society.

Also taking place in October is art festival La Estrategia Doméstica, now in its second cycle. Much like Homesession, this five-day event exhibits artwork in domestic environments, bringing contemporary art closer to the realities of day-to-day existence that all of us share. The festival opens on October 26th and closes on October 30th with a varied line-up that includes Catalan artist Manel Sellarés' first solo show, entitled Regando plantas de plástico (Watering plastic plants). Sellarés' art is deliberately difficult to classify, both rejecting and reworking common genres. Among his works we see a vandalized copy of the Mona Lisa and a toilet roll holder adorned with tacky Spanish souvenirs. Based in shock, doubt and contradictions, Sellarés' pieces illustrate his conviction that art is a game, incredible and incredibly useless – much like life itself.

homesession.org

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