Ona Balló. El viatge invers. Un fresc sonor al romànic

Ona Balló's exhibition at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya brings together sounds from Pyrenean churches and valleys in the Romanesque art galleries, alongside the mural paintings preserved there.

Ona Balló's proposal starts from the Romanesque mural paintings of the Pyrenees, which for centuries decorated the churches for which they were created. When they were detached and moved to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, they were protected, but also separated from their surroundings and from the soundscape that surrounded them. This exhibition seeks to recover that bond through sounds that now inhabit those churches and valleys.

The route through the museum's Romanesque art galleries unfolds among the apses of six churches: Santa Maria d'Àneu, Sant Pere del Burgal, Sant Pere i Sant Pau d'Esterri de Cardós, Santa Maria de Ginestarre, Santa Maria de Taüll and Santa Eulàlia d'Estaon. Each contributes its own echo to a collection that seeks to evoke what cannot be moved from one place to another.

The visit places the viewer before the combination of image and sound, with the intention that, for a few moments, the paintings regain something of their original meaning. It is a proposal designed for those who want to discover Romanesque art through listening as well as looking.