The Catalan Museum of Science and Technology opened its new, temporary exhibition called “Habita et Labora. Industrial Villages in Catalonia ” on May 20th.

The exhibition aims to provide a view of the textile communities based on the photographs of Lluís Casals that offer us nostalgic images of the current state of the industrial villages. The photographic exhibition is part of a broader vision that aims to bring to our attention the enormous number of industrial villages built in Catalonia at the beginning of the 20th century, primarily for the production of cotton textiles. Today, on the banks of the Llobregat and Ter rivers lies Europe's largest conglomeration of textile communities. The villages represented a new, completely innovative approach to town planning, constituting a departure from the models that until then had been developed in Catalonia's hinterland. They represented new communities where the owners promoted social, cultural and religious interactions. Sixty photographs of industrial villages have been chosen and grouped into six themes: landscape, the owner's villa, energy, industrial architecture, worker's housing and village life. Each group contains ten photographs showing us the current state of these little-known spaces and depicting the most important elements from when they were in use. The exhibition of photographs is rounded off with a display of original objects from some of these villages.
The exhibition, at the Catalan Museum of Science and Technology, is open until September 21 st 2008. It will then travel to various museums in and around Catalonia . Running in tandem is a version of the exhibition in German that will be on display in the Rhineland, in collaboration with the Rheinisches Industriemuseum.

Entitled “The Sensitivities of Paper”, this group exhibition brings together a selection of works by six artists working in Holland with paper as a common theme. The exhibition can be seen from March 15 th until June 15th.

The works are inspired by nature and demonstrate paper's different qualities, such as its many plastic properties: textures, colours, forms and formats ranging from jewellery to large-scale installations. The exhibition is located in the museum's “Mirador”, the former paper-drying room - a 440m2 space, unique of its kind and of great architectural beauty. The six artists explore and express their own perceptions of paper: Luis Acosta is particularly interested in forms inspired by “Quipus” (“knots” in the Quechua language) and nets. He explores the possibilities offered by form, colour and transparency using machine-sewn threads of paper. Mariëlle van den Bergh finds inspiration in natural forces, like heavy seas, ocean swells and avalanches, which visitors can appreciate in her sculptures, objects and installations.
Yuko Ebina is interested in the origins of the natural world, as her water colours and art books produced on hand-made paper demonstrate.
Toshihiro Hattori tries to make visitors aware of the relationship between human beings and nature, life and culture, and also the environment and art.
Miriam Londoño uses written texts as visual objects; she dedicates them to loved ones, immigrant stories or everyday facts. She also uses poems by contemporary writers and writers from the past.
Ingrid Siliakus works with the Japanese technique of “paper architecture”, creating refined and complex sculptures based on mathematics and architecture.

Recently the resolution of the Minister of Culture and the Media calling for the Ter de Manlleu Industrial Museum, the Castelló d'Empúries Ecomuseum-Flour Mill and the Cercs Mining Museum to be registered in the Register of Catalan Museums in the category of single-subject museums was published in the official bulletin of the Generalitat of Catalonia (the DGOC).
Registration in the above mentioned register guarantees that these museums meet the quality standards demanded by the law governing Catalan museums. As a result of being registered in the Museums Register, they can now complete the tasks necessary for the Museums Board to be able to declare them part of the Catalan Museum of Science and Technology (mNACTEC). As established under Decree 85/1998 of March 31st, which approves the deployment of mNACTEC's Regional System, sections of the museum can be declared as such because their collections or their location are of importance to science and technology in Catalonia.
The next step is the signing of an agreement governing the relationships between mNACTEC and the museums, which, with the approval of the Catalan Museums Board, has to be submitted, at the instance of the minister for Culture and the Media, for approval by the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
For the museums involved, being declared a section of a national museum brings with it numerous advantages, amongst which are receiving promotion and support for the museum's tasks, technical and organisational advice, and financial assistance with running costs. It is also worth mentioning that the Catalan Museums Plan, unveiled on January 21st, is a proposal to reorganise museums in the country, under which the national museums would be at the leading edge of excellence and the internationalisation of Catalan culture and would have an influence on the creation and consolidation of well-equipped, modern regional and thematic networks that would close the country's museological circle.

The Cercs Mining Museum and a group of first year Humanities and Social Sciences Batxillerat students from the Berga Escola Xarxa are working on a project to record oral history that is receiving the support of the Department of Education of the Diputació de Barcelona.
The project, entitled “Photography and Historical Memory: A Generational Encounter Through Historical Photography”, aims to recover photographs related to mining from private collections. They will be used as historical documents and the elderly owners of these photographs (elderly men and women from the Alt Berguedà mining region, essentially inhabitants of Cercs itself) will have a central role in commenting on them and explaining their relationship with the mine. Both groups are transmitters of historical memory, as during the process of gathering the photographic documents and recording generational exchange is experienced at first-hand. In this way, a period of the Berguedà region's local history is being reconstructed.

