Bayona: "Filmmaking is the search for images that reveal the truth"
The University of Barcelona wanted to turn the inauguration of the 2023-2024 academic year into a vindication of the role of art at the University. The opening lecture was given by the film director Juan Antonio Bayona, who studied at the Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC), a center attached to the UB, who has just released The Society of Snow, selected to compete for the Oscars. "Filmmaking is the search for images that reveal the truth. This search must be done through intuition and it is a difficult journey, in which we will be alone. It cannot be taken lightly", he said.
The University of Barcelona wanted to turn the inauguration of the 2023-2024 academic year into a vindication of the role of art at the University. The opening lecture was given by the film director Juan Antonio Bayona, who studied at the Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC), a center attached to the UB, who has just released The Society of Snow, selected to compete for the Oscars. "Filmmaking is the search for images that reveal the truth. This search must be done through intuition and it is a difficult journey, in which we will be alone. It cannot be taken lightly", he said.
Spectacular video mappings transformed the walls of the Paranymph Hall during the event, which interspersed speeches with artistic interventions based on music, dance and sound sculpture. Under the slogan "The University is art", the event also commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Pau Casals and the centenary of the birth of Victoria dels Àngels and Antoni Tàpies, three great artists recognized as honorary doctors by the UB in 1939, 1987 and 1988, respectively.
The first artistic intervention consisted of the interpretation of El cant dels ocells by Berta Llatse, accompanied by Daniel Zoppetti on the piano. This was followed by the presentation of the Report of the academic year 2022-2023 by the secretary general of the UB, Marina Solé. The second artistic intervention, dedicated to art and humanities, consisted of the sound sculpture Après-Baschet by Martí Ruiz, visual and sound artist and professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University, and Jonathan Pérez.
A lesson on cinema and arts
In the opening lecture, Bayona went back to the first films he saw during his childhood. "Fiction spoke to me in a more real way than reality", he recalled. In fact, the filmmaker confessed that, thanks to fiction, he has been able to "remain in an eternal childhood". He explained that, as a creator, he has always found it interesting to work on the threshold that separates reality from fiction. He has advised students who want to dedicate themselves to art, and specifically to cinema, to take into account the important role of intuition, "a knowledge that is within us." "Art reveals things we don't even know about ourselves," he concluded.
The event, led by singer-songwriter Sara Roy and communicator Òscar Dalmau, continued with the third of the artistic interventions, in this case on art and technology, by Joana Burd.
In the final part of the inauguration, Gisele Camuñas, representative of the Student Council, pointed out that "the UB has always been an engine of change in the history of the city and the country." "Its students have been advocates of social and innovative issues, promoters of intense solidarity and key players in the critical independence of the University," she said. And he added that this critical independence and the commitment of new generations of students is essential to ensure "a bright future".
For his part, the president of the Board of Trustees, Joan Corominas, stressed in his speech that "it is crucial" that the University of Barcelona has the necessary funding to address the generational replacement and the increase in staff costs arising from the Organic Law of the University System (LOSU), as well as the recovery of the University Investment Plan in the long term. He also defended dual university training and pointed out the advantages and risks of artificial intelligence in education. Finally, he spoke of the current situation of the Barcelona Science Park, with "full employment and expansion needs", and congratulated the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation on its fortieth anniversary.
Afterwards, the Minister of Research and Universities, Joaquim Nadal, said: "Degrees, bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and doctorates go through an academic and administrative filter, but what lies behind the degrees, master's degrees and doctorates of the Catalan university system is the will to advance knowledge and science, with the will to make this country a competitive country, at the highest level, in the concert of the universities of Europe and the world".
Finally, the rector of the University, Joan Guàrdia, welcomed the students and staff joining the UB this year, and emphasized that the University is open to people coming from different backgrounds. He also remarked that not only the opening ceremony, but the entire academic year, is dedicated to art at the UB. He then mentioned the difficulties faced by the University and the urgencies to be managed every day. "This year we will do two and a half million hours of class, almost twenty million times someone will open the door of a classroom, and we will publish about eight thousand scientific articles", he said to measure the scope of the activity of the UB classroom. He then read a text by Professor Miquel Siguan at the funeral of Rector Antoni Caparrós that illustrates the challenges facing the University, and linked it to Bayona's inaugural lecture. He stated that the university system needs "a good script" and to know how to explain itself to society, as well as to keep in mind how to act in politics, "a short-term sport". Finally, he concluded that the values of "commitment, excellence and revolt" derive from the three honoris causa that the UB has honored during the ceremony.
Multimedia gallery
The rector of the UB said that the university system needs "a good script" and to know how to explain itself to society.
The Paranymph Hall was full of people.
Summary of the Opening Ceremony for the academic year 2023-2024
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The University of Barcelona wanted to turn the inauguration of the 2023-2024 academic year into a vindication of the role of art at the University.
Spectacular video mappings transformed the walls of the Paranymph Hall during the event, which interspersed speeches with artistic interventions based on music, dance and sound sculpture.