Archive on leisure time, interventions in public space
Barcelona 2001 / 05

Tomorrowland assembles and shows a revised version of the material realised during an exhibition at the former fairground of Montjuïc in Barcelona in 2001 and different interventions in public spaces investigating the concept of leisure time. Agencia Casa Valero investigates a leisure space, which reveals in its use and development the struggles for power.
The exhibition-project for the former fairground consisted, besides various debates about the phenomenon of leisure time in Barcelona, an information office, which offered a huge historical image and press archive about the fairground of Montjuïc and many other fairgrounds and leisure parks. These archives had the aim to evoke conversations with the visitors about their memories of the Montjuïc fairground and to collect their opinions about the “free time” in relation to “working time”.

The conversations, which were recorded on video, extended the documentation throughout the exhibition. As free time goes hand in hand with so-called remunerated time. I was especially interested in questioning the existing social perception about the work of an artist and throughout the whole period of the exhibition. I consequently presented me and my artwork during the official office hours (from 10 to 5 pm).

Explaining the visitors that this performance was meant to be an artistic intervention, we could sometimes provoke conversations about the understanding of “free time“ in relation to the “remunerated time”. In several of these conversations I got to know professionals connected to the fairground and people who were employees in enterprises of the leisure industry. With them, other professionals and various experts of the leisure system. I organised three meetings to talk about the aspects of leisure time and its products. These discussions became also part of the video archive.