The aim of the Beulas Foundation is to make the CDAN a leading centre on itineraries focusing on the study of contemporary art to create a territory for art that is capable of generating an image of modern-day Huesca and drawing international attention thanks to its specialisation in distinctive subjects related to art and nature.
The starting point for the CDAN is a desire to identify this new public space as one with meaning – as a new civic milestone for the city and the autonomous community of Huesca; a public spaces that by virtue of the project it embodies and the way it is run can be seen as an indicator of urban quality, and therefore as a significant way of ensuring that new infrastructure generates value for citizens.
The Centro de Arte y Naturaleza offers a regular programme of activities that centre on its two major collections, nature, public space, artistic creation and contemporary culture, all with a strong emphasis on presenting new insights and perspectives. With a determination to set itself apart while reaching out to a broad audience, the CDAN will find its place in international networks that link artistic and cultural spaces by promoting both creative and management exchanges.
The CDAN – structured around the thematic axis of art and nature – is emerging as a living space that is open to the city of Huesca and visitors. The site as a whole is defined by a series of elements with a common identity: the plot donated by José Beulas and María Sarrate, where the couple currently make their home, with two buildings constructed in the 1960s (a house designed by Benosa and a studio by García de Paredes) and a garden that will be linked to the property where the CDAN is situated; a building designed by Rafael Moneo, which serves as the information and management centre; and a yet-to-be-constructed building that will complete existing services. Together this set of autonomous structures will constitute an extension of the city’s public space.
The Beulas Foundation’s Centro de Arte y Naturaleza opens its doors in Huesca with the goal of becoming a leading international centre in all subject areas that relate art and nature to contemporary culture.
The CDAN sets out to achieve this objective with a concept of territory that encompasses a number of elements linked by a common identity. The first is a building designed by Rafael Moneo, which serves as a management and information centre. This identity is completed with the plot-garden donated to the CDAN by Beulas, which will be transformed into a study and research centre. A second building is essential if the project is to achieve the high-profile it aspires to at both the national and international level. Finally, the landscape of Huesca also plays a vital role. A series of artistic interventions at carefully chosen sites around the province have already taken place within the framework of the Art and Nature project to create a ‘collection-route’. Up to this point, the project has been financed by the Huesca Provincial Council. Together these elements form a living space for art and nature.
In June 2009 a new intervention in the landscape got underway. The latest project, entrusted to artist Per Kirkeby, is the seventh work on the Art and Nature collection-route, to which internationally acclaimed artists Richard Long, Ulrich Rückriem, Siah Armajani, Fernando Casás, David Nash and Alberto Carneiro, have already contributed. These carefully selected artists have designed and constructed works conceived especially for specific sites in the landscape of Huesca. They were free to choose the sites for their works, subject only to the constraints imposed by the landscape itself and the budget available for each work.
The installation aims to form an open collection, to speak of the relationship between art and nature, and, more generally, between art and the environment, and to draw attention to the diversity of landscape found in Huesca. The plan is to create between eight and ten works that form a coherent group and have enough drawing power to encourage visitors and members of the public to follow a route that will take them through the territory of Huesca.
The CDAN will promote extensive debate on the intellectual plane with courses, publications, exhibitions, and a special emphasis on research. Drawing on the experience gained in implementing the Art and Nature project and offering five courses, directed by Javier Maderuelo,under the same title, the CDAN will now begin another cycle of five annual courses focusing on a more specific theme: landscape.The courses are aimed at analysing five areas in relation to the concept of landscape in order to more clearly define what landscape is and how it relates to thought, art, territory, history, and heritage.
The CDAN also has its own documentation centre, known as INDOC, to provide support for researchers and academics while also making the CDAN a vibrant, dynamic environment.This is a space for reflection and research on contemporary art, with particular emphasis on art and nature, public space, architecture, landscape studies, and related subjects. As a service of the CDAN, which is responsible for the legacy donated by painter José Beulas and for the Art and Nature collection-route, INDOC is used to carry out research on the donated works and the artists who created them. With the aim of becoming a leading centre for research on art and nature, INDOC is developing both onsite and online services that will help users learn about and gain greater insight into this field of contemporary artistic creation.
More information at: http://www.cdan.es/index.asp
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