Chess is the sport of the mentally gifted and some great intellects were on display recently at Javea’s chess tournament. The competition was divided into four age groups: under 12s, under 14s, under 16s and adults, and with prize money and trophies on offer, a strongly competitive atmosphere prevailed.
Continue reading…Mind games galore at the XXII Chess Tournament Villa de Xábia…
Now that summer is at its height the very cultural town of Javea has decided to celebrate the season with a full-scale celebration of the Arts. On 26th, 27th and 28th of August the town will enjoy the best of architecture, the plastic arts, theatre and music. The participation of more than 80 artists means that visitors to this festival will have to plan their time carefully if they are to experience everything.
Continue reading…Javea’s Visual Week celebrates the finer things in life…
It’s nearly that time of the year again. Literary critics prepare to sharpen their pens in the hope of puncturing egos while promising new authors are launched onto the scene and publishers rub their hands with glee at the thought of elevated sales.
This year’s list is a classic, if one bears in mind that the Booker Prize inevitably becomes a battle between a young author with a dazzling, if untested, reputation and at least one venerable older writer. The contest becomes even more interesting if the established name has won the Booker Prize on at least one previous occasion.
Continue reading…The 2010 Booker Prize list mixes youth and experience…
Jávea’s Espai d’Art is currently featuring the unique perspective of Swiss sculptor, Lukas Ulmi.
This imaginative artist specialises in creating sculptures with a difference; his pieces tend not to be solid shapes crafted from some heavy substance, such as bronze or marble, but are wonderfully striking and witty objects that move and change.
Continue reading…Lukas Ulmi: sculpture that moves…
It seems that, these days, even artists with significant international reputations have to do some lateral thinking when it comes to funding their projects. While the major movie studios aim their output primarily at younger viewers, appealing to teenage vampire fans, frat boys and, most particularly, to the pester power of young children, less commercial projects suffer.
Continue reading…Filmmakers resort to unusual means to secure funding…
As the author of the highly acclaimed Duende, Andalus, Guerra and Sacred Sierra, it is fair to say that Jason Webster has a feeling for Spain. Where so many have tried to come to come to grips with this fascinating country Webster seems to have a secret formula – he simply immerses himself and gets under the skin of one of Europe’s most multi-layered cultures.
“Spain is a country that repays your interest in it,” says Jason Webster as we sit in his country cottage on the outskirts of Valencia. All around are fields, though the city rises up no more than a few kilometres distant. It shows just how assimilated he has become, for where most foreigners seek the Spanish seaside or at least the elegant avenues of downtown Valencia, Jason has chosen a spot amid everyday Spanish people. “It always surprises me when people move here saying they love Spain, only to settle down in a Disney-style caricature of it.” As always, his comment contains no hint of judgement; instead, it is the kind of observation that has formed the basis of his writing on Spain.
Continue reading…A feeling for Spain…
Valencia’s reputation for contemporary architecture is internationally acknowledged, its Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias a prime visitor attraction. However, on the modern art front it is IVAM (Institut Valencia d’Art Modern) that flies the flag.
This modern building with its characteristic clean lines stands on Calle de Guillem de Castro and owes its healthy visitor numbers partly to its very modest entrance fee, but mostly to its excellent exhibitions.
Continue reading…IVAM makes the case for modern art…
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