Cabinet d`amateur, an oblique novel: Enrique Vila-Matas | Enrique Vila-Matas

The first of four special publications to accompany a year-long display of works from Barcelona's `la Caixa' Collection at Whitechapel Gallery, selected by and featuring newlycommissioned fictional works by some of the most original English and Spanish-language writers working today.Established in Barcelona in 1985 by Fundacion `la Caixa', the `la Caixa' Collection of Contemporary Art features over 1,000 works of international contemporary art from the last 30 years, including artists such as Antoni Tapies, Joseph Beuys, Cornelia Parker and Doris Salcedo.For a major four-part display running from 2019-20, Whitechapel Gallery has partnered with `la Caixa' Collection to showcase key pieces from the Collection, with each of the four `chapters' curated by a contemporary writer, who will also contribute a brand new work of fiction in response to their selection. Each display will be accompanied by a fullyillustrated catalogue featuring the works displayed and the new text, accompanied by a foreword and introduction from both institutions.The first chapter, on display in Spring 2019, will be selected by the award-winning Spanish novelist Enrique Vila-Matas (b. Barcelona, 1948; lives and works in Barcelona), who has been described by The New Yorker as `arguably Spain's most significant contemporary literary figure'. His work is often described as metafiction, a form of writing frequently used to examine the relationship between art and life. Vila-Matas' books include Because She Never Asked (2015, originally written for Sophie Calle), The Illogic of Kassel (2014), Dublinesque (2010) and Bartleby & Co (2000), and his new book, titled Mac y su contratiempo (Mac's Problem) will be released in English in April 2019, coinciding with the display at Whitechapel Gallery. Vila-Matas has selected works by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Miquel Barcelo, Dora Garcia, Carlos Pazos and Gerhard Richter.