Monday, April 24, 2006

Difficulties, Nudes and Altarpieces

There is a little bit about everything today at EITb.

Here you have it:

Basque premier: "The process will continue despite difficulties"

Following the weekend attacks targeting an insurance office and a hardware store, the Basque premier, Juan José Ibarretxe, has affirmed today that despite "difficulties," the process "will continue." After insisting that ETA's cease-fire must be "complete," he has addressed Batasuna's world saying "there's not political solving dialogue" with violence.

In an interview for the public radio station Radio Euskadi, he has affirmed that the information he has accessed on the weekend attacks is the same everybody else has, and has assured that violence can't be "a companion" in a peace process.

Ibarretxe has pointed out that there is "a certain confusion" and citizenship needs "clear messages." "Despite difficulties, we will push the peace process forwards as well as the process of political normalisation," he has added.

The Basque premier has said that ETA's cease-fire must be "universal" and "no group can be excluded." "There can't be any kind of violence," he has emphasised.

Contemporary artist Spencer Tunick is widely known for his nude figures. This time, the photographer has chosen the Basque city of Donostia-San Sebastián for his public setting.

At first, he expected about 300 volunteers to attend for his new creation, but he has been gladly surprised when about 1,000 have been attracted to the place. All of them have posed for his contemporary picture.

The session was scheduled to begin at 6am, but it has been delayed until 8am to finish at 12:30 in the interior rooms of the Kursaal convention centre, to make the most of the daylight.

But there is one thing he has requested: no famous in these sorts of pictures. The North-American artist seeks to find the "individual within the mass," but in any case should the attention focus on a specific person, he has stressed.

"People told me that in the Basque country they are shy but this is probe that Basques aren't shy with their bodies, with life. They enjoy everything to the fullest and I am so happy that I want to come back to the Basque country," Tunick said after the shoot.

Photography Foundation Ordóñez Falcón (COFF) with the support of the Gipuzkoa county council and private sponsors, have made this work possible. A sample could be available next year in Donostia-San Sebastián.

Bergara: Santa Maria de Oxirando

In Guipuzcoa, the first route starts off in the Alto Deba, in Bergara. There, in the Parish of Santa Marina de Oxirondo, visitors can contemplate one of the milestones in rococo altarpiece work in the Basque Country. The responsibility for this work lay with the brilliant Guipuzcoan designer Miguel de Irazusta, a maestro educated in the Court and familiar with the tastes that were becoming the fashion in Europe.

Oñati: Parish Church of San Miguel, University Chapel, Convent of Bidaurreta

In Oñati, a place that is extremely well known for its artistic and sculptural wealth, four magnificent examples of Renaissance and baroque altarpieces can be visited. The oldest of these is the altarpiece of the Piedad in the parish church of San Miguel. Its excellent level of artistic quality and its size make it a magnificent example of the Renaissance era, with the rich texturing of its figures being especially outstanding.

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