Jaume Plensa to receive an honorary doctorate from the UAB

On 6 November, sculptor Jaume Plensa will awarded an honorary doctorate by the UAB. The event will take place at 12 noon at the auditorium of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. This is first of five exceptional honorary doctorates to be awarded this year in commemoration of the UAB's 50th annivarsary, each of them related to a different field of knowledge and social commitment. Plensa will be sponsored by Jèssica Jaques, lecturer in Aesthetics and Theory of Art, and the ceremony will be presided by UAB Rector Margarita Arboix.

The award from Plensa, consideraed "the internationally most well-known living Catalan artist when it comes to art in public spaces", corresponds to the field of cultural identity. The other four honorary doctorates being awarded this year correspond to freedom of sppech (Caddy Adzuba), solidarity (Marie-Paule Kieny), commitment to the Catalan language and society (Joaquim Maria Puyal) and knowledge (Lisa Randall).

International Artist

Jaume Plensa studied at the Llotja Advances School of Art and Design and the Sant Jordi Royal Fine Arts Academy in Barcelona, before beginning his professional career abroad. He has lectured at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris and regularly collaborates with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as visiting professor. His work can be seen often in galeries and museums of Europe, the United States and Asia, and a large part of his art pieces are made to be exhibited in public spaces: his works are exhibited permenantly in Spain, France, Japan, England, South Korea, Germany, Canada, USA, China, etc. In these last months of 2018, his works are on display at the Djurgården in Stockholm, the Reina Sofia in Madrid and in Barcelona's MACBA.

The UAB's new honorary doctor considers himself first and foremost a sculptor, although his creative process has transitioned through a variety of disciplines: he is a artist of materials, sensations and ideas, and his references range from literature to poetry, music and thought. Plensa is an honorary member of the Sant Jordi Royal Academy of Fine ARts and he has received several awards in recognition of his work: the Catalan and Spanish national plastic arts awards, the National Graphic Arts Award, the City of Barcelona Prize and the Sant Jordi Cross conferred onto him by the Government of Catalonia. Internationally, he has received the March Award for Public Sculptures, London; the Best Public or Outdoor Installation or Exhibition at the Global Fine Art Award, Miami; the Médaille des Chevaliers des Arts et Lettres, Paris, and many more.