Arts In Barcelona

Arts in Barcelona is one of the international courses of Arts Administration @ Boston University.The course is held at the Picasso Museum with visits to a series of organizations ranging from museums to foundations, from art galleries to theaters, from music venues to alternative spaces. Students engage with international experts, museums directors, scholars, artists, managers, cultural operators and government officials, to gain an understanding of the multitude of forces that shape and support the thriving cultural scene of Barcelona.

During a stay of almost two weeks in Barcelona students are required to participate in a series of initiatives and develop ideas, research projects, journals and art projects. This work develops and is summarized in the writing of an academic paper as final submission for the coursework as well as a class presentation by each student of their experience, perspective and reflections on the city of Barcelona and its cultural development.

For the 2016 course, the theme of war and the relationship between art and politics characterized the conceptual underpinning of the course with a focus on Picasso’s work and the participation in the 3rd Master Lecture Jaume Sabartés by Professor Christopher Green at the Picasso Museum titled Picasso and Friends: Cubism as Realism, 1914-1918.

“Green believes that ‘the reality of the conflict was impossible to escape from and cubism was reaffirmed as the power of the individual to continue creating art in the worst circumstances’.” 

Professor Aceti did his own coursework writing a paper titled Picasso at War: Contextualizing War, Violence, Madness… and Perhaps Peace.