Color is articulated through two fundamental mixing systems: subtractive and additive. Although both are based on the combination of primary colors, their logics are opposite.The subtractive system – typical of pigments and material surfaces – absorbs light until it approaches black; The additive—based on light projection—adds light to produce white. Chromatic threshold proposes a didactic journey between both systems through two connected installations that turn the perception of colour into a direct, physical and participatory experience.

The first installation explores the subtractive system using an interactive light table. On it, visitors can superimpose translucent circles of different diameters and observe how the accumulation of colour progressively alters the light, creating increasingly dense and dark mixtures. The piece transforms an optical principle into an intuitive, hands-on experience.

The second installation explores the additive system through a projection comprising three primary-coloured light sources. As the visitor’s body passes through the light, their shadow is fragmented into distinct chromatic layers, revealing how each light source contributes to the construction of the image. The installation transforms the space into a field of experimentation where light, colour and movement interact in real time.

A mediation and community art project.

Stories of La Balsa is an exhibition that gathers the processes, discoveries and results of this project developed together with the residents of Raval Roig in the space of La Balsa, at the foot of Benacantil.

The project proposes to collectively imagine the past, present and future lives of this place, through shared imagination, speculative fiction and the material and immaterial resources of the landscape. The actions carried out, linked to artists from the MACA collection such as Carmen Calvo or Juana Francés, are intertwined with memories, stories and knowledge of those who care for and inhabit La Balsa.

The exhibition brings together materials from institutional and community archives, as well as records of conversations and experiences that highlight the value of this urban space sustained by an intense community life.

Stories of La Balsa invites us to look at the territory from the perspective of care and listening, and to rethink the relationships between memory, community and public space.

Coordination: Sergi Hernández and María Maraña (MA·PA estudio)

On this occasion we will focus on Gustavo Torner, whose artistic production is very broad and diverse, encompassing painting and sculpture, but also graphic work, set design, theater and opera costumes, tapestries, stained glass, public sculpture, interior design and exhibitions.

We propose a new way of relating to the museum with the aim of consolidating and promoting mutual enrichment and an exchange of experiences.

Through these guided visits and actions we want to reflect on concepts and ideas that will emerge throughout the visit, relating the works from the MACA collections to their context, in a transversal way, analyzing current reality and how artists represent their experiences by creating a collective memory through the great diversity of contemporary languages that have emerged in the 20th and 21st centuries.

For inquisitive adults. Led by Explicarte. With the support of the Consorci de Museus de la Generalitat

Imagining the FUTURE with SEMPERE

We were coming from the previous session, MutaPlantas, very pleased with the feeling of having discovered the concept of "myths of the future", "Fed up already with past mythologies, we propose a future mythology, to dream with…" we said in the previous report. And that pushed us to continue in this session with that idea, because talking about desirable futures is a proactive attitude towards change, and if the fabulation of the mythical origin of things helps us understand the present, imagining retroactively the path towards the future from a myth created within 500 years, which looks at the past (our present) and mythically fabulates its present (our future)… it can be a very powerful tool of speculative fiction!

–But how do we do it? –we asked ourselves.

The "hall of mirrors" and kinetic art

This session was going to be special, because it coincided with the DIM – International Museum Day. And to hold a session focused on the interior of the museum, we decided at the time that it would be on its 3rd floor, where the kinetic sculptures of Eusebio Sempere rest. "The hall of mirrors", we said. We had already talked about the oval that floats in the museum's vestibule in the Arborescent session, fabulating its changing reflections and its geometry of rods repeated in space. So on this occasion we decided that the attendees would create myths that look towards the future using the qualities of kinetic art as a creative activator. Kinetic art or kineticism is an artistic movement that integrates physical-spatial movement as a compositional element: the real physical movement of the work, the movement of the eye over the piece and the physical movement of the spectator cause the works to transform, change their appearance and their relationship with space. They also use light as a plastic element, transform it and use it to create spatial effects and transform the surrounding space, and the phenomenon of optical perception creating visual rhythms, the superposition of ambiguous geometric forms and dynamic luminous perception. Furthermore, Eusebio Sempere has a very special relationship with the museum: his donation of a contemporary art collection was the trigger for converting the old Casa de la Asegurada into the current Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante. Sempere almost made the museum appear with the works he brought with him, he placed them in a place and around them a Museum grew (with architectural reforms and later expansions). That image of the power of a work of art not only to transform the surrounding space, but to create it! was wonderful, so we began there!

