Institut Ramon Llull
[4] Between 23 June and 4 July 2003, Maria del Mar Bonet, the Nats Nus dance company, the artist Eulàlia Valldosera, the pianist Albert Atenelle, and the exhibition Gaudí, un univers acted as ambassadors of Catalan culture in Russia.
Cultura Catalana a Nàpols, an exhibition on The Divine Comedy as interpreted by Miquel Barceló and held in the Castel Nuovo, during October.
As part of the Eventi Collateralli, the 53rd Biennale included a Catalan pavilion, with the exhibition La comunitat inconfessable curate by Valentín Roma, which was visited by 45,633 people.
A year later, Catalan culture arrived in London with the exhibition Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape at the Tate Modern as the highlight.
It was accompanied by performance from Tap Olé, Nats Nus Dansa, Sol Picó, concerts by the Carles Benavent Quintet, the Miguel Gómez Quartet, Colia Miralta Sambeat, the Biel Ballester Trio, Mishima, and Les Aus i Aias, among other events.
In 2012 a tour was organised, named Catalan Sounds on Tour, which visited Canada, Texas, Mexico and the United Kingdom – an initiative hosted at the Canadian Music Week (Toronto), at South by South West (Austin), at The Great Escape (Brighton) and at Vive Latino (Mexico City), joined by groups such as Manel, Seward, Mujeres, Ninette & The Goldfish, Els Amics del Bosc, Ferguson or Petit, among others.
The companies Pelmànec, EIA, Pere Faura, Alba Sarraute, Los Excéntricos, Cor de théatre, Katraska i Mariantònia Oliver performed in various spaces throughout the city.
Between 29 August and 25 November, within the scope of Eventi Collateralli (peripheral events), it was also possible to visit the project Vogadors (Rowers), commissioned by Jordi Badia and Félix Arranz.
Others were the focus on Catalan at the Festival of Contemporary Music in Huddersfield, one of Europe's most prestigious, complete with the figure of Hèctor Parra as resident composer, and also the fact that the Catalan culture was the guest of honour at Salisbury International Arts Festival, with the attendance of fifteen theatre companies and music groups.
As far as creation is concerned, Catalonia's fourth consecutive participation in the Venice Biennale of Architecture with the project La singularitat, by Albert Serra and commissioned by Chus Martínez, was remarkable.
The participations of Catalan groups and companies have also had a special relevance in the New York City Summerstage Festival or at the Avignon le Off Festival with the project Avignon à la catalane, as well as the presence of our design in the Business of Design Week in Hong Kong with the Barcelona city council.
Architecture beyond architects, commissioned by Jaume Prat, Jelena Proklopevic with a project by the director Isaki Lacuesta, the participation of the Catalan literature as a special guest in the Warsaw Book Fair, the organisation of the international activities for the 700th anniversary of Llull's death and the celebration of the 30th International Symposium for Catalan teachers abroad in the Rovira i Virgili University.
During this period the institution came under both governments and had one headquarters in Barcelona and another in Palma, located at number 10 on the Carrer de la Protectora.
Since 2013, the current headquarters of the Ramon Llull Institute has been at the Palau Baró de Quadras, a modernist building constructed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch between 1904 and 1906.
The building is located on a narrow plot of land, on the corner of Avinguda Diagonal and Carrer de Rosselló, with two completely different façades.
It is the result of the renovation of a previous rental property on the site, whose façade faced Carrer Rosselló – some elements of the pre-existing structure are still visible.
Finally, the Institut Ramon Llull concerns itself with disseminating Catalan literature as a whole at book fairs and assuring the presence of artists from Catalonia on important international creative contemporary arts programmes.
It works to ensure that Catalan culture is present at festivals and fairs at global level; it takes part in cultural events in strategic cities at the forefront in different creative spheres, and it encourages exchanges between local and international creative sectors with visits for foreign curators, critics, programmers, publishers and agents to festivals, exhibitions, premieres, concerts and talks in Catalonia.
