Art & Music; Music & Art

On Wednesday evening we went to a unique concert just outside of town at the Chillida Leku museum. Eduardo Chillida was a Basque sculptor who created El Peine del Viento, San Sebastian's signature sculpture, which we have talked about before:

Most of Chillida's work is like this: extremely large and abstract. The Chillida Leku museum is a giant piece of land (about 27 acres) on which 20 of Chillida's sculptures are displayed in a natural setting. There is also a small 16th century farmhouse that contains some smaller and more fragile pieces, along with other exhibits. The property was purchased by Chillida and his wife in 1983 for the purpose of establishing such a museum, and it opened in the 1990's only to close in 2011 for lack of funding. Fortunately, it reopened this year with the help of the Swiss modern art gallery Hauser and Wirth. Here are just a couple of the statutes on display:

The concert took place after the museum closed. Rather than have the music performed in a one place, the musicians (Sigma Project Quartet, saxaphonists) and the audience (a group of maybe 60-70) walked among the statues to various locations where music stands had been set up. At each location, the group played two songs: one classical and one modern. In between, our "guide" would read quotes from Chillida and others about the relationship between art, nature and life. It all seemed very hippie-ish (the fact that the musicians were wearing all white and walking barefoot probably added to that feeling), but was really fantastic.

The inside of the old farmhouse, where we ended up, was really cool:

The saxaphonist in the photo on the right is performing in the middle of one of Chillida's pieces.

All in all, it was a very fun evening, but I do think we need to return to the museum to take some more time to see all of the art on display and walk among the beautiful scenery. Perhaps we'll even bring a picnic.

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana