The American professor Andreas Huyssen noted how in recent decades there has been slippage in the West that favors look back against that put the focus on the changes that would be about to arrive. If modernity was driven by what might be termed "future present" Postmodernism would be characterized by "present pasts."
The latter notion is used in this exhibition, born from a reality that, far from being an opposition, is a complement to this institution: the Andalusian Centre of Contemporary Art is based in a complex building that is not only a good Interesting Cultural, but part of History is full of stories. The present contemporary art produced in recent decades, is shown in a courtyard of the past that has changed functions over the centuries. It was Franciscan chapel, Carthusian monastery from 1399, military barracks during the Napoleonic invasion, ceramics factory 1841-1982, Royal Pavilion during the Universal Exposition in Seville in 1992, then monumental and definitely contemporary art center since 1997.
Although the confiscation led to major works of art they leave the walls of La Cartuja, some remained, recovered or returned over time. Thus, the Andalusian Centre of Contemporary Art is not only responsible for preserving and maintaining this large monuments, but also protects the collection linked to its rich and varied history, mainly composed of archaeological remains, ceramics, glass works, sculptures and some paintings.
This exhibition seeks to explore how this is in the past: not only that stems from it, that sink their roots there, but through dialogue and confrontation of works from the two collections that preserves the CAAC, at the so-called Zone monumental-that most preserves the memory of the history of the building think that as Huyssen warns, "Memory is always transitory," and as a public matter, "is subject to-political, generational and individual change."
