SHELTER FROM THE STORM
Exile is described as the separation of a person from the land in which he or she lives, and the exile as an expatriate, usually for political reasons. We use the term migration to refer to the geographical displacement of individuals or groups, usually for economic or social reasons and, therefore, the migrant is the person who migrates. These four terms seem to complement each other or to be a consequence of each other. In any case, they refer to a person or a group of people leaving their homeland to settle in another land and start over. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that in 1965 there were an estimated 75 million migrants around the world, a figure that by 2002 had risen to 175 million as a result of the globalization process and the change of perspective on the economic and social conditions of individuals. This figure has now risen to 245 million and is expected to continue to rise as the variables that determine human mobility (economic differences, hunger, totalitarian oppression, xenophobia, repression, wars of various kinds, etc.) will tend to consolidate or, worse still, intensify. The same international organization points out that by 2050 the number of international migrants will be over 400 million. In these one hundred years of study and future prediction, it has become clear that not only has there been an increase in the number of migrants, but there has also been a change in migratory “habits”, since the traditional classification of countries affected by migration into origin, transit and destination countries is not the same anymore. Nowadays, there are many countries that send and receive migrants but are also transit countries. Migration, expatriation and exile are three staple features in the history of humanity, and today, just like always, they continue to impact millions of people. One only has to look at the news to see that this is a reality that we often turn our backs on, especially because we are ashamed of our own reaction and the stories of xenophobia, racism, violence and precariousness that, like a stigma, it brings along with it.
LOOKING TO EXILE FROM THE MUSAC COLLECTION
This constant movement of people has not only changed migrants’ self-awareness but has also altered the configuration and the way of understanding the past and the present of big cities. Refugio frente a la tormenta. Miradas al exilio desde la Colección MUSAC [Shelter from the Storm. Looking to Exile from the MUSAC Collection] aims to share with the viewer some glimpses of the uprootedness, melancholy and estrangement produced by the separation from the home land, culture and affections, and intends to do so through different stories by artists who, with a precise sensibility, put the focus on the individual and collective feeling of longing. On the other hand, together with the above, the exhibition aims to highlight the creative potential that exile is capable of bringing into being. Indeed, the distant gaze of the exiled, the displaced, the marginalized, is usually richer, more lucid and has more nuances than that of those who look from within. This richness is due not only to the fact that they can look at things from a distance but also to the richness brought about by the very mixture of cultures when the exile is aware of its potential. Finally, Refugio frente a la tormenta also approaches exile as a condition, not just as a circumstantial state, which is why exile does not always involve geographical displacement. In the 1950s, the writer Miguel Salabert coined the term “inner exile” to refer to the social autism caused by dissent and that turned freethinkers, intellectuals and artists into scattered islands condemned to invisibility.
09.06.18 - 18.11.18
REFUGIO FRENTE A LA TORMENTA MIRADAS AL EXILIO DESDE LA COLECCIÓN MUSAC SHELTER FROM THE STORM LOOKING TO EXILE FROM THE MUSAC COLLECTION
SALA 1