The Theatre of Art is an exhibition that brings together seventeen pieces by some of the leading artists in the ”la Caixa” Collection of Contemporary Art and offers a rich overview of some of the main artistic trends from the mid-1980s to the present day.
Key installations in the history of art by the likes of Paul McCarthy, Juan Muñoz, Bruce Nauman and Allan McCollum are on show alongside work by acclaimed Spanish and international creators, including Muntadas, Esther Ferrer and Hans-Peter Feldmann. Leading lights from the 1980s, such as Carlos Pazos, Katharina Fritsch and Stefan Hablützel, meet representative artists from the last decade, including Roni Horn, Jordi Colomer and Jessica Stockholder.
Last but not last is a series of pieces by up-and-coming artists beginning to make a name for themselves worldwide, such as Sharon Lockhart and Daniel García Andújar, whose projects can be seen alongside work by Robin Rhode and Ignacio Uriarte, two young artists buzzing with creativity. 
Contemporary art can often be seen as offering a radical take on the characteristically Baroque conception of the world as a vast theatre where comedy and tragedy both take to the stage. However, faced with the fatalistic idea of life as a ready written monologue set in stone, a number of artists have opted to create their own performances by using the museum as an expanded stage where spectators are forced to abandon their role as an extra and take an active part in the art and action.
As ever, the show must go on, whatever its outcome, be it a sad lament or a roar of laughter.
This exhibition endeavours to explore the meeting points between theatricality and contemporary artistic creation, the ways in which artists have used stage design, performance and choreography to turn exhibition spaces into vast theatres, breathing life into theatre and theatre into art.

Valentín Roma