Flatstock, gig posters at Primavera Sound

Flatstock. The World of Music Posters
La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona, May 15th-June 3rd

Primavera Sound has added a very interesting parallel activity to this year's Festival: Flatstock, a touring show of concert posters, that will take place on the Parc del Fòrum from the 31st May until the 2nd June. The exhibition, the biggest of this type to visit Europe, includes the work of more than 30 artists from Europe and the USA, is organised by the American Poster Institute (API), an NGO dedicated to promote music posters since 2002.

View of the exhibition. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Nice Beirut poster. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

At the entrance.
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

The fair is complemented by the free exhibition "Flatstock: the world of music posters" , part of the San Miguel Primavera a la Ciutat activities.at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge. The selection of more than 70 works, chosen by Flatstock and The Poster Collective, is a nice warm-up for the forthcoming fair at the Fòrum. Love the idea, as I believe visual arts are a great addition to music (you already know how much I criticize the bands/artists that don't care about their album artworks, for example).

I can't say I was very impressed (my personal opinion, I know this is just a matter of taste) by the selection exposed at La Virreina, with only a couple of posters that I liked. But I'm sure the full fair next week is going to be a fantastic parallel activity... and a serious threat for any budget! Hard to resist the temptation of a great concert poster hanging on your wall!