No ho diguis a ningú [Don’t tell anyone]
is a piece about secrets. Secrets that are uttered in a whisper that is so faint it cannot be understood, written so they are practically illegible, placed in a box containing them and yet not showing them.

We all have secrets we don't want to tell anyone about. This student group collected secrets from all their classmates and teachers at the school to make a book, which was shut away inside a big red box, installed in the Museu Nacional, which also invites anyone who visits to leave their secret there.

Throughout the process, Mercè Soler and a group of 4th-year compulsory secondary-education (ESO) students were asked about the secrets and possible ways of including them in an artist's book, of which only a single piece would be produced. During this process of gathering the secrets of people from the school, on the one hand, and of research and reflection on the book and its very large number of formal possibilities, on the other, various formats were tried out to finally define what the final work would be.

The final project's installation consisted of the following elements:

An artist's book (single item) with moiré covers, natural-cotton pages and laser-printed text (22.5 x 16 x 7 cm).

A sound track (12 minutes), a selection of the secrets found in the book, whispered by the students (the sound was installed inside the red box and heard through its holes).

Box containing secrets, made of red-painted wood (121 x 121 x 202 cm) and a notepad with a phrase for inviting visitors to write down and leave their secrets inside the box.

Alongside this piece, displayed in a backlit glass case were a series of five x-rays of boxes of secrets of the students and the artist.

THE PRESENTATION
The “No ho diguis a ningú” [Don’t tell anyone] project was presented on Tuesday, 28 May at 6 pm, in the Sala Oval at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. Students taking part in the residence, accompanied by teacher and creator, Mercè Soler, explained the work process, the piece and all the decisions and choices made in defining the final formalisation.

The presentation was attended by a large number of people: friends and family members, teachers, representatives of the ICUB, the Barcelona Education Consortium and the directors of the Museu Nacional.

Besides the students’ action during the presentation, the book of secrets was taken out of its box, as an exception, so those attending could look at it.

The piece was displayed in the Sala Oval and could be visited until the end of August in the space at the old bookshop, a free-access venue opposite the museum shop.