Ars Movens

Ars Movens [art in motion] is a musical collective founded in 2021 by a group of student musicians living in the city of Barcelona, with the aim of coming together to exchange ideas and emotions through music under the umbrella of four principles:

1. Seeking new approaches to “classical” music in order to bring it closer to contemporary audiences.
2. Exploring the possibilities of democratic and cooperative work.
3. Promoting interdisciplinarity among different artistic disciplines.
4. Basing our interpretation on a dialogue between historical context and the present day.

We follow two lines of action: on the one hand, a regular space for artistic exchange called Collective Musical Experimentation Practice, and on the other, a dialogue with the exhibitions at Santa Mònica:

(1) COLLECTIVE MUSICAL EXPERIMENTATION PRACTICE

The seed that would later become Ars Movens, Poetic Evenings was the name under which a number of musicians eager to discover new perspectives on chamber music began meeting every Friday afternoon at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC). These sessions revive the spirit of those evenings and take place weekly on Monday afternoons. As an open door to free exchange, both initiatives arising from within the Ars Movens community and proposals from outside individuals wishing to contribute activities aligned with the collective’s principles are welcome.

Examples of activities include: collective chamber music reading sessions, musical improvisation games, dialogues with other arts, experimentation with compositional ideas, interpretative exploration of musical passages, etc.

Interested in these questions? You can take part by...

1. Proposing
2. Participating
3. Listening

(2) DIALOGUE WITH THE CENTRE'S EXHIBITIONS

In addition to the weekly gatherings, Ars Movens is responsible for adding live sonic layers to the centre’s exhibitions. This is done collectively through (1) artistic meetings between the members of the collective’s organizing board and a guest composer, (2) a period of intensive rehearsals, and (3) a public performance within the framework of the exhibition.

The core members of the Ars Movens collective are:

Abel Antón

Anna Maria Garcia

Gabriel Oteo

Maria Borràs