It was presented in the Plenary Hall by the Councilor for Festivals, Diego Rodríguez, the Councilor for Culture, Fátima Mondejar, and the Exhibition Curator, Jorge Jimenez. The exhibition is organized by the Department of Festivals, in collaboration with the Department of Culture.

The festival councilor presents “Carnival on Stage,” an exhibition that will last almost two months. “It’s the first time something like this has been done during Carnival, and it will allow us to contribute to the recognition of national tourist interest and attract tourism to the town.” This exhibition will increase the sales of the Museum and allow our CERE to be what it is: a dynamic, cultural space and the epicenter of Carnival.

The opening will take place on January 26th at 8:30 p.m. and will remain on display until March 18th, at the estimated time indicated on the posters. Guided tours and activities for all audiences will be available.

“We encourage participation” and invite all groups from Miguelturra and other towns to come and visit both the exhibition and the museum, so they can learn even more about our carnival.

For more information, please call the Miguelturra Cultural Center. Rodríguez concluded his address by thanking everyone involved from the festival department and expressing his confidence that it will be to the public’s liking.

The Culture Councilor thanked those present for organizing the exhibition, which will help spread the word about the Carnival Museum. As you know, Miguelturra has one of the few museums dedicated to Carnival in the entire country and the only one in Castilla-La Mancha. It opened in February 2013 and covers a space of 750 square meters.

It’s a labyrinth-shaped museum where visitors learn about Carnival in Spain and around the world, especially in Miguelturra, from how it’s celebrated to how it has evolved.

During our Carnival, the Museum will be open for visits to both the exhibition and the museum. From February 10th to 18th, the hours will be from 12:00 to 14:30 and from 18:00 to 22:00.

For his part, Jorge Jiménez, PhD in Art History, expressed his gratitude to all those who made this exhibition possible, from the art providers themselves to the Miguelturra Carnival Association, the staff from the various departments of the City Council, and the entire City Council team. In this regard, I would like to make special mention of the Councilors for Festivals and Culture, Diego Rodríguez and Fátima Mondéjar, for their outstanding involvement in this project.

It is a pleasure for me to be able to bring this exhibition to Miguelturra for many reasons, which can be summarized in three.

First of all, because it’s taking place in the temporary exhibition hall of the Carnival Interpretation Center at MOMO, a space we designed at the company where I worked a few years ago. It was because of MOMO that I came to live in Miguelturra; it brought me there in a way, and today I’m returning to its halls, which makes the project especially exciting for me.

Secondly, because I want to see this temporary exhibition hall alive. MOMO was a very ambitious project that included many elements and cross-cutting development paths, including this hall, to keep alive an already tremendously competitive space. MOMO is a cultural product and service with almost unimaginable possibilities, and seeing it alive is a way to revitalize our town socially, culturally, and even economically.

And third, the exhibition’s very theme, which blends carnival with the world of theater. In “Carnival on Stage,” we explore how a new theatrical genre emerged during the Italian Renaissance, at the same time as the first theater companies became professional: the “Commedia dell’arte.” This is not born from nothing, but arises from a very rich popular tradition that floods the public square, in it we find everything from acrobats to farces, from jesters to blind storytellers, and of course, the thousand and one manifestations of the carnival.

Carnival was introduced into this theatrical genre, which lasted more than three centuries, traveling throughout Europe and the rest of the known world with its characteristic characters on stage. These were stereotypes, they acted with masks and always played the same role. They were divided into three: the servants, the old and the lovers. Among them, the most famous are Pantaleon, Harlequin, Pierrot… names that are familiar to us all because they are deeply rooted in our culture. When the genre was exhausted and died, the common people did not let these characters disappear and kept them alive in that carnival from which they were born, so we are talking about a two-way relationship.

The exhibition consists of sixty pieces, including prints, costumes, books, toys, and a contemporary art mural created specifically for the exhibition. It also includes three stage sets and two audiovisual pieces. Through it, viewers will be able to see the complete series of illustrations by French artist Maurice Sand, parts of which were already used in some of MOMO’s galleries.

For all these reasons, we simply invite you to join us for the opening next Friday, January 26th, at 8:30 p.m. to learn more about it and share a glass of wine with us during a fun time.

The three of them finished the presentation shouting LONG LIVE OUR CARNIVAL!!