June 28, 2017 TnH Global

‘Bombas Gens’ opens to the public on 8th July in Valencia

Bombas Gens, an old factory located in Valencia, opens its doors on 8^th July as the new headquarter of the ‘Fundació Per Amor a l’Art’. After almost two years of refurbishment, this art deco building has been reinvented into a new and contemporary art centre that aims to be a reference in Valencia.

The opening will be rolled out in two phases. Firstly, the art gallery will be presented to the public on 8 July. The second phase, programmed for autumn 2017, includes a garden, a medieval wine cellar and a new building set aside for social action.

Originally the building, owned by Carlos Gens, was a factory of Hydraulic Pumps (Bombas) in the district of Marchalenes (Valencia) until its closure in 1991. Since then, it has suffered deterioration as a result of the lack of maintenance and a fire that burnt a part of the complex in 2014. Then, ‘Per Amor a l’Art’Foundation acquired the property with the aim of revamping it and give this historical building a chance to recover its importance within the city. The rehabilitation and extension is designed and overseen by a team of architects comprising Eduardo de Miguel, Annabelle Selldorf and Ramon Esteve.

The new space has kept the building’s singularity that has entitled it as Local Heritage. The art deco façade designed by Cayetano Borso di Carminati and the elements that remind its industrial past have been restored to accomplish its new purpose. The traditional complex will be complemented by a brand new building that will house the social activities of the foundation. In addition, the renowned Valencian chef Ricard Camarena will move his one-Michelin-star restaurant into the complex.

The art centre will open with the first presentation of the Per Amor a l’Art collection, plus a temporary exhibition of the work of the photographers Bleda y Rosa and a show exploring stories behind the former Bombas Gens factory.

The opening programme is as follows:

Bleda y Rosa. A Geography of Time

Bleda y Rosa. A Geography of Time surveys twenty-four years’ work by María Bleda (Castellón, 1969) and José María Rosa (Albacete, 1970) based on the seriesCampos de batalla; a recently finalised project begun in 1994 which will be shown in its entirety for the first time.

Ornament = Crime?

The title of the exhibition is a riff on Ornament und Verbrechen [Ornament and Crime], the essay written in Vienna in 1908 by the architect Adolf Loos, which became a kind of manifesto for disornamentation in art and in architecture in the twentieth century.

Histories of Bombas Gens

This exhibition explores the history of Bombas Gens, from when it was first built until today, through a series of images, objects and eye-witness accounts that examine the architecture, work inside the factory, and the surrounding urban environs.

PER AMOR A L’ART COLLECTION

The mandate of the Bombas Gens art centre is to exhibit the Per Amor a l’Art private collection to the general public. This art collection consisting mainly of photography and abstract painting comprises of wide-ranging and singular bodies of work by Spanish and international artists. In other words, it is a collection of collections with a long-term commitment with the artists in order to show the complete breadth of their practice. The collection currently contains around 1800 works by 140 artists.

From the outset Vicente Todolí, a board member of the foundation and director of its Art & Culture area has acted as artistic adviser to the collection.

THE FOUNDATION

The driving force behind this new initiative is Fundació Per Amor a l’Art, a foundation dedicated to art (seeking to heighten artistic sensibility in society by showing its Per Amor a l’Art collection to the public), research (studying and promoting aspects related with Wilson’s disease and other rare illnesses) and social action (concerned with the poor and underprivileged, particularly children in situations of vulnerability).

So, make sure you do visit and take a sneak peek into the excellent and outstanding collection at Bombas Gens!