PRESENTATION
On 28 November 2015, MACBA celebrated its twentieth anniversary, allowing us to imagine the next two decades of the Museum. How do we want MACBA to be in 2035? Now is the time to start preparing for this future. Over the coming years we will consider how, from the perspective of art, the world we live in can be rethought, turning reality onto itself, holding to question the way it functions and underlining the contradictions.
How are museums understood today? They are located at acrossroads between dissent and obedience, the local community and tourism, elites and the general public. They are big public spaces that, in many Western societies, have accompanied the development of the welfare state: they rose with its expansion and stumbled with its decline. In a framework of cognitive capitalism in which knowledge is continually threatened by commercialisation and determined by the spectacularisation of culture, MACBA aims to become a meeting place and a space for establishing a new political subjectivity. If until recently museums as institutions were being tested time and again, we are now looking for new ways to build institutions that can respond to the demands of the people and absorb the conditions set by the neoliberal structures while remaining in direct contact with political and social action.
We look at the world from the city of Barcelona, aware that the world around us is constantly changing, and with the desire to accompany these changes with the tools appropriate to a museum: knowledge, judgment, the production of meaning and our ability to intervene. We believe that this involves going beyond explicit forms of action. Art takes a step back: looking at all possible worlds we want to rethink our own. Our objective is the people who come to the museum to enjoy our collections and programmes. We know that art is a space where emotions run high and we wish it to remain so. MACBA is a space for surprise, for self‐questioning and for reflecting on the complex mechanisms that make art such a rich space.
The 2016 programme links the path taken over the last twenty years to our future trajectory. Looking at the history of art from a non‐hegemonic position and recovering the narratives that get overlooked or underestimated in conventional history. Stirring the museum from an
institutional critique, taking into account the value of the image as testimony and memory in a society such as ours with an image overload. As an institution located in Barcelona, MACBA looks at the world as much through what is conventionally understood as Western art – located on both sides of the North Atlantic – as through its extensions in Latin America and the Mediterranean basin. The Museum balances the desire to reach a local public while having an international impact. Thus, in November, it will host the annual meeting of CIMAM, the International Congress of Modern Art Museums. Also in the autumn, it will present the projects of Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian, winners of the second edition of the Han Nefkens/ MACBA Contemporary Art Award.
EXHIBITIONS
In the field of exhibitions, in March, the work of José Antonio Hernández‐Díez (Venezuela, 1964) will occupy the exhibition space of the Convent dels Àngels. It will feature work from the late eighties and early nineties, some of which has not been seen since it was first exhibited, along with a new project developed specifically for the occasion.
In April, Andrea Fraser (USA, 1965), in an exhibition curated by Cuauhtémoc Medina and Hiuwai Chu, will ask us through her work what we want from art. Fraser examines the motivations of many agents in this field: artists, collectors, gallery owners, patrons, museum directors and members of the public. Her work presents a critical analysis of the social fabric of the art world and reveals its internal conflicts, mechanisms and hierarchical structures.
In May, Punk takes hold of MACBA. Barcelona will host the exhibition, curated by David G. Torres, on tour from Madrid (CA2M) and Vitoria‐Gasteiz (ARTIUM). Featuring the various work‐types employed by over fifty national and international artists, the exhibition traces a journey through the influence of punk on contemporary art, while highlighting the impact that its presence as an attitude and as a referent had on many creators.
In the summer, the second semester will open with a new exhibition from the MACBA Collection. This time, the emphasis will be on some of the directions around which the future programming will be structured. A good opportunity to re‐examine our heritage, the backbone of the Museum, under a new light. It will include previously unseen works.
