CCA Antratx: Contemporary Art Gallery

Dear Readers,

So the second day of our holiday, Chrissy and I went on our own adventure. For those who don’t know, Chrissy is also from New Brunswick, and we worked at the New Brunswick Museum together before we moved to Glasgow! So we both share a love for the arts and museums. Contrary to me, Chrissy studies contemporary art, so it also great to go see contemporary art galleries with Chrissy! Prior to arriving in Mallorca, Chrissy had contacted the CCA Antratx: Contemporary Art Gallery and arranged a meeting and a tour of the gallery for a school assignment. The drive to the gallery was about forty minutes from our Villa, on the other side of Palma. We got up early, had breakfast, plugged in our music and headed off.

Personally, I was just expecting a little gallery and expected to be there for only an hour or so, but our experience was even more than that. The gallery space was huge, and the gallery was situated at the top of this quaint beautiful town up in the hills. The entire place was breathtaking.

Initially, Chrissy and I took a quick stroll around a few of the galleries just to see what kind of art was on display while we waited for our appointment, and we were rather impressed with what we saw. The galleries were spotless, and the artwork was incredible.

We started our tour/ chat around 11.00 with one of their employees Maloushe. She told us all about the history of the gallery, and what they are doing with the gallery. I was so amazed to hear that the gallery was opened and designed by a Danish couple, Jacob and Patricia Asbaek who was in charge of one of Copenhagen’s top contemporary art galleries AND their son Pilou Asbæk is an actor who plays Euron Greyjoy on Game of Thrones!!! How cool is that???? We actually got to meet Jacob briefly while he was having his breakfast, and Chrissy and I were introduced to him as an “Art Curator” and an “Art Historian” visiting from Canada (we both almost died of happiness after hearing that comment). A lot of the artwork that is currently on display (and all for sale) are done by Danish artists or musicians. Some of the leading artists in contemporary art have their artwork for sale in this gallery, and we got to get a privet tour of it. 

One thing the gallery does is they bring in four artists every month for an artist in residence program. Artists from all around the world come and work in these studios every year. We asked and there was one Canadian (she was half Canadian half German, currently living in Berlin) who had stayed there. The artists are each given a space at the back of the gallery where they live and have their studio. Each artist works on their own piece and their own pace and is encouraged to produce whatever art they feel like trying. A few of the artists were trying different art techniques for the first time! We got to go into each studio and see what the different artists were working on.

After our incredible visit, and basically being treated like museum royalty we headed into town to grab some lunch. We were invited to go up to the pool that is on the second floor of the gallery, but we decided it we should probably get on our way, but next time I definitely plan to take a swim in it!

Chrissy and I found this cute little restaurant with a patio in the town and ordered some lunch, had half a pint of Spanish beer and then went on our way.

Our next stop (where the rest of the girls were) was En Trenc beach. The girls had been there for most of the time, besides a pit stop they had on their drive to the beach where the pulled over to watch the Royal wedding. The beach was gorgeous, and not over populated which was really great. I was so excited to jump in the ocean, but the water wasn’t quite as warm as I had imagined it would be so it turned out to be a quick dip and a lounging on the beach session before we headed back to the Villa.

After having our incredible Art Gallery/ beach day, it reminded me how so often little local art galleries get skipped when I am being a tourist, but the best and most personal experiences can come from these small little galleries or museums. I am definitley going to keep my eye out Art galleries in the next place I go.