Trip #4: MACB

Alex Verch

Trip #4: MACB

Date: April 14^th, 2011

            Today we went on a field trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the MACB. We met everyone outside the museum in front of a sign that read, “Ravalejar”. Of course I immediately wondered what that meant, but would soon find out as the field trip progressed.

            The area where the MACB is located is Raval, which is located on the right side of Ramblas. At first, the area was a place where very poor people lived and where sailors first arrived in search of bars and prostitutes. There were many drug issues in the area as well, which was of course not ideal for families to come settle in with their children. Town hall wished to change the image of the area in order to attract families with their kids. Once hotels, boutiques, and hotels started to form in the area it became a more ideal place for people to live and gather. During the field trip I learned that this was one of the few areas where poor people were actually living in the center of the city as opposed to the outskirts.

            As our class continued to walk around we strolled through the inside of the MACB and saw some very interesting exhibits. My favorite was the dancing chairs. I learned that at night there are concerts and events held in the area. We also visited the beautiful Sant Pau del Camp church that was restored in order to attract people to the Raval area.  FAD, which is a design school to help young professionals, also exists in this area and is perfect for young kids to socialize, learn, and have available work space for design if they are interested.

            The Raval area has truly come a long way from its rocky start. The English translation for “Ravalejar” is hang out an explore an area. When the sailors first arrived there that is exactly what they did, hung out and explored. Now Raval of Barcelona is a place for families to hang out, explore, live, and socialize.