Antoni Tàpies’ Suitcase

Antoni Tàpies had two studios: one in Barcelona, on Carrer Saragossa, and the other in Campins, in the Montseny. The house-studio in Barcelona was designed by architect J. A. Coderch following the artist’s requirements in terms of materials and the sober and calm environment he needed. The Campins farmhouse was acquired by the family in 1960 and was used, mainly in the summer months, as a retreat to escape the distractions of the city.

When Tàpies moved from one place to another, he carried with him a suitcase full of vinyl records, which were swapped and reviewed depending on personal interests and the musical fashions of the moment. Although Tàpies did not mix his activities, that is, when he painted, he painted, and when he listened to music, he listened to music, from a very early age music had been his passion.

After the artist’s death, Miquel Tàpies, his youngest son, listed the contents of one of the suitcases with the aim of generating an anthology of twentieth-century classics: Webern, Schoenberg, Scelsci, Ligeti, Xenakis, Feldman, Cage, Boulez…

As part of the celebration of the centenary of the birth of Antoni Tàpies (Tàpies’ Year), the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) is collaborating with Museu Tàpies to stage a series of live performances in front of Tapies’ works in othen institiutions. The cycle is titled Antoni Tàpies’ Suitcase, and features the work Hyxos by Giacinto Scelsi, performed by ESMUC students.

Upcoming Performances

. December 11, 2024, at 7 p.m., the action will take place at the Museu Tàpies

Programme of Performances

· 13 December 2023, at 14 h, in the Parliament of Catalonia, the first performance of the cycle took place before the work 7 de novembre, by Antoni Tàpies. The event coincided with the start of the Tàpies Centenary Year activities.

· 22 December 2023,  in front of the work by Antoni Tàpies titled Complement, exhibited in the Barcelona City Council.

· 12 January 2024, in front of the work by Antoni Tàpies titled Les quatre cròniques, in Palau de la Generalitat.

· 25 February 2024, at the Museu de Sant Boi, in front of the work by Antoni Tàpies titled 11 de setembre.

· 4 March 2024, in Sala de Reflexió, a work by Antoni Tàpies, in Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona (Campus de la Ciutadella, Carrer Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27). 

· 31 May 2024, at 7:30 p.m., at Museu de Valls, on the occasion of the “Antoni Tàpies. Intervening Bronzes (1987-1989)” exhibition.

· 21 June 2024, at 1.30 p.m., at the Institut Français in Barcelona.

· September 24, 2024, at 12 m. and 12:30 p.m., the performance will take place at the Recinte modernista de Sant Pau in Barcelona, featuring the participation of the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation, in front of the work by Antoni Tàpies titled Painted and Scraped Wood.

· September 26, 2024, at 18.30 p.m., the performance will take place at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, in front of Tàpies’ Paisatge blanc i negre I (1985) and Dues creus negres (1973), at the exhibition Col·lecció MACBA: Preludi. Intenció poètica.

· October 17, 2024, at 18.30 p.m., the action was at the Fundació Suñol in Barcelona.

· October 25, 2024, at 8 p.m., at the CCCB in Barcelona. Agnès Varda had connections with and an interest in Catalan art. The CCCB exhibition includes, among other pieces, the Antoni Tàpies painting Ocre-gris sobre marró (Ochre-Grey over Brown, 1962), which dialogues with an excerpt from Varda’s documentary film Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse (2004). In this film, Varda looks at the ceiling of her house, sees a damp patch, and says it reminds her of a work by Tàpies. Concert by ESMUC students Juan Carlos Narvaez (alto flute) and Álvaro Ayuso (percussion) at the exhibition Agnès Varda. Photograph, Film, Recycle.

· November 18, 2024, at 6:30 p.m., performance at the Ateneu Barcelonès. Sala Oriol Bohigas. Conversation between Imma Prieto, director of Museu Tàpies, and Vicenç Altayó, writer and art critic, moderated by Alba Font and Bárbara Astals. The musical pieces will be performed accompanied by the work entitled Roig i Negre 2, by Antoni Tàpies, which is part of the artistic heritage of the Ateneu Barcelonès. Concert with ESMUC students who will perform several musical works by the composer Alban Berg.

· November 25, 2024, at 8 p.m., at the Cercle del Liceu, in collaboration with the Lliga Jove del Cercle del Liceu.

List of records kept in the suitcase as noted by Miquel Tàpies Barba

• Contemporary piano music | Hungaroton HCD 12659 | Klara Kormendi.
• Giacinto Scelsci | Wergo | Canti di capricornio.
• Iannis Xenakis | WDR | Musique de chambre 1955-1990 | Arditti String Quartet and Claude Helffer.
• Alban Berg | CBS | Three Orchestral Pieces, Op. 6 – Violin Concerto | Pierre Boulez.
• Charles Ives | Wergo | Sonate fur Klavier No. 1
• Milton Babbitt | Harmonia Mundi | Piano Works | Robert Taub.
• Arnold Schoenberg | Adès | Pierrot Lunaire / Serenade | Helga Pilarczyck.
• Stockhausen | Deutsche Grammophon | Suzane Stephens.
• Xenakis | Harmonia Mundi | Pléiades | Les Percussionistes de Strasbourg.
• Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann | Journey to inaccessible places and other music | Elan Sicroff.
• Charles Ives | CBS | Symphony No. 3 and Orchestral Set No. 2 | Michael Tilson Thomas and Concertgebouw Orchestra.
• Berio | Deutsche Grammophon | Coro | Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester.
• Antoine Tisné | Caliope | Ragas: Visions des temps immémoriaux.
• Roberto Gerhard | Auvidis | Symphony No. 4, New York and Metamorphosis (Symph. No. 2) | The plague / Epithalamion.
• Ligeti | Sony | Cello concerto, Piano concerto, Chamber concerto | Ensemble Modern.
• Alban Berg | Accord | Portrait | SIMC-IGNM.
• Lutoslawski | Naxos | Symphony No. 3
• Boulez | Wergo | Première, deuxième et troisième sonate pour piano.
• Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Cage | Deutsche Grammophon | Mayuzumi | LaSalle Quartet.
• Xenakis/Messiaen | Denon | Yuji Takahashi.
• Pierre Boulez | Harmonia Mundi | Domaines | Michel Portal, Diego Masson.

[Photograph: Performance at Barcelona City Council.]