Saturday, February 4th, 2012
-0.46% -0.06€
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IBEX 35 8,861.20
1.01% 88.90
abertis contributes to the support for and dissemination of cultural values, with particular attention to our historic heritage. Good examples of this are provided by the restoration of Castellet Castle and the conservation of the Roman quarry at el Médol.
Castellet Castle, a tenth-century fortress, was acquired and restored by the corporation. The abertis foundation, which is based in the castle, organises education programmes and weekend guided tours to explain the history of the castle and aspects of the el Foix Natural Park which surrounds it (to arrange a visit, phone 902 430 462).
El Médol is, for its part, a Roman quarry which forms part of Tarragona’s historic remains, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. The corporation finances the City of Tarragona’s History Museum to guard it and ensure that this monument, of great historical and biotic interest, can be visited.
Further proof of our interest in culture is provided by the sculptures and tiled murals on the AP-7 and AP-2, respectively.
Additionally, abertis collaborates with the country’s leading cultural bodies and sponsors musical events.
The corporation also carries out other actions in support of culture via the abertis foundation and the abertis chair.
González Martí National Pottery Museum, May 10th – July 22nd 2007
The fundación abertis and the Fundación Francisco Godia, with the support of aumar, presented the exhibition “Masterpieces of Spanish Pottery in the Francisco Godia Foundation” at the González Martí National Pottery and Sumptuary Arts Museum in Valencia. The show brings together seventy-four pieces.
The selection of works offers a trip through Spanish pottery over a period that goes from the 14th century to the 19th century. The exhibition has pieces from different pottery production centres: Talavera de la Reina (Toledo), Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and Alcora (Castellón). To this diversity of geographical origins, we should add an old pottery apothecary jar of Syrian origin, from the end of the 14th century or beginning of the 15th century, decorated with Kufic inscriptions.
In 2007, abertis acquired Pablo Picasso’s painting Mujer con gorro y cuello de piel (1937) which it then donated to the State through a dation (payment of taxes). The Ministry of Culture has ceded the work to the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC).
The work is an oil on canvas, measuring 61 x 51 centimetres, showing Marie-Thérèse Walter, the Malaga painter’s sentimental companion between approximately 1927 and 1935. In the portrait, Picasso carried out an exhaustive analytical exercise and subjected Marie-Thérèse’s youth and personality to a thousand metamorphic transformations. The artist converted the model into an icon of sensuality through a rich pictorial language in which the distortion of shapes meant the consolidation of the so-called Picasso style which marked the keys of the artistic language of the 20th century.
The acquisition of this work of art to be later handed over to the State so that it can be visited at the MNAC is part of abertis’ actions to inform about our artistic legacy and to support the country’s main cultural institutions.
Pablo Gargallo Museum, 21st June – 10th September 2006
The abertis foundation, the Francisco Godia foundation and Zaragoza city council presented, in Zaragoza, the exhibition The Roots of Contemporary Art at the Francisco Godia Foundation. This event featured works by 23 artists from the collection built up by the art patron from Barcelona Francisco Godia Sales (1921-1990).
The exhibition featured works by pioneers of modernity such as Hermen Anglada-Camarasa, Francesc Gimeno, Joaquim Mir, Isidre Novell and Josep Maria de Sucre. It also included contemporary works of art from 1920 to 1950, such as those by José de Togores, Joaquín Torres García, Julio González, Pere Pruna, Óscar Domínguez, Antoni Clavé and Ismael de la Serna. Also present at the exhibition was the cream of the second avant-garde, with works by Juan Genovés, Josep Maria Subirachs and Jorge Castillo, and the modern day, with a selection of works by Miquel Barceló, Modest Cuixart, Hans Hartung, Josep Guinovart, Piero Manzoni, Joan Ponç, Josep Riera i Aragó and Josep Uclés.
The exhibition reconstructed the historical discourse concerning 20th century art from an innovative point of view which focuses on the artists rather than on schools and movements. Among the works on show in Zaragoza, a double oil – front and back – by Óscar Domínguez standed out, revealing very clearly the impact of the avant-garde movements on the artists of the post-war period. Another of the artists who personified the mutations and changes in the sensitivities of contemporary art was Joaquín Torres-García, by whom two works were on show: his “Female Figure” of 1928, which introduced ideographic representation, and “Constructive View of Colour and Graphics” from 1936. With regard to the work of artists currently active, outstanding pieces included “Rhinoceros” (1981) by Miquel Barceló, a Cuixart (“Painting”, from 1959), a Guinovart from 1959 and “Composition” by Hans Hartung (1958).
In order to commemorate International Monument Day, abertis offers an up-to-date presentation of archaeological sites to be visited around Catalonia?s motorways.
New museum-style research, studies and projects carried out over recent years in sites situated around Catalan motorways have been the motivation behind this document.
