San Gimignano
Beijing
Les Moulins
Habana
Roma
Sao Paulo
Paris
Dubai
Galleria Continua is a dynamic space that is open to interculturality. Since the beginning, it has sought to create links between contexts and make connections across different countries, in order to bring together traditions, cultures, art and the public.
Motivated by the desire to explore complex and extensive cultural landscapes, Galleria Continua has “matured” while expanding all over the world. It has strived to contribute and develop dialogue in each of its locations between local communities and international networks, inviting them to share their imagination and projects, to generate and regenerate the present and to imagine the future through art.
Galleria Continua’s activities over the years have followed a unique path directed towards interaction with others and overcoming geographical, personal and social boundaries. The gallery has presented itself as an active space – one of education, exchange, reflection and enrichment – and a place to cultivate memory and identity in relation to the present day.
Just as a child begins to speak by initially memorizing sounds and then understanding the meaning of words, art is learned by living it. The more it is experienced, the more stimulating it becomes, leading to an understanding of contemporary reality that is non-obvious and creative. Galleria Continua has embraced the idea that art is a tool for understanding, a way to develop awareness, a critical sense and an openness towards culture through mechanisms of accessibility and participation. The work that has been done locally encourages us to think together about various ways of co-existing in society, about our differences and similarities, and our sense of identity, belonging and inclusion.
ContinuActions aim to be moments of cultural and emotional sharing. Contemporary art becomes an opportunity to live a 360° creative experience. Stimulating body and mind through different mediums, the artistic process is highlighted and explained to students in what we can describe as an aesthetic experience, to be relived and retold.
Since its opening, GALLERIA CONTINUA / Les Moulins has been a social stakeholder in the Île-de-France region. The gallery welcomes a variety of visitors every day, including art lovers, art professionals, journalists and collectors as well as an audience that is less focused on contemporary art. This reception provides a genuine opportunity for coming together and sharing, while the guided tours and workshops are opportunities for artistic and cultural exchange. ContinuActions are not just a presentation of artworks and of artists’ approaches, but an opportunity for visitors to share their views on what they are discovering. ContinuActions thus aim to become moments of cultural and emotional exchange.
There have been many initiatives with that objective, directed towards diverse audiences. The quality of our spaces, the industrial architecture, the wild flowers and the monumental artworks allow our public to let go, and no longer feel like a visitor but rather simply like a human being. ContinuActions are a holistic experience: our cultural mediators openly guide the public through the spaces, taking into account the individuals they are dealing with. School visits are organized together with teachers based on the specific needs of the children, and every visit is unique. ContinuActions are all about providing quality education that transform a simple guided visit into an experience to be lived. Similarly, ART & FUTUR Ex-Ex: Expérience Expo proposes exhibitions and workshops dedicated to children. ART & FUTUR thus constitutes a space for research on cultural mediation through constant and diversified experimentations. There are many projects that situate the gallery in its surrounding territory. Les Moulins has a large number of partnerships with associations and cultural institutions hosting concerts, plays, dance performances, and many other activities. The Continua Skatepark is a true architectural gesture in the landscape surrounding Le Moulin de Sainte-Marie that opens up the gallery to new experiences. The Sensory Walk, set up between Le Moulin de Boissy and Le Moulin de Sainte-Marie, is made up of several installations narrating the industrial history of the mills. The route thus becomes a meeting point between the past and the present. All of these activities and choices aim to create links between the gallery and its area, and between art and life, generating both singular discoveries and vivid memories.
Throughout the years CONTINUA Habana has produced hundreds of events, it’s been a crossroads for encounters, a space for life even before considering art, putting in place a symbiotic circle of mutual human, artistic and cultural enrichment.
Many exhibitions have been organized on location as well as externally: in institutions such as MNBA (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes), la Fototeca de Cuba, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam and UNAICC (Unión Nacional de Arquitectos e Ingenieros de la Construcción de Cuba) but also in marginalized neighborhoods (los Pozitos), at the University of Havana, at the ISA (Instituto Superior de Arte), in other cities (Pinar del Río) and in the main squares of Havana.
Meeting with the Cuban people also came about through a busy program of talks and presentations by artists, critics and curators – the “Charlas Continuas”, that in Spanish means conferences but also “continuous chats” – and through the sound session + poetry afternoons “P.A.S.E.” (Poesía, arte, sonido experimental), the 14 hours Festival of Music, Dance and Theatre and the theremin and buccal health teaching days.
Since the beginning of CONTINUA Habana’s activity, Michelangelo Pistoletto has organized events in Cuba that relate to the spirit and philosophy of this project. The artist, together with Laura Salas Redondo and the group they formed, founded inside the gallery one of the most active Third Paradise Embassies. Through this, together with the Galleria Continua team, they have organized events to promote sustainability, demopraxia and creativity. With the name “CRE-ARTE en Continua” they have done more than 100 workshops, for the most part aimed at children and teenagers from the area’s schools but also for the elderly and the gallery’s general audience.
From 2015, once a year every November, thanks to the collaboration between Pistoletto, the public institutions, the UN and the gallery, the Rebirth Forum takes place in some of the most emblematic places in Havana, like the Bertold Brecht Theatre and the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso. It’s an international event in which they discuss, by means of demopraxia, the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and they present projects that have taken place or will take place for that current year, such as the Third Paradise Embassy’s projects as well as the projects of all those who were invited.
Here you will find a selection of activities that allow moments of sharing and participation when at home, encouraging curiosity and independent learning. Through contemporary art we can get to know more about ourselves and others. These actions are an opportunity to deepen these connections and they can be a point of meeting for ourselves and our friends and family.
Coloring, collaging, drawing, cutting or building are just some of the things that these “drawings” could be used for. It’s really up to you.
Do these ContinuActivities and tag us on social media in your creations @galleriacontinua.
