Graphic art and intelligent humour star in the two exhibition proposals of the 43 Universitat d’Estiu de Gandia

The cultural programme of the 43 Universitat d’Estiu de Gandia hosted last Tuesday the inauguration of two exhibitions that got citizens closer to artistic heritage, graphic memory and contemporary humour.

The Tossal Hall of the International Centre of Gandia UV fosters “Visca l’arròs! Gutiérrez visita Gandia”, while the The House of culture Marqués de González de Quirós exhibits “Estampes en transició. Obra gràfica de la Col·lecció Martínez Guerricabeitia”. Both exhibitions are part of the Open Activities of the Universitat d'Estiu and will be available to see during the months of July and August.

Two exhibitions that, with quite different styles –from humour and festive memory to contemporary graphic art–, invite the audience to reflect upon the construction of perspective, interpretation of reality and value of cultural heritage as a tool of critical thinking.

Universe of K-Hito and local fallera memory

The Tossal Hall of the International Centre of Gandia holds until 11 September 'Visca l'arròs! Gutiérrez visita Gandia', an adaptation of the exhibition presented in 2025 at the Col·legi Major Rector Peset.

Curated by Salvador Albiñana, Vicente Ferrer and René Parra, the exhibition recovers the creative universe of the Gutiérrez magazine, one of the most influential and humoristic publications of Spain in the 20th century, together with the figure of its creator, Ricardo García López K-Hito, a referent of modern graphic humour and a member of the Altra Generació del 27 (Another Generation of the 27).

Through original drawings, magazines, photos, documents, and other graphic materials, the tour visits again the visual culture of the 1920 and 1930 decades and the relation between satiric press, Fallas, and Valencian modernity.

The itinerancy in Gandia incorporates, as the main novelty, a selection of historical photos from Gandia’s Fallas world. This establishes a dialogue between Valencian graphic heritage and local festive memory. Moreover, it also incorporates several originals ceded by Emilia García Robledo –granddaughter-in-law of K-Hito and neighbor of Gandia.

For the Vice-rector for Culture, Sports, and Social Link of the Universitat de València –Albert Moncusí– this itinerancy is “an example of the relation of the Universitat with a comprehensive and diverse society, since the exhibition adapts to the territory and dialogues with the cultural reality of Gandia by incorporating its fallero’s heritage”.

During the inauguration, the delegate of the principal for the University-Society, Mª Dolores Pitarch,especially appreciated the collaboration of Emilia García Robledo for the preservation of the originals, which has been essential for the documentary and artistic legacy of the author. Pitarch also highlighted the work of commissioners of the exhibition, “capable of constructing an expositive logic that helps us to understand better the creative universe of K-Hito”.

A look to the Transition through graphic art

The House of culture Marqués de González de Quirós hosts until 29 August 'Estampes en transició. Obra gràfica de la Col·lecció Martínez Guerricabeitia', a selection of 129 works that belong to one of the most important university collections of contemporary art of the State.

Curated by Felipe Jerez Moliner, the exhibition brings together works of 101 national and international artists mainly carried out during the 70s and 80s of the 20th century, a period characterised for political, social, and cultural changes of the Transition and for the renovation of the languages of graphic art.

Among the representative authors, there are names such as Josep Renau, Roy Lichtenstein, Eduardo Chillida, Antoni Tàpies, Antonio Saura, Rafael Canogar, Juan Genovés, Carmen Calvo, Antoni Miró, Agustín Ibarrola, Equipo Crónica or Equipo Realidad, in a selection that also stands out for its technical diversity, with works carried out with xylography, metal sheet, aquatint, lithograph, serigraph, linocut, collage or offset.

During the inauguration, the vice-rector indicated that the exhibition supports creative freedom and critical thinking, two values that, according to what he recalled, share both artistic creation and the Universitat de València in the exercise of its function in the public service.

In addition, the mayor of Gandia –José Manuel Prieto– thanked the Universitat de València for the trust in the city to embrace an exhibition that, as he affirmed, “defends the validity of an artistic language that contributed to tell our recent history and becomes an open window to knowledge, sensitivity, and thinking”.

Organised by the Universitat de València, through the Vice-rector’s office for Culture, Sports and Social Link and the Col·lecció Martínez Guerricabeitia, collectively with the City Hall of Gandia and the collaboration of the Generalitat Valenciana and Caixa Popular, the exhibition arrives to Gandia after travelling to Alzira, Sagunto, Benicarló, Alaquàs, Albaida or Algemesí.

Both exhibitions take part of the travelling exhibitions programme of UVSociety, an initiative that gets the university cultural heritage closer to the Valencian municipalities in collaboration with the city halls and other institutions of the territory. With them, the Universitat d’Estiu de Gandia consolidates its proposal of an opened cultural programme, complementary to the academic activity and aimed at promoting dialogue between university and society, approaching the artistic heritage, collective memory and contemporary creation to all citizens.