The Formentera Council Office of Culture welcomes to the island La Baralla de les Meravelles. With a title twisted off the Catalan word for the naipes and roughly translated as “the deck of marvels”, the exhibition from Ramon Pérez Carrió opens today as part of the Sant Jordi activities programme. An opening attended by the artist is scheduled for 8.00pm in the old town hall (Ajuntament Vell). It is the first time the exhibit stops in Formentera, though the island features as one of the four suits that comprise the deck of playing cards. The show will run from April 18-24 in the municipal gallery (Sala d'Exposicions) before relocating to the La Caixa gallery for a stint from April 27-May 7.

The collection is composed of 42 gouaches that Pérez has crafted in the colourist tradition. El Llibre de les Meravelles, from universal Majorcan thinker Ramon Llull was a spur for the idea, as were the culture, history and alchemy of the four Balearic islands. The paintings resemble the 40-card naipes deck with two notable jokers thrown in: Llull himself and the famously-hermitic abbot turned saint Felix of Rhuys. Each one of four suits represents a different island of the Balearic archipelago. Clubs stand in for Menorca, gold coins for Mallorca, cups for Eivissa and swords for Formentera. What is more, each number from one to ten coincides with the books that constitute El Llibre de les Meravelles (Llibre dels Elements, dels Metalls, del Cel, de les Plantes, de les Bèsties, de l’Infern, del Paradís, de l’Home, dels Àngels i de Déu).

The symbolism of the images relies on a blend of history, tradition, mythology and the immense cultural wealth of the unique geological and geographic traits of the Mediterranean corridor. Pérez draws on inspiration from the gnostic, alchemistic and cabalistic iconography of the thirteenth century humanist sage's medieval codices. The paintings in La Baralla are also an unmistakeable nod to art history and the Platonic thought that Llull emboldened during his lifetime.

Ramon Llull christened his philosophic technique “Art”, so it is no great surprise that “plastic” is often used to interpret his work. Llull fathered the idea of a language based on binary code, as well as the Lullian wheel and the tree-shaped conceptual diagram. He is also responsible for putting forward the first postulations about play-inciting areas of the brain and something he called “the art of finding marvels”, a technique that included crafting mosaics of possibilities capable of leading us to understanding and absolute knowledge.

In 2003 Fundació Baleària commissioned Ramon Pérez Carrió for this project and offered a luxury-format of La Baralla for the maiden voyage of the transport company's Ramon Llull fast ferry. The originals were displayed in Terminal Drassanes of the Barcelona port before embarking on an art tour of the Balearics. Hoisted aboard a freighter called Illa de Botafoc, the collection made its way across the ports of our island community. In 2004, when the foundation launched Fundació “Baleària-4 Illes”, a reduced version of the deck was rolled out and the originals were placed on permanent exhibition in Cura, Mallorca, in a hall which is dedicated to Llull inside the Santa Mkaria monastery. Both of the two editions of the card decks are now out of print.

Llull is considered the father of cult Catalan prose. History recognises him for the lexical solutions he found for describing philosophical ideas in a language still short on resources. That explains why the exhibit has been employed by a poets' encounter called Un mar de paraules, a gathering of vocational Catalan hikers and as a background for spaces like Espai Comunicacional Ramon Llull, which symbolises regional unity. With the sea travel connections it offers, the Baleària company makes communication possible between territories that share a language and culture. The company's foundation, Fundació Baleària, has also signed on to commemorate the seventh centennial anniversary of Llull's death with the dissemination of La Baralla de les Meravelles.

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Today Formentera Council held its second plenary session dedicated to discussing the state of the island. Attendees unanimously adopted a proposal from Gent per Formentera urging authorities “to review and possibly rework the terms” of the current Formentera-Dénia maritime connections “given their impact on Formentera's model of sustainability and safety,” explained transport councillor Rafael González. In the councillor's words, “as a summertime-only route, this a ship that doesn't carry any freight. While it doesn't deliver goods, it does come loaded with vehicles that bring our traffic to a standstill”. González pointed out the fact that Formentera is the only port without a “general interest” connection with the mainland, though he said he hoped the current vote would give Formentera leverage to improve the situation.

Renewable energy

With another proposal from Gent per Formentera, attendees voted unanimously to push the Council to “author a plan to progressively replace traditional power sources with renewable ones in Council buildings”. The initial process, said environment councillor Daisee Aguilera, will involve “singling out areas that can be improved” to later speed up the grant application process once money from the Govern becomes available. Furthermore, said Aguilera, the Council will also use its own budget –either directly or through secondary projects– to promote renewable energy sources.

To that end, all the parties at the session backed the PSOE's proposal envisaging “a joint effort by the Govern Balear and Formentera Council to make Formentera an energy independent island”.

Improvements to central government services

In addition, plenary attendees voted to urge the central government in Madrid to improve the services it administers on Formentera, “the priorities being the tax office, social security, the transportation department, passport and immigration services,” explained councillor of the president's office Bartomeu Escandell. That measure, brought forth by Gent per Formentera, was supported by all.

Another proposal that received unanimous support entails urging the administration “to adapt the conference hall of the Formentera day centre to host the Council's plenary sessions” and “make the associated technological improvements” as well. According to Escandell, the Magic Box, as the hall has been christened, “has got architectural features making it perfectly suitable for CiF plenary sessions.” For councillors it would also mean technological improvements, he said, as well as the possibility of live broadcasts of the sessions.

Political groups also unanimously adopted a measure brought by the Partido Popular to increase the frequency of public buses between la Mola and the rest of the island. Councillor González noted the Council's support for the proposed move but added that such an expansion of the public transport service should “be applied across the entire island”.

Improvements to urban enclaves

Representatives at the plenary also voted in unanimous support of a measure “for continued improvement projects in Sant Ferran, Es Pujols, Ses Bardetes, Es Ca Marí and la Savina.”

They also signed on to a proposal from the socialists to change the time extraordinary plenary sessions on the state of the island start. Participants voted to start such one-off meetings in the afternoon.

Housing

Also noteworthy was a unanimously-supported joint measure from Compromís amb Formentera and the socialist party. According to land management councillor Alejandra Ferrer, the proposal calls on the Council and the regional housing authority (IBAVI) to conduct a study on Formentera housing and work toward the establishment of a “social contract on housing”. Under the proposal, the study should “offer concrete solutions to the problems at hand.”