During the autumn, Akram Zaatari will invite us to turn our gaze to the Middle East, North Africa and the Arab diaspora. Far from providing a historical account of the AIF (Arab Image Foundation), the exhibition, curated by Bartomeu Marí and Hiuwai Chu, presents the perspective of an artist – and founding member of the AIF – on these archives located in Beirut, Lebanon. The exhibition reflects on the twenty‐year history of the AIF and the multiple conditions of photography as a photographic document, object, material value, aesthetics and memory. In mid‐October the curator Vicent Todolí takes us in the opposite direction with Miralda. MADEINUSA, an exhibition documenting exhaustively for the
first time the projects of Antoni Miralda (Terrassa, 1942) in the United States, from the mid‐seventies to the late nineties.
Closing the year, we present The eighties. What was hidden by euphoria [working title], as part of the museums network L’Internationale. This project, curated by Teresa Grandas, explores the situation in Spain in the eighties, a time when, with the consolidation of democracy, political parties used culture as a form of mediation of great potential.
PUBLIC AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
Along with the MACBA Collection and temporary exhibitions, MACBA’s Public Programmes form one of the areas engaged in the generation of content and knowledge. Beyond the activities dedicated to the initiation and familiarisation with contemporary art, MACBA devotes particular attention to research, study and specialised training. The object of MACBA’s Public Programmes is to enhance and retain diverse interest groups. In addition to furthering knowledge and highlighting the social relevance of art, we are committed to education and the creation of new career options related to this field.
In 2016 we continue our staple programmes such as: Experience MACBA on Saturday evenings, now entering its fourth season; MACBA for Families, which includes a new offer for children (1–5 years); and Habitació 1418 (Room 1418), an inter‐institutional programme together with the CCCB. This meeting place for young and creative people aged 14 to 18 includes an ongoing programme of activities that allows free use of the resources suggested by the CCCB and MACBA. The programme aims to take young people from the metropolitan area and help them develop a special bond with the Raval.
We will be continuing our investment in teacher training courses, taught not only in the Museum but throughout Catalonia and including, for the first time, workshops with artists. With the aim of offering joint training spaces for all levels of education professionals, the 2015–16 academic year will revise the existing formats, while consolidating the long‐standing proposals aimed at both primary and secondary education.
Also in 2016, we will be making an attractive offer aimed at higher education, including joint projects between the Museum and universities.
MACBA is committed to projects on the Web. An example of this is the collaboration with Magnet. Aliances per a l’èxit educatiu (Magnet. Partnerships for educational success), a project still in its pilot phase that brings together major scientific and cultural institutions with schools. MACBA is working in collaboration with the Escola Josep M. de Sagarra and the Institut Moisès Broggi on a four‐year initiative. Of a similar nature is Apadrina el teu equipament (Sponsor your equipment), focused on developing innovative classroom projects among the major cultural and educational centres in the Raval.
PUBLICATIONS
Of particular note is the publication of a new volume on the MACBA Collection with a selection of key works that have shaped the discourse of the Museum. The publication includes a detailed and illustrated chronology of the evolution of the Collection and related activities since its inception in 1985 until today.
To mark the first solo exhibition in Spain of American artist Andrea Fraser, MACBA, together with MUAC, Mexico, and Siglo XXI, will publish a collection of 18 critical texts under the title: De la crítica institucional a la institución de la crítica.The exhibition by Akram Zaatari. is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue of the Lebanese photographic archive with texts by Mark Westmoreland, Kaeled Wilson‐Goldie and by Zaatari himself.
The exhibition Miralda. MADEINUSA is celebrated in a book of the same title that includes essays and texts by several people who, in one way or another, have collaborated with the artist in some of the projects launched in the United States since the seventies. A comprehensive selection of images and sketches explains his working processes.
The exhibition The eighties. What was hidden by euphoria [working title] will have a publication to be produced by the museum network L’Internationale.
Moreover, Desacuerdos, a joint publishing project between various cultural institutions in Spain, will continue with its research work.
