La ULL recuerda con una exposición bibliográfica el peso del Surrealismo en la cultura canaria

The first Surrealist manifesto was published by André Breton on October 15, 1924, making this year the centenary of this fundamental document in the history of contemporary culture. For this reason, the Vice-Rectorate for Culture and University Extension at the University of La Laguna has created a project called “The Surrealist Island,” featuring various events surrounding this anniversary, in collaboration with different departments of the institution. One of these events is the bibliographic exhibition “Surrealist Island: Avant-garde Poetics,” which will open tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1, at 1:30 p.m. in the General and Humanities Library on the Guajara Campus.

The event will be presided over by the rector, Francisco García, and will be attended by the vice-rector for Culture and University Extension, Isabel León; the director of the Library Service, Gonzalo Rey; and the curators of the exhibition, the teachers and researchers from the Department of Spanish Philology Isabel Castells and Alberto García.

The exhibition “Surrealist Island: Avant-garde Poetics” will remain open until November 15th and its objective is to reflect the impact of this avant-garde movement on the Canary Islands' intellectual community, which, as is well known, was significant and culminated in Breton's own visit to Tenerife in 1935. Therefore, the exhibition focuses on both the main avant-garde manifestos and the magazines, books, and other publications that emerged from these aesthetic and existential proposals.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the display of correspondence exchanged between members of the Tenerife avant-garde and Breton, as well as other major international figures associated with the Surrealist movement. This correspondence allows visitors to trace the close networks of creative collaboration that facilitated Breton's aforementioned visit to the island. These letters are usually kept in various archives on the island, making this a valuable opportunity to view them all together.

Although a century has passed since the birth of the avant-garde movements, this exhibition aims to show how the literary works, academic essays, and collective stances on art and life that these movements generated remain relevant. The desire to break with tradition, to transgress sociocultural boundaries, and to exalt the imagination makes the avant-garde movements, especially Surrealism, enduring creative touchstones.