INTRODUCTION

Vicenç Villatoro

director OF Institut Ramon llull
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New York is invariably one of the world's main showcases of culture. Even greater prominence and significance have been afforded to this showcase in light of the fact that this year commemorates the tenth anniversary of the attacks on the twin towers. Catalan culture has always been keen to take part in the great debates of the contemporary world and to make its voice heard in the settings in which these debates take place. Therefore this year, bringing together many previous positive experiences, the Institut Ramon Llull has organised and fostered a broad spectrum of cultural activities under the title of Catalan Days. In particular, it seeks to highlight its desire to take part in reflecting upon and remembering the events of 9/11 in New York.

So, this autumn various activities promoting Catalan culture, in which artists and cultural agents from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands shall play a leading role, will take place in New York. Of course, it is not a matter of presenting an anthology or representative sample of what is being done today in the field of Catalan culture. It is a question of fostering artists' presence in these platforms in which their activity is incorporated naturally, and to remind ourselves that, while artistic creation is of an individual nature, it stems from a culture and a tradition. Therefore, by way of the specific works of a significant number of artists, the overarching goal is to recall and evoke the tradition of Catalan culture and its desire to be universal and to add its grain of salt to the great debates of today.