JOSÉ ANTONIO HERNÁNDEZ‐DÍEZ. I WILL FEAR NO EVIL Convent dels Àngels
Press Conference: 17 March, 11.30 am
Opening: 17 March, 7.30 pm
Dates: 18 March – 26 June 2016
Curated by: Latitudes (Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna)
José Antonio Hernández‐Díaz. La Hermandad, 1994. Video installation. ”la Caixa” / MACBA Collection
José Antonio Hernández‐Díez (Caracas, Venezuela, 1964) emerged in the international arena at a time when the idea of contemporary art as a global language was being proposed, and the dominance of artists from Europe and the United States was being questioned. He has participated in a number of important exhibitions including Aperto ’93: Emergency/Emergenzia at the 45th Venice Biennale (1993), Beyond Borders, the 1st Gwangju Biennale (1995) and Cocido y crudo (The Cooked and the Raw) at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1994. His exhibitions have spanned photography, sculpture, video and drawing; metaphysics besides adolescent humour; high‐end production as well as ‘poor’ and unconventional materials.
I will fear no evil presents works from the late eighties and early nineties, some of which have not been seen since they were first exhibited, together with a new project developed specifically for the occasion. This exhibition includes Hernández‐Díez’s first experimental
videos, along with other early works using screens and vitrines. These include, for example, three pieces that appeared in his landmark first monographic exhibition, San Guinefort y otras devociones (San Guinefort and other devotions), held at the Sala RG in Caracas, July–August 1991. This exhibition heralded what the artist termed as a ‘new Christian iconography’, offering – as artist‐colleague Meyer Vaisman described – ‘a techno‐pop view of Catholicism’s most beloved symbols’.
The proposition that, in Latin America, the rationalist and scientific force of the Enlightenment did not rupture the progress of the Baroque towards modernity is both given credence and subject to a perpetual referendum in Hernández‐Díez’s work. Over the last three decades his syncretic art has grappled with superstition, morality and religion, whilst displaying a fascination with ethics and technology. He has addressed social inequality, violence and unrest as well as cosmetics and consumer goods, and referenced objects from the domestic sphere alongside the public culture of the street or sports field. Hernández‐Díez presents an artistic confirmation of the dictum that discontinuity is more likely than continuity. Instead of an intrinsic orthodoxy governing his art, we discover a restless sequence of visual and iconographic inventions, where each work is engineered to articulate specific cultural, personal and historical circumstances. His works negotiate with the making of art as a practice burdened by opacity, veneration and mortality, as much as by its stake in a living and continually reanimated culture.
In addition to the challenge of returning these historical works to life, I will fear no evil presents a new project by Hernández‐Díez as a conceptual echo. This new series comprises an iconographic study of light bulb filaments, not only as an addendum to his earlier works’ consideration of electrical revelation and visibility, but, as a provocation to consider what is at stake in the sovereign metaphors of light itself.
JoséAntonioHernández‐DíezAnnabelLee1988–2016.Instal·lació.ColeccióIgnacioyValentinaOberto,Caracas
ANDREA FRASER. L’1% C’EST MOI
Press conference: 21 April, 11.30 am
Opening: 21 April, 7.30 pm
Dates: MACBA, 22 April – 4 September 2016 / MUAC, 8 October 2016 –
March 2017
Curated by: Cuauhtémoc Medina and Hiuwai Chu
What do we want from art?
Andrea Fraser addresses this
question in her work, looking at
the motivations of a broad range
of agents in the field: artists,
collectors, gallerists, patrons,
curators, directors, audiences.
Identified with Institutional
Critique and informed by the
French sociologist Pierre
Bourdieu’s theory of social
fields, much of Fraser’s work is a
critical analysis of the social
fabric of the art world, revealing
its internal conflicts,
mechanisms and hierarchical
structures.
Andrea Fraser, Projection, 2008. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nagel Draxler.
Developing on site‐specific and research‐based approaches, combined
with feminist investigations of subjectivity and desire, Fraser’s methods
are also rooted in the psychoanalytic principle that one can only engage
with structures and relationships in an immediate way, in their
performance. Her exceptional ability to enact diverse social positions
engages audiences in precisely this way, while disclosing the diverse
relationships and interests within this complex structure.
