Torrent, 25 March 2004
The Rt. Hon. Caterina Mieres, Councillor of Culture, presided over the symbolic hanging of the first work at Hotel Mas de Torrent, in Baix Empordà county. The event marked the beginning of exhibition to the public of contributions from thirty local artists to the Art and Gastronomy–Dalí 2004 campaign. It was also attended by Mr Joan Solana, the Government of Catalonia’s regional delegate for culture in Girona, Mr Toni Izquierdo, president of the La Cuina de l’Empordanet group, Ms Marga Parera, art critic, Mr Lluís Bruguera, artist, and Mr Joan Manuel Sevillano, Managing Director of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation.
This initiative emerged from an agreement between the La Cuina de l’Empordanet and the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation on the occasion of the centennial of Salvador Dalí’s birth, which agreement was reached on 1 December 2003 past beneath the dome of the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres. The project is taking shape through the creativity of artists from two very different yet highly compatible spheres. On the one hand, there is the gastronomic side, in which chefs and cooks from thirty Girona restaurants design “Dalinian” menus based on products that Dalí mentioned in books such as Secret Life and Les dîners de Gala (Gala’s Dinners). And on the other hand the artist side is being created by local artists who contribute by providing a pictorial or sculptural work taking its inspiration from some Dalinian reference or a reference-point in the landscape of Empordà county, so influential in the work of Salvador Dalí. The thirty works are on exhibition at the participating restaurants. The artistic part of the campaign has been coordinated by the gallery owners Maria Antònia Bagué and Martí Bosch. The objective of this dual initiative from the world of catering and from local artists is to render homage to Salvador Dalí on the centennial of his birth through a hitherto unattempted combination of gastronomy and art.
