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Ignasi Bonjoch

This temporary exhibition at the Museu d’Història de Catalunya in Barcelona was an exploration of

a musical movement that was central to the reaffirmation of the Catalan national identity in the late

20th century against the background of the cultural repression of the Franco regime. The exhibition

was designed by Ignasi Bonjoch based on a four-part structure outlined by the journalist Xevi Planas

and the photographer, Pilar Aymerich.

On entering the exhibition, the visitor was confronted with a large format photograph of a Mexican

house party from the 1950s, an image that represented the musical genre that dominated the Span-

ish popular music scene at the end of the ‘50s. This space led into a white room with an image of els

Setze Jutges i Raimon, a group accredited with making the first Nova Canço record. At the end of the

room a projection of a spinning record with record companies’ logos presented the record producers

and labels that supported the new, and officially illegal, movement. Cylindrical display cases evoked

key moments from the 1960s, from the release of the first record by Lluís Llach to Joan Manuel Serrat’s

albums, culminating with a review of the explosion onto the scene of the colorful Folk group.

The second area of the exhibition tackled the government response to the movement, with a presen-

tation about the censorship and repression to which promoters of the Nova Canço were subjected,

with four songs serving as the narrative thread. On leaving this space, the visitor found themselves in

a forest of large format images of the key musicians of the era shot by the best photographers of the

time. This area, entitled The Golden Age, featured a display of LP covers designed by some of the most

renowned Catalan illustrators, painters and designers of the time.

The third area – covering the 1970s when the Franco regime fell – opened with the bands Les Sis

Hores de Canet and Canet Rock beneath the title “When the streets were full of song”. Here, pho-

tographs and records were complemented by projections of contemporary television reports and

concerts. For the first time politicians began to attend Nova Canço concerts, a symbolic gesture in a

time of great political change. A series of illuminated display cases at the end of this area marked the

movement´s first successes on the international music scene.

The fourth and final area focused on the new musical formats of the 1980s with a multiscreen inter-

active projection of music videos from the late ‘80s and ‘90s beneath a display of one thousand CD

covers symbolizing the diverse legacy of the movement. The final exhibit was a series of interviews

filmed exclusively for the exhibition offering different viewpoints on the past and present of the Nova

Cançó movement.

La Nova Cançó. La Veu d’un Poble

Barcelona , Spain

Design:Ignasi Bonjoch

Collaborators:Anna Catasús, Marta Moliner, Carlos Lleó,

Mar Mestres, Alex Garcia Vera

Graphics:Marina Vilageliu

Client:Museu d’Història de Catalunya;

Regional Government of Catalonia

Suppliers:Grop exposicions i museografia

Area:980 sqm (10,500 sqft)

Date:2010

Photographs: Eloi Bonjoch

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The fourth and final area focused on the new musical formats

of the 1980s with a multiscreen interactive projection of mu-

sic videos from the late ‘80s and ‘90s beneath a display of one

thousand CD covers symbolizing the diverse legacy of the

movement. The final exhibit was a series of interviews filmed

exclusively for the exhibition offering different viewpoints on

the past and present of the Nova Cançó movement.