In the previous session of Arborescentes we were left wanting to talk about the small plants that emerge freely from cracks and hard-to-clean corners. So much monumental ficus and so little brave weeds drove us to dedicate the following session to them, to the VIP plants! (very important plants). We tell you how we went about it.

Why are plants that grow in asphalt cracks important?

Plants that grow in asphalt cracks in cities are not only symbols of biological resistance, but also key agents within new approaches to urban biodiversity.

To rethink urban plants not as "green waste" but as living agents that claim their place, we must understand that preserving the wild is not just about protecting distant forests, but also respecting a crack where life springs forth.

They constitute spontaneous laboratories of life and evolution. They are "zones of freedom," where vegetation grows without direct human intervention.

They play an essential role as green micro-corridors. They act as connectors between fragments of dispersed urban habitats, allowing the flow of species—from pollinating insects to soil microorganisms.

Urban biodiversity depends on these unplanned spaces. The biodiversity that these plants provide increases ecological resilience.

"VIP Plants" as cultural and social mediators: A novel reading of these plants is to understand them as cultural and social mediators. Their presence challenges the traditional narrative of human control over urban nature and proposes an aesthetic of disorder that invites us to rethink city design. Rather than eradicating these spontaneous manifestations, we could integrate them into a new model of urbanism that accepts the unplanned, fostering a more flexible and ethical relationship between the built and the living. This approach can be connected with recent concepts such as the right to the wild in the city.

On this occasion we will focus on Víctor Vasarely. An artist considered the father of Op Art.

We propose a new way of relating to the museum with the aim of consolidating and promoting mutual enrichment and an exchange of experiences.

Through these guided visits and activities, we want to reflect on concepts and ideas that will emerge throughout the visit, relating the works from the MACA collections to their context, in a transversal way, analyzing current reality and how artists represent their experiences by creating a collective memory through the great diversity of contemporary languages that have emerged in the 20th and 21st centuries.

For inquisitive adults. Led by Explicarte. With the support of the Consorci de Museus de la Generalitat.

On this occasion we will focus on Alexander Calder. American engineer and sculptor, creator of the innovative mobiles or chupin (hanging mobile toys), which would eventually become the seed of kinetic sculpture.

We propose a new way of relating to the museum with the aim of consolidating and promoting mutual enrichment and an exchange of experiences.

With these guided visits and actions we want to reflect on concepts and ideas that will emerge throughout the visit, relating the works from the MACA collections to their context, in a transversal way, making an analysis of current reality and how artists represent their experiences creating a collective memory through the great diversity of contemporary languages that have emerged in the 20th and 21st centuries.

For restless adults. In charge of Explicarte. With the support of the Consorci de Museus de la Generalitat.

Alicante has 36 specimens of monumental ficus trees considered part of its heritage. They are living monuments that leave us amazed with their majestic canopies and impressive columns made of roots.

In this session of the Mitolatorio we reclaim the city's arboreal heritage, we highlight its value through the invention of contemporary myths and performative games that build experiences and awaken love for these magical beings that coexist with us. Shall we create an arborescent route?.

The group will hold a special session under the name "Words Without Barriers".

The Palabras Mayores group, a mediation project between the museum and people over 60 years old, presents this inclusive and creative proposal that combines the poetic, visual, and plastic arts. The session will begin with an open discussion table on museum accessibility for all kinds of groups, opening a dialogue that invites rethinking cultural spaces as truly inclusive environments. Subsequently, a creative workshop will be developed in which, inspired by the MACA collections, participants will write texts, take photographs, make videos or create plastic artworks that represent their visions and experiences about museums and accessibility.

Coordination and mediation: Juan Diego Cerdá.

Outreach activity focused on listening and highlighting the museum's programming in relation to sound art. Participants will learn about Sempere's connections with composers of his era, discover works and proposals from MACA related to sound, and visit the heritage sites in the area surrounding the museum that define its soundscape.

Activity coordinated by Carlos Izquierdo, composer and sound artist who develops proposals and research that emphasize the importance of listening in art.

The tour involves some physical demands; comfortable footwear is recommended and is not advisable for people with vertigo.