The Start of Tomorrow
08 Apr - 20 Jul 2014
THE START OF TOMORROW
Mancomunitat of Catalonia: 100 years
8 April - 20 July 2014
The Mancomunitat of Catalonia was created on 6 April 1914. It was a political project that consisted of bringing together the four Catalan provincial councils. Its presidency was occupied by the President of the Provincial Council of Barcelona, Enric Prat de la Riba. The Mancomunitat carried out its political, social and cultural work until the coup led by General Primo de Rivera, in September 1923. Firstly it was intervened and subsequently, in 1925, it was dissolved. Despite lacking resources of its own, because it was based on the budgets of the four provincial councils, the Mancomunitat carried out a formidable task and was capable of creating and transforming the country with strict standards and determination, efficiency and agility. During a decade it acted with unprecedented energy to create solid tools for connectivity and growth in Catalonia. The Mancomunitat proposed to structure Catalonia globally and, therefore, it focused its efforts on the creation of country infrastructures. The team that piloted this institution had a strategic, long-term vision, but was also geared towards the execution of specific projects. It was capable of strengthening and deploying infrastructures, such as the telephone network –the first automatic telephone exchange in the whole of Spain was in Balaguer– and the roads network, it promoted the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC) with the aim of making it the first public research centre, it transformed the old charity welfare into a modern public health service, implemented standardisation of the Catalan language, created new structures for technical and professional training, incorporated innovative teaching methods with the collaboration of Maria Montessori, created the network of popular libraries, invited Einstein to Barcelona, and, above all, was capable of creating a community vision for the future. Highlighting the initiatives that were implemented and that transformed the territory de facto seems to us to be the best way of conveying the essence of this institution: What was the “work done”? What projects were promoted or materialised? Its capabilities in terms of transformation and the creation of new structures sowed the seeds not just of our present but also of our future. The exhibition has been developed on this concept, which is contained within the words of Prat de la Riba: «Mancomunitat of Catalonia: The Start of Tomorrow». This event is a networked exhibition project as a representation of one of the Mancomunitat’s priorities, the connectivity of the territory. Its specific actions and fields of action structure the six installations or thematic nodes that are often organised corresponding with facilities created or promoted by the Mancomunitat.
Mancomunitat of Catalonia: 100 years
8 April - 20 July 2014
The Mancomunitat of Catalonia was created on 6 April 1914. It was a political project that consisted of bringing together the four Catalan provincial councils. Its presidency was occupied by the President of the Provincial Council of Barcelona, Enric Prat de la Riba. The Mancomunitat carried out its political, social and cultural work until the coup led by General Primo de Rivera, in September 1923. Firstly it was intervened and subsequently, in 1925, it was dissolved. Despite lacking resources of its own, because it was based on the budgets of the four provincial councils, the Mancomunitat carried out a formidable task and was capable of creating and transforming the country with strict standards and determination, efficiency and agility. During a decade it acted with unprecedented energy to create solid tools for connectivity and growth in Catalonia. The Mancomunitat proposed to structure Catalonia globally and, therefore, it focused its efforts on the creation of country infrastructures. The team that piloted this institution had a strategic, long-term vision, but was also geared towards the execution of specific projects. It was capable of strengthening and deploying infrastructures, such as the telephone network –the first automatic telephone exchange in the whole of Spain was in Balaguer– and the roads network, it promoted the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC) with the aim of making it the first public research centre, it transformed the old charity welfare into a modern public health service, implemented standardisation of the Catalan language, created new structures for technical and professional training, incorporated innovative teaching methods with the collaboration of Maria Montessori, created the network of popular libraries, invited Einstein to Barcelona, and, above all, was capable of creating a community vision for the future. Highlighting the initiatives that were implemented and that transformed the territory de facto seems to us to be the best way of conveying the essence of this institution: What was the “work done”? What projects were promoted or materialised? Its capabilities in terms of transformation and the creation of new structures sowed the seeds not just of our present but also of our future. The exhibition has been developed on this concept, which is contained within the words of Prat de la Riba: «Mancomunitat of Catalonia: The Start of Tomorrow». This event is a networked exhibition project as a representation of one of the Mancomunitat’s priorities, the connectivity of the territory. Its specific actions and fields of action structure the six installations or thematic nodes that are often organised corresponding with facilities created or promoted by the Mancomunitat.