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Museo Picasso Mála became a meeting place and a celebration for almost 11,000 people who visited it overthe weekend

28/10/2013

The commemoration of MPM’s tenth anniversary turned into a big party to celebrate art and culture, with 10,909 people visiting the gallery over the weekend.

On the Saturday, 2,167 visitors arrived at MPM before the start of the Open 24 Hours event, which was attended by 8,742 personas. Groups of youngsters, entire families, senior citizens and visitors from far and wide all responded with enthusiasm to the Open 24 Hours event, which involved local associations and in which public figures such as flamenco singer Mayte Martín, jazz musician Jorge Pardo and chef Dani García also took part. The great festive atmosphere was a key feature throughout the Open 24 Hours event, which was enthusiastically received by locals and foreign visitors alike. The &ldquo";“sold out&rdquo”;" sign went up at the MPM Auditorium for the musical performances by Mayte Martín, Jorge Pardo and the Carnival murga Los Vivalavida, with all available seats fully taken for the three concerts. Throughout the celebrations, and particularly on the Sunday, MPM was filled with parents and children who had come to visit the gallery together or to take part in the activities that had been specially prepared for them. The guided visits and tours that had been organized were also very well attended. In all, around nine hundred people took part in the Family programme, the one entitled Itineraries, which was opened by M&ordf";" Paz Temboury on Saturday evening and featured a talk by chef Dani García, and the visit from the Asociación Themis immigrants&rsquo";" association. In the activities that took place outside the museum, the open air painting competition on Picasso and his Surroundings, organized by Aplama, was attended by over 50 artists from different parts of Spain. Social networks The level of visitor participation on the social networks was particularly high. MPM itself actively took part by posting continuously updated information on all the activities held over the weekend. There were 88 updates on Facebook, with the various photo albums that were posted receiving the most comments and shares, along with the activities for children. There were 1,295 mentions of @mPICASSOm on Twitter, both from private individuals and other museums and associations, mainly to congratulate the organization and comment on the various activities that had been organized. An activity called Your Museum 2.0 was set up during the Open 24 Hours event, offering visitors the chance to take photographs of their visit and share them on the social networks, with two totems set up in the Buenavista Palace. These devices took a total of 850 photographs which have gone viral among 76.828 users so far. The project also included video filming in which more than 70 visitors offered their opinions on MPM. This footage will be used to put together an audiovisual summary of the activity. The sundry different activities that took place over the weekend were recorded on a video over 6 hours long, and which can be seen on Livestream. It has enabled web users worldwide to take part in the celebrations at MPM, and it has so far received around 900 visits. &ldquo";“Without culture, there can be no progress&rdquo”;" The President of the Junta de Andalucía, Susana Díaz, gave the closing speech at the official event held on Saturday 26th October, which paid tribute to Christine and Bernard Ruiz-Picasso and the Government of Andalusia. In it she spoke of a whole decade of hard work and achievements, and argued that culture is the best place to seek refuge in uncertain times: &ldquo";“Without culture, there can be no progress&rdquo”;“. Bernard Ruiz-Picasso himself talked of the change he has seen in MPM over the last ten years, both in terms of the city of Malaga and the attitude of its inhabitants, and he highlighted &ldquo”;“the fundamental work carried out by the museum staff and directors in order to maintain high standards&rdquo”;".