The UB will confer honorary doctorates on Bayona, Cabellut, Espert and Plensa
PRESS RELEASE
The Paranymph Hall of the UB’s Historic Building will host the ceremony on Monday.
News
|
Institutional
25/09/2024
Juan Antonio Bayona, Lita Cabellut, Núria Espert and Jaume Plensa will receive honorary doctorates from the University of Barcelona on 30 September, at a ceremony to be held at 12 noon in the Paranymph Hall of the UB’s Historic Building, which will be open to the general public. The honorary doctorate is the highest distinction awarded by the UB to a person in recognition of the merits achieved and the career he or she has followed in the academic, scientific or cultural fields. The ceremony can be followed online on UBtv.
The Paranymph Hall of the UB’s Historic Building will host the ceremony on Monday.
News
|
Institutional
25/09/2024
Juan Antonio Bayona, Lita Cabellut, Núria Espert and Jaume Plensa will receive honorary doctorates from the University of Barcelona on 30 September, at a ceremony to be held at 12 noon in the Paranymph Hall of the UB’s Historic Building, which will be open to the general public. The honorary doctorate is the highest distinction awarded by the UB to a person in recognition of the merits achieved and the career he or she has followed in the academic, scientific or cultural fields. The ceremony can be followed online on UBtv.
On this occasion, the honorary doctorate is awarded to four key figures from the world of culture who have demonstrated an unquestionable impact on society through the different disciplines they represent. Bayona, Cabellut, Espert and Plensa are fundamental names in the history of the arts in Catalonia, known for their commitment and excellence all over the world. The four will receive the UB’s highest award in a solemn ceremony, proposed by the rector, Joan Guàrdia. The sponsor of the new honorary doctors is Professor Dolors Tapias, from the Department of Visual Arts and Design of the UB’s Faculty of Fine Arts.
The filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona (Barcelona, 1975) trained at the Film and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC), a UB affiliated school. His career has been meteoric, thanks to works of great media and social impact such as The Orphanage, The Impossible and A Monster Calls. With his latest film, Society of Snow, he was nominated for two Oscar in Hollywood. Bayona was in charge of inaugurating the 2023-2024 academic year at the University of Barcelona, with a speech in which he vindicated the role of intuition and art as the driving force behind knowledge of reality.
Lita Cabellut (Barcelona, 1961) is a multidisciplinary artist of great international prestige. Her childhood years spent in the streets of Raval in Barcelona marked her as a creative artist, as did the training she received, years later, at the prestigious Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Specializing in portraiture, she constantly explores styles and techniques, and has developed her own volcanic style, which expresses the contradictions of everyday life and the inner worlds of each individual.
Núria Espert (L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, 1935) is an actress, stage director and honorary member of the Spanish Academy of Performing Arts. She has participated in more than eighty theatrical productions, a dozen feature films and nine operas. As an actress, her performances in productions such as Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie, Jean Genet’s The Maids and Federico García Lorca’s Yerma stand out. As a stage director, she has left her mark with her versions of La casa de Bernarda Alba, also by García Lorca, and Madame Butterfly, by Giacomo Puccini. She has won, among other awards, the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, the Ondas Award and the Valle-Inclán Theatre Award.
The plastic artist and sculptor Jaume Plensa (Barcelona, 1955) studied at the Llotja School of Art and Design and at the Sant Jordi Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts. Much of Plensa’s work is in the field of sculpture in the public space, with creations in countries such as Spain, France, Japan, England, the United States and Korea. Some of Plensa’s most iconic creations are the Crown Fountain in Chicago, Water’s Soul in New Jersey and Utopia in Grand Rapids. Plensa’s relationship with Barcelona has grown closer recently, thanks to the exhibition of some of his works at emblematic points in the city. This is the case, for example, of the sculpture Carmela, at the gates of the Palau de la Música. The University also has one of Jaume Plensa’s sculptures, Arrels, which the artist himself gave to the institution and which occupies a privileged space in the vestibule of the Historic Building.
The filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona (Barcelona, 1975) trained at the Film and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC), a UB affiliated school. His career has been meteoric, thanks to works of great media and social impact such as The Orphanage, The Impossible and A Monster Calls. With his latest film, Society of Snow, he was nominated for two Oscar in Hollywood. Bayona was in charge of inaugurating the 2023-2024 academic year at the University of Barcelona, with a speech in which he vindicated the role of intuition and art as the driving force behind knowledge of reality.
Lita Cabellut (Barcelona, 1961) is a multidisciplinary artist of great international prestige. Her childhood years spent in the streets of Raval in Barcelona marked her as a creative artist, as did the training she received, years later, at the prestigious Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Specializing in portraiture, she constantly explores styles and techniques, and has developed her own volcanic style, which expresses the contradictions of everyday life and the inner worlds of each individual.
Núria Espert (L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, 1935) is an actress, stage director and honorary member of the Spanish Academy of Performing Arts. She has participated in more than eighty theatrical productions, a dozen feature films and nine operas. As an actress, her performances in productions such as Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie, Jean Genet’s The Maids and Federico García Lorca’s Yerma stand out. As a stage director, she has left her mark with her versions of La casa de Bernarda Alba, also by García Lorca, and Madame Butterfly, by Giacomo Puccini. She has won, among other awards, the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, the Ondas Award and the Valle-Inclán Theatre Award.
The plastic artist and sculptor Jaume Plensa (Barcelona, 1955) studied at the Llotja School of Art and Design and at the Sant Jordi Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts. Much of Plensa’s work is in the field of sculpture in the public space, with creations in countries such as Spain, France, Japan, England, the United States and Korea. Some of Plensa’s most iconic creations are the Crown Fountain in Chicago, Water’s Soul in New Jersey and Utopia in Grand Rapids. Plensa’s relationship with Barcelona has grown closer recently, thanks to the exhibition of some of his works at emblematic points in the city. This is the case, for example, of the sculpture Carmela, at the gates of the Palau de la Música. The University also has one of Jaume Plensa’s sculptures, Arrels, which the artist himself gave to the institution and which occupies a privileged space in the vestibule of the Historic Building.
Multimedia gallery
J. A. Bayona.
Photo from Lita Cabellut's website.
Núria Espert. Photo from the Academy of Performing Arts
Jaume Plensa.
Contact
Institutional Communication
Telephone
Email