The proposal draws on the irreverent energy of Pibes ’85 from a contemporary perspective to activate five centuries of history as a space for dialogue with the community
Today, the historic Casa de los Capitanes hosted the official presentation of PIBADA’25, a project promoted by LM Arte Colección and the Department of Cultural Heritage of the City Council of La Laguna, which will open its doors in this museum on 21 November. The initiative, which is part of the programme commemorating the 25th anniversary of the city’s inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, is conceived as a contemporary reinterpretation of the historic cultural emergence of “Pibes ’85”, the generation of artists who, 40 years ago, transformed the creative pulse of the university city with irreverent and multidisciplinary proposals.
The Councillor for Cultural Heritage, Adolfo Cordobés; the director of LM Arte Colección, Eliseo G. Izquierdo, and the exhibition coordinator, Ana Roca, participated in this meeting with the media, which was attended by representatives of the artists participating in the initiative, specifically Andrea Allgayer, Maï Diallo, Gara Hernández, Paula Machado, Laura Moral, Andrea Moreno, Cristina Ortega, Marina Sunyer, and Victoria Valiente.
This revival of the spirit of “Pibes ’85” takes on a national dimension by making La Laguna an example of how a heritage city can integrate contemporary creation into its cultural policies. In 1985, around thirty young artists, coordinated by Gonzalo Díaz, “El Conco”, occupied alternative venues and spaces in the old town, marking a milestone in the cultural history of the Canary Islands, linked to the university scene and interaction with historical spaces. Their energy is part of the same map of youth movements that gave rise to phenomena such as the Movida Madrileña or the alternative scenes in Barcelona and Valencia.
This new initiative not only connects the past and present, but also opens up a debate on the role of World Heritage cities in the 21st century, with La Laguna presenting itself as a cultural laboratory, capable of combining the protection of its heritage with the energy of new generations of artists. The project activates a historic house in La Laguna, the LM Arte y Colección museum, as a space for meeting and production, and projects an image of a city that is not confined to its past, but uses it as a platform for artistic innovation.
The Councillor for Cultural Heritage, Adolfo Cordobés, emphasised that “La Laguna cannot limit itself to preserving five centuries of history. Our heritage is also the energy of those who today produce art from new perspectives. PIBADA’25 reminds us that cultural memory is not preserved in display cases, it is activated in dialogue with the community, and this anniversary is the perfect occasion to look at ourselves from a young perspective and continue building the heritage of future generations.”
With this proposal, Cordobés emphasised, “the city reinforces its role as a cultural benchmark in the Canary Islands and sends a message to the rest of the country: heritage is not just about architectural conservation, but also creative dynamism and the capacity for reinvention”.
Eliseo G. Izquierdo explained that the project will be developed in two stages: a temporary exhibition of completed works, which will open on 21 November, and a second performance on 10, 11 and 12 December, when the installation will be open to the public. “We want the museum to be more than just a container for works of art; we want it to become a living laboratory. The process is as important as the result, because contemporary art is built on interaction, conversation and shared experience,” he said.
The proposal is part of the parallel programme of the exhibition “Lagunear. Memory and Transformation”, which is on display at LM Arte Colección until 4 December and which, in this case, observes the city from the perspective of historical figures in Canarian art, such as Óscar Domínguez, Manolo Millares, María Belén Morales, Pedro González, Pepe Abad, Arminda del Castillo and Elena Lecuona, in dialogue with contemporary artists such as Marisa Bajo, Martín y Sicilia, Juana Fortuny, Carmen Cólogan and Carlos Rivero, among others.
Raising the new debates of the 21st century
With PIBADA`25, La Laguna opens its doors to emerging female creators, many of whom are Fine Arts students at the University of La Laguna. Ana Roca highlighted the importance of engaging with the city’s cultural memory from new perspectives, since “it is not a question of repeating what the Pibes ’85 did, but of reinterpreting that energy from this reality, marked by other debates and urgencies”.
In this regard, the participating artists agreed that “cultural memory is not a burden, it is a driving force. PIBADA’25 allows us to look back in order to move forward, recognising what those who came before us did and adding our own voices to the present. La Laguna is a diverse and critical university city, and we want to show how art can be a bridge between generations and territories, how it can question and transform without losing its connection with the community.”
The performative nature of the proposal was another of the values highlighted by the artists, since “the installation being open to the public turns the exhibition into a living process. We want people to see how we work, how we dialogue with each other and with the space. That transparency is part of the message.”
