Tàpies listens to Varèse

A talk with music, presented by Lluís Nacenta

Edgard Varèse (Paris, 1883 – New York, 1965) was a pioneer of a new musical form that dared to expand, suspend and break traditional musical structures, such that each sound, each timbre, each concomitance could unfold in all its richness and complexity. This gave rise to a new kind of music that was more organic and less abstract, a transformation that would have decisive consequences for both instrumental and electronic music in the twentieth century, as well as holding importance for other areas of creation. Such was the case with Antoni Tàpies, who, witnessing this moment of change in music, allowed it to influence his own way of working: ‘[…] in parallel to what I did, some composers were also trying to find other materials; this is the moment when they began to talk about concrete and electronic music. I was especially interested in concrete music, which used materials from ordinary life. […] In New York, during the early fifties, I got to know some works by Edgar Varèse and John Cage, and also them personally… All this confirmed for me the need to renew plastic language and to move it away from the literary clichés of the formulaic Surrealism of that time and also from the geometrical restrictions of other groups.’¹

This talk with music is part of the exhibition Tàpies at 30. After listening to some of Varèse’s compositions, we will explore the influence that this composer had on Antoni Tàpies’ work through a detailed description of his musical universe.

Lluís Nacenta is a lecturer, writer and curator in the fields of contemporary music and art. He has a degree in mathematics, a degree in piano, a master’s in comparative literature, art and thought studies, and gained his doctor of humanities with a thesis on musical repetition. Since January 2018, he has held the position of director of Hangar, Centre for Art Research and Production. He has published numerous articles in print and digital media, including the La Vanguardia supplement ‘Cultura/s’ and Nativa magazine, and has curated exhibitions and concerts for Sónar+D, Arts Santa Mònica, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) and Fundació Antoni Tàpies, among others.

1. Manuel J. Borja-Villel, “El tatuatge i el cos. Conversa amb Antoni Tàpies”, in Tàpies. El tatuatge i el cos. Papers, cartons i collages. Barcelona: Fundació Antoni Tàpies, 1998.