He spent half his life in jail and in mental hospitals. The first time he was arrested for flogging a beggar. The second was accused of poisoning some prostitutes during an orgy with an aphrodisiac called Spanish fly. It is not known why he was imprisoned on the third occasion, but it was the period of the Terror of the French Revolution when anyone could end up in prison.
The Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) took advantage of these confinements to read and write. And it was his novel Justine that landed him in prison for the fourth and last time. Justice called the book “infamous.” The Church forbade all his work. The surrealists claimed it at the beginning of the 20th century after Apollinaire republished his literary production. Simone de Beauvoir tried to learn his personality. Maurice Blanchot studied his thoughts. And the world coined the concept of sadism: the pleasure obtained with the pain of others.
The figure of the Marquis de Sade, as fascinating as it is controversial, will arrive at the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB) in 2023. Sade. La libertad o el mal , curated by Alyce Mohon and Antonio Monegal, will explore “the aesthetic, philosophical and political implications of the writer in contemporary culture”, said yesterday the head of exhibitions at the CCCB, Jordi Costa, during the presentation of the program for entity for next year.
To delve into Sade, his work and his thought, the CCCB will have documentation of the historical performances of Jean Benoît and Jean-Jacques Lebel and with photographic, literary, film, comic, video projects and interviews with philosophers and researchers. In addition, the proposal includes installations by the artists Laia Abril, Paul Chan, Shu Lea Cheang, Teresa Margolles, Joan Morey and Kara Walker.
Sade will be one of the stars of the CCCB in 2023 between May 10 and October 15. But there is more. The director of the Center, Judith Carrera, stressed that the entity will once again turn its gaze towards Artificial Intelligence, in a proposal curated by Lluís Nacenta and co-produced with Barcelona Supercomputing, which can be seen from October 17 to March 17, 2024 and that will allow a reflection on “what is the freedom of man in the times of the algorithm”.
In addition, and together with the Temporada Alta festival and on TNC, the CCCB will recover the work of Merçè Rodoreda in July to “reflect on the voice of women in war” through an immersive installation by Cabosanroque. There will also be space at the Center next year for Albert Camus, George Orwell, Jorge Semprún or Hannah Arendt.
The Kosmopolis literary festival will be dedicated on this occasion to literature on the oceans and will feature dialogues, colloquiums, recitals, performances, installations, concerts and workshops for children and adults between October 25 and 29. And the film festivals hosted by the CCCB, such as the Brain Film Fest, the D’A, the DocsBarcelona or the Serializados Fest, will also attend their annual event.
Carrera explained that the Center expects to end the year with 330,000 visitors, a figure that allows him to smile and talk about recovery after the coronavirus pandemic. This figure represents an increase of 24% in visits compared to last year. However, the CCCB has not reached its 2019 record because the entity has chosen “to renounce large mass events such as Primavera Sound” and focus on proposals more linked to artistic creativity and thought.
