Osona Artimur Festival, Brings Street Art to the Barcelona Countryside,2022

Posted by Donna on 11th December, 2022
Filed under: From the Street

The first edition of the Osona Artimur Festival, curated by B-Murals, has just wrapped up a successful art festival in the beautiful countryside of Barcelona.

A total of nineteen new murals and artistic interventions have found a new home on the walls of five different villages of the region- Prats de Lluçanès, Manlleu, Sant Julià de Vilatorta, Sant Bartomeu del Grau and Alpens.

Invited artists: Zoer, Ana Barriga, Satone, Nano4814, Luogo Comune, Isaac Cordal, Rosh, Alberto Montes, Jan Vallverdú, Marta Lapeña, Eloise Gillow. Artists selected by open call: Artists working on participatory processes: Daniel Muñoz, Chu Doma, Alessia Innocenti, Mateu Targa, Zosen

The Osona Artimur festival discussed whether urban art has a place in the country and generated several questions about street art and the context of its development. For instance, can small towns be an ideal scenario for urban art?

As B-Murals discovered, the festival’s first edition showed us that muralism could generate discussions about the roles of tradition and art in rural areas. For example, the controversial work of Ana Barriga at Sant Julià opened a big discussion about the place for contemporary art in a countryside context, but also the considerations about gender issues and folklore showcased by Mateu Targa’s wall, the horse culture represented by Sergi Bastida’s piece and the deep thoughts about the actual human being condition that can be found in Isaac Cordal’s figures.

Ana Barriga Oliva. Sant Julià de Vilatorta. Photo: Fer Alcalá

The work of Daniel Muñoz, was created in collaboration with the local mental health collective Osonament .

Daniel Muñoz, Manlleu. Photo credit Fer Alcalá

The proposals of Chu Doma, Zosen and Alessia Innocenti, done with several students, allow finding new paths of exploring art, claiming its power as a way of self-expression and educating new audiences.

Participatory process with Alessia Innocenti. Sant Bartomeu del Grau. Photo: Monika Pufflerova

On the other hand, contemporary and abstract pieces shutter the traditional aesthetical criteria, looking for new portraits of local identities, as the murals of Zoer, Satone, Ana Barriga, Rosh and Nano4814 display.