Spreading the word about archaeological research reflects the commitment of abertis to promote culture for all, and also to collaborate in the restoration of the country?s cultural heritage in order to reactivate potentially attractive assets for the purpose of cultural tourism whilst offering education centres the tools with which to enhance education and promote respect for our heritage among the young.
We believe in the preservation of our cultural heritage as an exponent of sustainability and as a vital resource for the development of persons, communities and the territory.
The presentation includes about 64 archaeological sites and centres of interpretation which are in close proximity to the motorways AP-7 (34), AP-2 (7), C-32 (22) and B-20 (1).
The updating of this presentation is clear evidence of the positive impact Catalan motorways can have as a catalyst for economic growth in the area and as a source of continuity starting with the old Catalan world and leading to the present.
Alicante Municipal Arts Centre, 26th October - 27th November 2006
The Alicante municipal arts centre hosted the exhibition on The splendour of Spanish pottery: the Francisco Godia collection from 26th October to 27th November 2004. This informative event publicised the abertis foundation's activities in the Valencia region and strengthened our links with the regional and local authorities.
The exhibition covered different periods from the 13th century to the 19th, to become a living testimony to the history of Spain's towns and villages and the people who lived in them. All the centres of production on the Iberian peninsula were represented: Muel, Teruel and Villafeliche, Puente del Arzobispo, Talavera de la Reina and Toledo, Barcelona, Alcora, Manises, Paterna and Valencia.
Spanish pottery shows the country's cultural diversity and gives an idea of the different influences involved. Thus, plant, heraldic, animal, figure, portrait and landscape motifs appear in an exhibition which ranges from Muslim influences – later reinterpreted by the Moriscos in Paterna and Manises during the period of the Reconquest – to the mastery of the Flemish, Italian and French artists or the products of 18th century factories. All these motifs are brought together in the catalogue published by the foundation, which also includes explanations by the exhibition commissioner, Maria Antonia Casanovas, and other experts.
Outstanding among the pieces displayed in the exhibition are a bust of the tenth count of Aranda, a minister under Carlos III and founder of the Alcora factory, and a series of lusterware plates which have been highly prized by collectors since the 15th century.
As a corporation committed to society and with the mission of establishing a close dialogue with all its stakeholders, abertis decided to sponsor the Forum of the Cultures with the aim of contributing to an initiative that, in tune with its own corporate values, promoted social responsibility, sustainable development and culture as factors in the progress of society as a whole.
The activities carried on by the entire group of companies, the strengthening relationship between different cultures due to the presence of businesses in different countries and the wide range of actions promoted in collaboration with the country’s social fabric have allowed abertis to place at the Forum’s disposal the technical means and the intellectual capital accumulated by its people and its areas of activity in the aim of contributing to making possible a project which wished to mobilise people and ideas towards new states of interaction, knowledge and progress.
With mobility of and communication between people as its key priority, abertis contributed 60 wheelchairs to the Forum, to help those with reduced mobility get about. The wheelchairs were produced in collaboration with the Catalan Technology Institute and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Its design incorporates a mechanical gearbox which improves manoeuvrability over uneven ground and steep slopes. After the event closed, the wheelchairs were distributed amongst different care organisations to meet the their service needs or improve the mobility of their members.
Another important project, commenced within the framework of the Forum, was its participation in an initiative of an informational and explanatory nature on planning, mobility and urban development issues. The creation of a huge model of the city of Barcelona, covering 190 m2 at 1:1000 scale, presented as part of the exhibition “Barcelona in Progress”, was used as a training and educational tool to explain to visitors the concepts and parameters of the city’s urban development. More than a million people visited the model during the 128 days it was open to the public.
Within the series of “Dialogues” proposed by the Forum on “The role of corporations sin the 21st century”, abertis MD Salvador Alemany participated in the session “Partnership. Why and how to establish alliances with other social agents”, contributing the corporation’s experience of the initiatives launched via its different business activities and highlighting the need for “managing complexity” in the current socio-economic context through dialogue and alliances with interested parties, with this being one of the best ways of improving and contributing solutions in a complex environment. In accordance with this vision, which provides a boost for the development of Corporate Social Responsibility policies in business organisations, their leaders must provide “proactive, credible and ethical leadership”, and also provide support for regulatory mechanisms to ensure progress and build the corporate reputation of organisations.
The Good Business Practices Workshop, designed by the Forum to show to the public the good practices developed by companies in their different areas of activity, allowed abertis to show to the event’s visitors its priority action areas: The mobility of and communication between people, particularly those with impaired mobility, improvements to road safety and journeys made; the environment, minimising the environmental impact of its activities and managing the biodiversity and bushes of its motorways; and culture, maintaining cultural, historical and artistic heritage via the abertis foundation.
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