Putting Barcelona on the contemporary art map

It all began in 2003 with a few art gallery colleagues, with the desire to create an event that could be part of the international contemporary art scene and that could put Barcelona on the contemporary art map.

In our galleries, we worked regularly with video art and thought the art scene needed a specialized event dedicated to artists working with video and film.

Tradition linked to video art

Although it had no direct link to our decision, it seemed that Barcelona had a tradition linked to video art : there were a few important exhibitions in the 70’s put on by Caixa Forum and Fundaciò Miro. So now, every May, Barcelona hosts a very special gathering which attracts professionals and enthusiasts who work with videos and films.

A ten-day festival takes place in major museums and a variety of venues in the city and an exclusive, smaller three days fair is held in the rooms of a central hotel.

A Panel Discussions deal with the main issues concerning video art, such as production, distribution, conservation and exhibition.

The LOOP Festival program

Interaction with the local community

In order to create some kind of interaction with the local community, we decided to present the LOOP Festival program also in the El Raval district, presenting videos in the shops of immigrants and trying to show videos from their country of origin.

The first year, we did it in thirty shops, lending them TVs. What happened is that some shopkeepers just used the TV to watch football, but others really appreciated the pieces.

Now, some of them even want to select the pieces themselves, which is interesting, although more problematic as they become curators.