The exhibition will include early works about institutional discourse such
as Four Posters (1984) and Woman 1/ Madonna and Child 1506–1967
(1984); seminal works about museums including Museum Highlights: A
Gallery Talk (1989) and Little Frank and His Carp (2001); to themes
around globalisation in works such as Garden Program (1993) and
Welcome to São Paulo, I’m from the United States (1998). While the
bulk of Fraser’s work centres on the social and economic conditions of
the art world, her later works explore the underlying psychological
structures of the personal in relation to the public, in emotionally
charged works such as Projection (2008) and Men on the Line: Men
Committed to Feminism KPFK (1972, 2012/2014).
L’1% c’est moi is Fraser’s first monographic exhibition in Spain. The
exhibition will bring together a selection of key works that spans over 30
years of critical practices, including text‐based works, installation, video,
performance and documentation. The exhibition is co‐produced with
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City, where it
will be presented in October 2016. A compilation of critical writings and
scripts by Fraser, an indispensable component of the artist’s work, will
be published in Spanish for the occasion.
Andrea Fraser, Reporting from Sao Paulo, I’m from the United States, 1998. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nagel Draxler.
PUNK. ITS TRACES IN CONTEMPORARY ART
Press conference: 11 May, 11.30 am
Opening: 12 May, 7.30 pm
Dates: 13 May – 25 September 2016
Curated by: David G. Torres
Jimmie Durham. Self‐portrait with bLack eye and bruises (Autorretrato con el ojo morado y contusiones), 2006. Cortesia Fundación ARCO
MACBA presents this coproduction between CA2M, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo de la Comunidad de Madrid, and ARTIUM, Centro Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, Vitoria, curated by David G. Torres. Featuring over fifty artists, both national and international, the exhibition traces a journey through the influence of punk in contemporary art and echoes the importance of its presence as an attitude and as a referent for many creators. It includes installations, documentary excerpts, multiples, photographs, videos and paintings, together with a section documenting the origins of punk and its vestiges in the present day.
Some of the themes addressed include noise, denial, violence, nihilism and sexuality. Dissatisfaction, nonconformity, the loss of faith in progress and a fierce criticism of the icons of the economic and social system appear in the work of these creators.
Punk was born in London and New York between 1976 and 1978 as an explosion of discontent and dissatisfaction towards a situation without a future, which immediately caught on and spread geographically. A rage that still resonates today. The journalist and music critic Greil Marcus outlined this for the first time in 1989, in Lipstick Traces. A Secret History of the Twentieth Century, a journey through the history of the antecedents of the movement, going back to Dada and Situationism. The exhibition draws on this book and performs the same exercise in reverse: a prospective exercise that looks for vestiges of punk in the artists of today.
In this exhibition, punk appears as an explicit reference in many artists; in the use of elements such as noise, cut‐out typography, anti‐design and the aesthetics of the ugly; or in the inclusion of explicit references to musical bands. But it also shows traces of punk as an attitude: denial, opposition and destruction; the do it yourself; the reference to fear and horror in a society that alienates individuals; the same alienation that provokes psychotic states; the fondness for anything outside the norm; nihilism; criticism of the economic system and anarchy; or the demand for sexual freedom itself, the body as a place of battle.
