The "la Caixa" Foundation strengthens commitment to culture in a year marked by the COVID-19 crisis

The "la Caixa" Foundation has taken stock of attendance at its cultural and scientific centres and exhibitions during the year just ended. A year that has been marked by the situation of the pandemic and in which the entity has made a great effort to keep its centres open as long as possible in order to continue bringing culture closer to the citizens, reprogramming exhibitions and activities and complying at all times with health safety requirements. 

All the centres of the entity had to close their doors between March 13 and June 1 (being the first to reopen in many cities) and subsequently they have faced severe limitations of capacity and a drastic reduction of the activities programmed for both the general public and the educational sector. 

Despite all these conditions, the cultural, scientific and educational proposals of the entity in Spain were visited by 3.8 million people in 2020. This figure includes visitors to the "la Caixa" Foundation's centres (1.2 million) and to the numerous travelling exhibitions organised throughout the country (2.6 million). 

The eight CaixaForum and CosmoCaixa centres received 1.2 million visitors, representing 35% of the total number of visitors in 2019. A figure that reflects the confidence that the public has placed in the institution's exhibition programme following the reopening of the centres. As an example, it is worth noting that the centres in Barcelona and Madrid have recorded daily averages of 1,000 visitors per day during some weekends, reaching the full capacity allowed.

For the 2020-2021 academic year, the "la Caixa" Foundation has presented the widest range of cultural activities in the CaixaForum network, with a constellation of 34 exhibitions, of which 25 are programmed in centres and 9 are travelling exhibitions, which will tour Spain and Portugal. All of them revolve around the same motto: 'We believe in culture. We grow in culture', convinced that culture opens doors and windows and is a step forward in helping to overcome the current socio-health crisis. 

As a novelty this season, the "La Caixa" Foundation's programme combines culture and scientific dissemination in a transversal way, two worlds that are usually treated separately, despite the fact that, in life, they connect, complement and coexist. 

CaixaForum Barcelona 

For the first time in Barcelona, the work of the international artistic collective teamLab, born in 2001 in Tokyo as a laboratory for collaborative creation and experimentation, will be on display. teamLab. Art, technology, nature' will explore the links between art, technology, design and nature. Two large immersive installations will be presented, which are constantly activated and updated thanks to the involvement of visitors, and whose main protagonists will be nature and our relationship with it (from April 21st to August 29th). 

First to come will be 'The American Dream. From Pop to the Present Day', a general overview of the development of graphic art in the United States from 1960 to the present day, with special attention to its great exponents, such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg (from March 3 to June 13).

CaixaForum Madrid 

Two premieres will arrive at CaixaForum Madrid in the first months of 2021. The first new project is 'The Universe of Jean Prouvé. Architecture / Industry / Furniture', a new collaboration with the Centre Pompidou that delves into the universe of this key designer and builder in the modernity of architecture. It explores his beginnings as a blacksmith, his first works with modern architects and his prefabricated buildings, with which he had the ambition of creating products for as many people as possible (from March 5 to June 13). 

'The human image', organised together with the British Museum, will be premiered at CaixaForum Madrid in April. The exhibition travels through the representation of the human body throughout the history of art based on the splendid pieces from the British Museum, which are combined with a selection of works from the "la Caixa" Collection. In total, more than 140 works of art over which universal concepts such as the ideal of beauty, the intentionality of the portrait, divinity, power or the transformation of the body fly (from April 29 to August 29). 

CaixaForum Palma 

Another of the premieres, in this case together with the National Museum of Sculpture, is 'Non finito. The Art of the Unfinished', which can be seen at CaixaForum Palma. The pieces that form part of this exhibition are linked together by an "aspect", that of non-finish, a concept attributed to Michelangelo, a tireless searcher for the ideal model. Sculptures, plans, drawings, scores, paintings, manuscripts and photographs are grouped together in a constellation of unfinished works that allude to the fragmentary condition of modernity (from April 8 to August 15).

CaixaForum Zaragoza 

The vampires will wake up in CaixaForum Zaragoza in February. Organised together with the Cinémathèque Française, 'Vampires. The evolution of the myth' will analyse the filmmakers' fascination with this terrifying figure - from Murnau to Twilight, from Dreyer to True Blood. The exhibition offers a cross-section of the history of the vampire, more alive than ever in popular culture, with photographs, drawings, film costumes, manuscripts, books, comics, posters, paintings, engravings, documents and various objects. (from February 26 to June 13). 

CaixaForum Seville 

At CaixaForum Seville, in February, you can enjoy 'Mirrors. Inside and Outside Reality', an imaginative way of showing that reality can be observed from different angles, which is in favour of scientific thought and can change the perception we have of our surroundings. In this exhibition, mirrors are the museographic object through which the important role they play in different areas of science, culture and life in general is made clear (from February 25 to June 6). 

CaixaForum Girona 

CaixaForum Girona will be filled with the magic of Pixar in April. The exhibition 'Pixar. Building Characters' explores the creative process of the protagonists of the films in the animation studio, the result of long and careful teamwork. Drawings and models of Pixar's characters are exhibited, showing the construction process to reach their final appearance. The works belong to different productions by the factory, from 'Toy Story' to 'Soul' -their most recent film of which a sketch is included-, as well as 'Brave', 'Ratatouille', 'Monsters', 'Cars', 'Bugs', 'Coco' or 'Up' (from April 15th to August 22nd).

CaixaForum Lleida 

'Apollo 11' recalls one of the most important feats in human history, the arrival of the Moon, and goes into greater detail about what it meant for the progress of society and the space sciences. The exhibition commemorates this odyssey and discovers what the future of space has in store for us (from February 9 to July 25). 

CaixaForum Tarragona 

In April, 'Art and Myth', an exhibition organised by the Prado Museum with the collaboration of the "la Caixa" Foundation, will arrive at CaixaForum Tarragona. The exhibition will delve into classical mythology and its representation throughout the history of art through a careful selection of works from the collections of the Prado Museum, including paintings by Rubens, Ribera and Zurbarán, among many others.