From 18 January until 3 April the exhibition 'Una col·lecció per a un viatge. Promoció d’arquitectes Barcelona 1960' (Collection for a trip. Barcelona architects 1960) can be visited at the Vila Casas Foundation’s Can Framis Museum. 

The show recalls the amazing initiative shown in 1960 by students of the 85th graduating class of ETSAB, the Barcelona School of Architecture, asking for assistance from the artists of the day by which, through donating their work, the necessary money could be generated to pay for their end-of-course trip.

There was an enormous response and 144 artists from 22 different countries selflessly gave their work to form a unique collection. To grasp the importance of this collection, it only suffices to mention the contribution of artists such as Miró, Calder, Cocteau, Dix, Guinovart, Tàpies, Fontana and Morandi, amongst others, or architects such as Gropius, Neutra and Gio Ponti. 

The final fate of the works was meant to be their exhibition and sale at the Galeria Joan Gaspar, but the rapid intervention of the architect Antoni de Moragas with the approval of the COAC’s Governing Board enabled the unique collection to be purchased and kept together, to be exhibited for a time at the Association’s new headquarters. Later on, it was deposited in the Historical Archive where it has remained to this day.

On display at the show there will also be three editions of the journal Quaderns d'arquitectura i urbanisme (1960, 1968 and 2007) and the album of the students’ trip put together by Raimon Torres, and lent by the COAC's Library.


Visit the website of Vila Casas Foundation.