What is “popular”? Popular is not fame or celebrity. It is not mass-produced culture or pop. Popular is not the art of the people, nor the identity of the nation, nor its symbols. The popular is not a product of the proletariat or the craftsmanship of the working class. It is not folklore, clichés or tourist souvenirs. It is not visual candy, one-euro merchandise or advertising royalties. popular lies somewhere in between, underneath it all, yet remains distinct. It is both an exhibition and an investigation —showing as a form of knowledge— that seeks to answer this question.

The popular is a form of imagination, often expressed through words, images, and objects, created via gestures, actions and celebrations in various forms. It has a performative, fluid and shifting nature, always metamorphosing. It is closer to ritual than monument, liturgy without theology.

The popular is rooted in strong interpretation. Human groups —often without political representation— develop their symbolic presence. This process has occurred historically, particularly since the political revolutions of the late 18th century. It was in the imagination of rural populations and the remote corners of republics where the concept of the popular first took shape. Notably, the most politically underrepresented groups, as nation-states were closely tied to urban metropolises, were central to this development. For instance, the Afro-descendant imagery that became synonymous with the United States, Brazil or Cuba during slavery, or the way gypsies in Spain —politically excluded in places like Hungary or pre-Soviet Russia —came to represent national clichés like Carmen, flamenco and bullfighting.

The formula is not simple. In art, the categories of representation and participation cannot be fully separated. Identifying human groups with a symbolic surplus is complex and does not require simply applying a “police-like” gaze to an archive —in this case, the IVAM archive. The history of social emancipations gives us some insight into which human groups have achieved political representation over the centuries, such as through the Industrial Revolution, the American and French Revolutions, and the feminist movement. If we look at Valencia in the 21st century, we see how groups like the proletariat, women, LGTBI individuals and migrants from Latin America, the Arab world and Africa shape what we consider popular culture.

popular works with the IVAM’s rich collection by broadening the focus —highlighting aspects such as music, the working-class imagination and the absence of Afro-descendant narratives. popular spills out of the IVAM archive like a feast for the eyes, drawing new connections between works —for example, the artist El Niño de Elche has created songs based on 15 items from the collection. It overflows the framework of modern art while offering clear guidelines for interpretation, much like Juan de Mairena’s Popular School of Superior Wisdom in the words of Antonio Machado.

Exhibition dates IVAM (Valencia): 5 October 2023 – 14 April 2024