The event was organized by Clara López Pruñonosa and Nicolás Merino Cubillo. We would also like to thank Inés Burton García and all other interns who helped us during the event.

The Spanish Cultural Night took place on the 15th September 2011 in the ICD House of Arts and Culture. It was organized by the Spanish Interns with the support of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy and Super Iberico, who offered Spanish Wine for the Event. The main goal of the Spanish Cultural Night in Berlin was to present and showcase Spanish Culture - be it through art, gastronomy or cinema - to the ICD interns, staff, friends and everyone in Berlin who had an interest in Spain. Our recipe to give you a good taste of Spain was art, tapas, wine and a good film; we hope we succeeded!

The night started with a very interesting presentation from our main guests of the night: Anaïs Senli and Silvia Foz, two Spanish artists living in Berlin. They both presented their works and their experience as Spanish Artists in Germany and shared with us their personal vision of Berlin, giving a fresh insight into Spanish contemporary art and culture. Anaïs who studied in Barcelona, came to Berlin for a student exchange, fell in love with the city and ended up staying here for 9 years. She has worked in almost every aspect of visual arts: painting, sculpture, drawing, photography... Some of Anaïs best drawings were hanging in the ICD House for Arts and Culture walls and we also enjoyed a slide-show with a selection of her best works of art. Silvia, from Barcelona too, is now living and working in Berlin, having arrived here one year ago. At the moment she is working on « U Bahn Stories » a series of photographs of Berlin's Underground passengers.

Following the presentations, we were able to enjoy the tastiest part of the evening: a tapas buffet accompanied by Spanish red and white wine. Guests were invited to sample some tortilla (omelete made with potatoes eggs and onion), “jamón serrano” (Spanish cured ham), “chorizo”, cheese, olives and bread with tomato sauce.

The night ended with a very funny, and somewhat surrealist, movie by Almodovar: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (in Spanish: Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios). Although Almodovar is a world famous film maker, we were keen to screen one of his not-so-famous movies, but one that was very representative of his earlier work and a perfect embodiment of the spirit of the 80's in Spain. Unfortunately it turned out to be a bit too late for some people, but I would recommend them to watch it at home as they taste some fresh gazpacho - it is a wonderful movie, as those who saw the movie will surely appreciate!

We hope we managed to bring some taste of the Spanish culture to Berlin and to encourage many people to discover more about Spain.