The participating artists include: Carlos Aires, Martin Arnold, Fabienne Audéoud, Jean‐Michel Basquiat, Chris Burden, Tony Cokes, Jordi Colomer, Brice Dellsperger, DETEXT, Christoph Draeger, Jimmie Durham, Tracey Emin, Mario Espliego, T.R. Uthco and Ant Farm: Doug Hall, Chip Lord, Doug Michels and Jody Procter, Hans‐Peter Feldmann, Claire Fontaine, Chiara Fumai, Iñaki Garmendia, Kendell Geers, Gelitin, Nan Goldin, Douglas Gordon, Dan Graham, Eulàlia Grau, Johan Grimonprez, Guerrilla Girls, Antoni Hervàs, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, João Louro, Christian Marclay, Raisa Maudit, Paul McCarthy, Jonathan Meese, Jordi Mitjà, Joan Morey, Matt Mullican, Janis E. Müller, Itziar Okariz, João Onofre, Antonio Ortega, Tony Oursler, Laurent P. Berger, Mabel Palacín, Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa, Raymond Pettibon, Maria Pratts, Tere Recarens, Jamie Reid, Tim Reinecke, Aida Ruilova, Pepo Salazar, Santiago Sierra, Federico Solmi, Natascha Stellmach, TRES, Gavin Turk and Valie Export.
MACBA COLLECTION
Opening: June 2016
Dates: June 2016 – April 2017
Curated by: Ferran Barenblit and Antònia Maria Perelló
A museum’s collection is not only one of its areas of work, but something by which it defines its traits and characteristics and which gives the museum its unique personality. The collection, which should be closely linked to the exhibitions and public programmes of the institution, is constructed as a network, sensitively questioning the inflexions of the world to which it belongs.
There are multiple discourses included in the MACBA Collection. The Collection has been articulated as it grew, and now its 6,000 works are likely to raise and configure different discourses. The next showing will present some of these narratives, which the new direction of the Museum has adopted and will continue to develop, albeit in a non‐exclusive manner. The exhibition will be presented on the first floor of the Meier Building and will include some works that have not previously been shown, such as the magnificent installation Entrevendo by Cildo Meireles
At a time when the Museum is in the process of redefining the years to come, this presentation of the Collection proposes a reflection on some of our future lines of inquiry. Looking upon art as a search for a non‐hegemonic narrative, one that has been written from positions traditionally excluded from art’s centres of power, will remain a priority. Equally, we will continue to consider the very important question of the role of images and how, over the last few decades, art has changed its position in response to the rapid development of the media and technological advancement.
Furthermore, the presentation of the Collection reclaims the importance of the experience of the viewer, that wealth of people’s feelings and thoughts derived from their extensive individual and collective conditions. In line with other proposals for this season, we will explore the rich points of contact between the popular culture of today and the visual arts: we will look at how art has fed off other movements, more or less underground, that have emerged in major global metropolises such as Barcelona. Above all, we will continue doing what the Museum has
done since its inception: that is, to consider art as a form of political thought, especially at the point of transition between the great modern projects and our contemporary reality. What dreams, hopes and desires have been lost in this transition? What new ones have emerged and how can we continue to generate them in order to create a better world?
AKRAM ZAATARI
AGAINST PHOTOGRAPHY. AN ANNOTATED HISTORY OF THE ARAB
IMAGE FOUNDATION
Press conference: 21 September, 11.30 am
Opening: 22 September, 8 pm
Exhibition organised by the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona
(MACBA) and co‐produced with Garage Museum of Contemporary Art,
Moscow
Dates: MACBA, 23 September 2016 – March 2017 / GARAGE, starting
June 2017
Curated by: Bartomeu Marí and Hiuwai Chu
Akram Zaatari, Still from On People, Photography and Modern Times, 2010. Courtesy of the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery.
The archives of the Arab Image Foundation (AIF) in Beirut, Lebanon,
encompass a plethora of photographic material from the Middle East,
North Africa and the Arab Diaspora. Initiated and developed by artists
interested in photographic preservation, the AIF emerged as a place
dedicated to the understanding of photography and the practices of
collecting, preserving and sharing images. The AIF’s initial collection was
a result of research generated by artists’ projects, leading to a new type
of institution and a different approach to photographic heritage. The
archive has since grown to include a vast array of other collections,
ranging from vernacular snapshots to formalised studio compositions.
Beyond showcasing a wide spectrum of visual representations of the
Arab world, artists who constituted or used AIF’s collection addressed
radical questions about photographic documents and their function in
our times. