arts

Blockchain has arrived in the art world and is here to stay. Thanks to this technology, which allows smarter and safer transactions, intermediaries are reduced, intellectual property is guaranteed and the traceability of creative output is improved. But these applications are only the beginning. Discover how blockchain will revolutionise the art industry.

American independence was an event of great historical and political significance that led the way towards our modern western democracies. But little has been said about the contribution of Spain and Hispanics to this event, which was decisive for the colonists' triumph. Between 1775 and 1781, the Hispanic monarchy sent more than 3 million pesos (3 trillion dollars at the current exchange rate) in weapons, blankets, uniforms and loans to George Washington's army, as well as thousands of soldiers and sailors from Spain and from its American territories to fight alongside the rebels. Now, Unveiling Memories, a book and a website promoted and sponsored by Iberdrola, are coming out with the aim of recovering this shared Hispanic and American history.

Iberdrola is sponsoring the exhibition Bilbao y la pintura (Bilbao and painting), a collection of works produced between the end of the 19^th Century and the beginning of the 20^th — a period in which the capital of Biscay began an unstoppable process of modernisation —. Its curator, Kosme de Barañano, introduces us to the fundamentals of the exhibition and transports us to a bubbling Bilbao, the seed of the modern-day city.

Spain and the Hispanic world played a decisive role in the independence of the United States of America, but it is a very little known fact, and historically this contribution has scarcely been acknowledged. This is why Iberdrola has been supporting Unveiling Memories, a project led by the expert historian on the subject, José Manuel Guerrero Acosta. We are chatting with him about the importance of rescuing this story, shared between Hispanics and Americans.