On April 2nd, the Igualada town council and the “la Caixa” Social Foundation opened the exhibition “The Forest”. The exhibition is for everyone and uses interactive activities, graphics and models to describe in an informative and understandable way the different types of forests, especially Mediterranean forests, that exist.
The exhibition is part of the environment and science programme of the “la Caixa” Foundation and reveals forests to be the terrestrial ecosystems with the world's greatest biodiversity. The exhibition's main aim is to emphasise the enormous importance of forests in all areas and on the need to manage them sustainably. In addition, forest conservation involves a fundamentally important challenge.
In broad terms, the exhibition is divided into four sections: how forests work, trees, forests in Catalonia , and forests and human beings.
This exhibition includes a free guided visit adapted to different educational levels by a specialist guide; 320 infant, primary and secondary schools in the Anoia, Alt Camp, Baix Llobregat, Alt Penedès, Segarra, Conca de Barberà and Bages regions have been invited to visit the exhibition.

The latest communication tool from the Castelló d'Empúries Ecomuseum-Flour Mill is now up and running on the web: at the website www.ecomuseu-farinera.org you can find a range of information about us, our activities and our services.
As such the website is a highly dynamic communication tool for the museum that should bring in a larger number of people; all potential visitors to the museum. The website also allows visitors to interact online, as there is the option to download various pieces of information and forms, send paperwork, and leave opinions and suggestions in the visitors' book.
It also provides links to other institutions the Ecomuseum has contacts with and organisations related to the themes of industrial heritage, processed agricultural products, etc.
The website has been funded by the “Xarxa de Turisme Industrial de Catalunya” (XaTIC, Catalan Industrial Tourism Network), the Generalitat of Catalonia's Department of Innovation, Universities and Business and the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce through the Plan to Promote Industrial Tourism Products and Technological Innovation.

The Colònia Vidal Museum at Puig-reig was the site of the 34 th Annual Cross Country Run, held in March by the Aula Escola Europea. The Aula Cross Country Run is an event that has taken place for 34 years and which brings together students, parents and professionals. This year's event gathered a total of 1,200 visitors, who arrived throughout the day. Colònia Vidal was chosen for the high value of its industrial heritage and for the possibility to visit the museum, which helps visitors to understand the process of industrialisation in Catalonia . For 9 years now, the AULA school has had a visit to the Colònia Vidal Museum at Puig-reig as an activity fixed in its school calendar, a fact which means that close to 1,000 students have visited the industrial village.

Since February, a private individual and owner of part of the saltworks has been restoring the era and the arcabota at the Gerri de la Sal saltworks. The reconstruction of this space has been done in a traditional way, taking it down brick by brick and working the clay in order to restore it to an impermeable condition. The aim behind this repair work is to show visitors the different states salt water passes through before crystallising and turning into salt.

On June 21 st the 8th edition of this typical cork-related festival is to be held, organised by the Cork Museum , the Palafrugell Institute for Economic Development and the Association of Neighbours and Friends of Llofriu. It will be possible to take part in various fun activities, see exhibitions and participate in children's workshops, etc. The programme also includes a popular walk, a meeting of Cava cap collectors, a demonstration of Catalan skittles, an exhibition of trunk carving, a horse and carriage competition and exhibition, a visit to a cattle farm and a rapid digital photography competition, amongst many other planned activities.

From November 19th 2007 the Palafrugell Cork Museum presents the exhibition Literasuro: Prudenci Bertrana's Heir. Extended until 31st May 2008, after which the exhibition will travel to another site or museum, according to the Cork Museum's wish to promote the life of this extraordinary Catalan writer and poet from Palafrugell. The reason for the extension was the exhibition's media impact - the exhibition catalogue was nominated for the prestigious Visual Design Award. In addition, this exhibition will form part of the events of the 8th Cork Stripping Festival in Llofriu on June 21 st 2008.

A travelling exhibition originating from the Palafrugell Cork Museum that, together with photographs by Josep Capella, Ricard Mur and Tobias Harvey will be on loan to different exhibition halls around the country. From March 8th – 30th it can be enjoyed at the Palafrugell Cork Museum. In addition to the exhibition other events were organised, such as a round table, the homage “Santa Cristina's Old Women, Great Women”, a young people's workshop, a space for debate and a cinema-forum featuring the film The Hours.