Henry Moore, Joan Miró, Josep Guinvart, Pablo Serrano and Martín Chirino are some of the internationally renowned artists who signed the sculptures that can be found in different parts of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. This year, the island commemorates the 50th anniversary of the 1st International Street Sculpture Exhibition, which brought the great majority of those works to its capital, to which others were added in 1994, when the second edition of the exhibition was held.
To observe closely the 39 sculptures from both exhibitions that are still on display in the capital, as well as another one located in the municipality of Garachico, is an extraordinarily enriching experience for those who travel to the island. All of them, avant-garde works of modern art in their time, are located in large public spaces, such as the Rambla de Santa Cruz or the García Sanabria park. The island’s capital has thus become a great open-air museum, which also has an interpretation centre.
Discovering the origin of the works and their journey to Tenerife is an incentive to visit. The most curious visitors will find stories such as that of José Abad, whose sculpture, located on one of the main arteries leading into the capital, was made from the scrap metal of a wrecked aeroplane, which he surrounded with a geometric metal construction, in the manner of an open box. Or that of Henry Moore, whose originally exhibited piece had to be returned to Paris. However, in response to social demand, the author allowed it to return in another format, The Warrior of Goslar, making it the only piece in Spain by the greatest contemporary English sculptor.
The Street Sculpture Interpretation Centre is located next to the Flower Clock in the García Sanabria Park, a place where many of the works in the exhibitions can be found. A walk along its paths, surrounded by lush, well-tended vegetation, is also a walk through an open exhibition where you can enjoy thirteen of those sculptures by artists such as Pablo Serrano, Óscar Domínguez, Eduardo Polozzi or Mark Macken.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first major exhibition that made Santa Cruz de Tenerife a benchmark for international outdoor sculpture, the capital is hosting various activities related to that great event during these months. Among them, and until 28 May, the TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes centre is hosting an exhibition representing the evolution of sculpture up to the present day.
The aim of the exhibition is to make the public understand and show the tandem in which both sculpture and the living or moving arts play a crucial role as a stage for new artistic forms. Among the artists taking part are national and international names such as David Bestué, Juan Bordes, Tony Cruz Pabón, Victoria Encinas. Victoria Encinas, Petrit Halilaj and Sarah Maldoror.
