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THE CULTURE LAB

The so-called “chair of the Residencia,” with its lectures, concerts and other activities, provided a window to new intellectual, artistic and scientific developments outside Spain. The Residencia became a place that welcomed the latest trends in the most diverse disciplines.

This project was facilitated by the creation of two associations, which supported and financed the activities of the Residencia: the Comité Hispano-Inglés (1923) and the Sociedad de Cursos y Conferencias (1924). The impact of the public activities of the Residencia helped open Spain to the world and promoted a new image of the country abroad.

In a couple of decades, the Residencia welcomed Spanish figures such as José Ortega y Gasset, Blas Cabrera, Miguel de Unamuno, Emilia Pardo Bazán, and  Eugeni d'Ors, as well as Henri Bergson, Marie Curie, H. G. Wells, Albert Einstein, Wanda Landowska, Howard Carter, Paul Valéry, Louis Aragon, Arthur Eddington, Sandor Ferenczi, Paul Claudel, Romain Rolland, Julien Benda, Hugo Obermaier, G. K. Chesterton, C. G. Bruce, Filippo Marinetti, Keyserling, J. B. Trend, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Jean Piaget, Jean Cassou, John M. Keynes, and Igor Stravinsky. It was also the meeting place for the sessions of the Comission for the Intellectual Cooperation of the Society of Nations.

The concept of travel as a source of knowledge was one of the cornerstones of education for the Institución Libre de Enseñanza. The Residencia supported the knowledge of the rich variety of non-european cultures, presenting the discovery expeditions of those years to Latin America, Mediterranean Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The Spanish public, still marked by a colonial mentality, had to recognize those cultures as key players of essential episodes in the history of mankind.

The Residence was particularly receptive to the artistic currents from Europe and the rest of the world. It invited, for example, Paul Valery in 1924, Blaise Cendrars and Louis Aragon in 1925, Max Jacob in 1926, and Filippo Marinetti in 1928. The Residencia was a trendsetter for literature, music, and architecture produced by young Spaniards, such as those who articulated the Generation of 27 or Spanish surrealism. In 1929, the Sociedad de Cursos y Conferencias sponsored an exhibition showing the work of the most notable Spanish artists living in Paris, at the Botanical Garden of Madrid.

Residents were exposed to the presentation in Spain of new proposals in the most diverse art forms. Buñuel returned to the Residencia in 1928 to coordinate a film series with films by René Clair, Jean Renoir, Carl Dreyer, and Jean Epstein. Theatrical, musical and dance performances showed the residents the new approach to the classical repertoire, or new works presented by the prestigious Frech company, The Fifteen,  the Teatro Universitario La Barraca,  Federico García Lorca, and the dancers Encarnación and Pilar López. The puppet opera El retablo de Maese Pedro and the ballet El amor brujo, both by Manuel de Falla, Igor Stravinsky’s L'Histoire du soldat, and Alexander Calder’s Cirque, a miniature circus, were also performed.  The Residencia de Señoritas had "rhythmic dancing" classes, and showed performance of modern dance of the Isadora Duncan School, organized by her student, Edith Burnett. The latest European music had a decisive presence in a series of concerts by Falla and Stravinsky, Ravel, Milhaud, Poulenc, and Wanda Landowska.