THE END OF THE DREAM

Pamen Pereira. El final del sueño (Pamen Pereira. The End of the Dream) is the title of the present exhibition at the Dormitory in Centre del Carme. Former dormitory of the Carmelite friars who inhabited the monastery between the thirteenth and the nineteenth centuries, the actual exhibition space becomes a strong inspiration for the artist. Ever since she accepted the challenge of carrying out a specific project for such a suggestive space, she has been studying and compiling information on the history and architecture of the building, on the origin of the Order of the Carmelites, with its reference to the biblical prophet Elijah, the 'prophet of fire', as the motivating figure, and on the reformation of the discalceate, with St Theresa of Jesus and St John of the Cross as principle advocates. Indeed, precisely the rereading of the literary work of these two great figures of Carmelite mysticism in the Spanish Golden Age is in surprising synchronicity 1 with some of the pieces displayed in the show, as they were initially conceived by Pereira and which after their long process of creation (artistic and technical) find their correspondence with the thinking and poetics of St John of the Cross, as we shall now see.