Mercè was a Doctor in Art History from the University of Barcelona, winner of the National Prize for Plastic Arts in 1991, professor of art, architecture and design, contributor and art critic to many specialised magazines, and a leading figure in the field of Noucentisme. At Eina she gave lectures, seminars and courses on Contemporary Art and Sociology of Art.
"At Eina we especially want to remember those years in the 70s and 80s when Mercè Vidal wrote for the legendary magazine Serra d'Or, and formed a tandem with Alicia Suarez. More than art criticism, what they did was to report on the new artistic currents that were born in those years, so full of political concerns", says Xavier Olivé, member of the Board of Trustees of Eina.
"Alexandre Cirici, Eina's founder and teacher, became increasingly busy with political activity, becoming a senator, giving classes at the university and also in journalistic forums. It was then that his relationship with Eina became closer, giving lectures and seminars and participating in many of the artistic events held at the school," he says.
Dedication by Mercè Vidal on the 10th anniversary of Eina.
"After 1968, Paris no longer sought the beaches (the sand) under the cobblestones, it gave way to New York as an artistic capital, where Conceptual, Land Art, Body Art and Pop Art were born at the same time as in our house. And Milan became the centre of design and thought with the studies of Semiotics and Semantics, elevating Comic and Kitsch to a category".
Eina became the nerve centre of all these movements. Thank you Mercè!
Posters of workshops and seminars in which Mercè Vidal participated.
Estudis d'Art, late 1970s. Art a Eina, early 1980s.
Cover image: Mercè Vidal, in a 2015 image by Albert Salamé published in Punt Avui.