Barcelona... neta!

So the plaça around Richard Meier’s MACBA has been cleansed. When this building went up, it was one of the first major projects to push into the Raval and has acted as an anchor for the gentrification that has been sweeping the area ever since. [see Guerin’s En construcción (2001) for a pace-defying treatment of this phenomenon... what do I mean by “pace-defying”? Watch it. You’ll see...]

In any event, the wide-open plaza that was created, along with the sloping step of the museum, make this space an ideal venue for skaterboarders. What is more, over the last few years, this area has become almost like a living room for assorted hippies and punkys (“punk” sounds so silly in Spanish... oh no! I’m being mugged by a punky!), who have served to humanise a space that--one has to admit--is seriously sterile otherwise... especially when the sun is shining... as it is wont to do here in BCN. When SONAR sets up its tent every year and fills in the space, the openness is immediately remarkable for its absence. One more permanent recent addition is the automated Bicing rack, from which one can rent a bike and trek across town, with the option to leave it at another location. A nice idea, but biking in Barcelona is not my idea of fun. This city is eminently walkable and the risk/reward ratio involved in getting on a bike and navigating streets and alleys is not very promising. Oh well, I suppose hopping on one of these for a short, dedicated jaunt is better than taking one of those organised bike tours of the city that barge through neighbourhoods at all hours... please, if you come here, do not take a bike tour that puts you in a convoy with 30 other people... you'll look like a ninny.

Back to the plaza... it’s too bad that the powers that be have pushed out the “counterculture” types. But then, I guess that the people who stay in the nearby Camper Hotel don’t want to feel threatened by layabouts and shaggy people, do they?

One can only wonder how long the CNT store/sede will last... it’s just down the street and the anarchist movement in Barcelona is long past its heyday...