Barcelona Llibres

Barcelona Metròpolis is collaborating on the Biennial of Thought with a special dossier that reflects the broad outline of the debate, thanks to the contributions of ten of the participants: Santiago Alba Rico, Alessandro Balducci, Christophe Bertossi, Chiara Bottici, Carl Cederström, Nona Fernández, Gueorgui Gospodínov, Jason Hickel, Katie Meehan and Miquel Seguró. Published in issue 132, the dossier opens with the editorial article “Hope against Fear”, by the magazine’s editor, Milagros Pérez Oliva. She begins by saying: “It is no coincidence that in recent years there have been so many apocalyptic dystopias in literature and film”.

Urban planner Alessandro Balducci opens the special issue with a reflection on the things that we do not see and that are reshaping the metropolis. “Cities are changing in a very profound way, and they face an uncertain future”, he says, before issuing a warning: “It takes courage to imagine a future that integrates the various dimensions needed to build a liveable and equitable city”.

Bulgarian writer Gueorgui Gospodínov, winner of the Booker International Prize, reflects on ‘Europe and the virus of the past’ in his latest book Time Shelter, a near-future dystopia about things that might happen in Europe that we should try to avoid. “After the results of the most recent European elections, the whole continent seems rather dystopian,’ he says.

In the article ‘Democracy: a Triple Fracture’, sociologist Christophe Bertossi speaks of the attacks on democracies, attacks that are not the sole preserve of the extreme right, but are taking place in a context of multiple fractures, around the spectre of ‘pure natural identities’.

Philosopher Santiago Alba Rico predicts a cultural apocalypse: “There is a debate on the left that seems to me not only intellectually misleading, but politically sterile. I’m referring to the questioning, from a very crude Marxist perspective, of the need to present the ‘cultural battle’, and moreover the claim that narratives can only be broken down by data”.

Chiara Bottici, author of the book A Feminist Mythology, analyses a highly significant phenomenon of our times: the rise to power of right-wing women, from Marine Le Pen in France to Giorgia Meloni in Italy. A phenomenon that in effect reinforces male dominance.

Philosopher Miquel Seguró Mendlewicz speaks of the Enlightenment and nostalgia for the past: “There are those who miss the Age of Enlightenment. But we must stop idealising the past and face up to the present. We need to look our shared vulnerability fearlessly in the eye”.

From a different point of view, Carl Cederström, author of the book The Happiness Fantasy, refutes the belief that the workers’ quality of life boosts company profits, a myth created by “welfare capitalists”. It’s what he calls ‘the return of Taylorism’.

In the article “Access to Water and the Unfulfilled Promise of Democracy”, Katie Meehan presents a largely unknown vision of the romantic city of San Francisco. Water poverty is a reality, especially among renter households. The racial wealth gap has a lot to do with it.

Anthropologist Jason Hickel, author of the book Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World reflects on the climate crisis and the inability of institutions to deal with it. He puts forward the idea of guaranteed public employment as a solution. It could, he argues, “radically revitalise the working class and the rural world”.

The dossier closes with a piece on historical memory by writer Nona Fernández about the attempt to recover the remains of the Palacio de la Moneda, the seat of the president of the Republic of Chile, bombed in 1973 during the coup d’état that brought down the government of Salvador Allende.

In addition, in this issue of Barcelona Metròpolis you’ll find:  

Interviews that offer reflections on journalism and place. Journalist Carla Turró talks to John Carlin, who looks back on a career that has taken him from Buenos Aires to Central America, South Africa and many other places before arriving in Barcelona. “I love this city, it’s so OTT. If you’re talking about quality of life, it’s the best by far”, he says.

Laura Serra interviews actress Clara Segura, who has just taken part in the highly acclaimed Casa en flames [House on Fire], who says very bluntly: “I don’t want us women to have to reshape our bodies in order to be able to work, I don’t accept that”.

Children’s author David Walliams, who visited Barcelona to deliver this year’s ‘Pregó de la Lectura’ [Reading Proclamation], is featured in the ‘In Transit’ section. “Walliams writes for the child he once was, the child who couldn’t find books that could capture his imagination”, says writer Anna Manso.

This edition’s Barcelona en Dades [Barcelona in Numbers] reveals the most supportive face of our city: where and how does Barcelona allocate its global solidarity budget? How many charitable organisations are there, and how many members do they have, both in terms of international cooperation and solidarity at home? How many people do Caritas, El Banc d’Aliments [Food Bank] and Arrels help?

In the ‘Plec de cultura’ [‘Culture File’], this time the focus of the nine experts in the debate is on cultural critique, as they ask themselves if it has died a death at the hands of the great transformation of technology and consumer habits. You will also find a report by Pere Guixà on civic centres and the buildings in which they are housed, “that speak to us of the history of the city and its transformation”.

In the books section, Marta Marín-Dòmine reviews the book-catalogue of the exhibition “Un altre fi. La resta. Art i antrifranquisme” [Another Ending. The Rest. Art and Anti-Francoism], a work coordinated by the curators, Nora Ancarola and Amanda Cuesta. And Judit Pujadó talks about L’aventura del llibre català by Lourdes Toledo, which “takes a close look at a number of questions designed to reveal the difficulties, and also the joys, involved in a career in the world of publishing”. The exhibition pages are devoted to “Interior Berlanga. Cinema, vida i humor” [Inside Berlanga. The Cinema, Life and Humour], which can be seen at CaixaForum until April 2025.

The magazine ends with the story Les hores mortes [Idle hours], by Adrià Pujol Cruells. The illustrations for this story, the cover, and the dossier are by Octavi Serra. The photo essay, entitled Intimitats desnonades [Evicted Lives] is by Marc Javierre-Kohan, and is a hard-hitting work that takes a very personal look at people who are about to lose their most precious asset: the house where they have spent all or most of their lives.

All the activities in the main Biennial programme are free of charge, and no prior registration is required. For the Biennial+ activities, please check the details on the programme website.

Barcelona Metròpolis deeply regrets the passing of Lluís Reales, a key figure in scientific communication and a regular friend and collaborator of the magazine. In issue number 132, he contributed one of his final pieces. In this article, he discusses the concerning phenomenon of coastal retreat linked to climate change, warning that by 2035, only 54% of beaches will have the necessary width to provide recreational services.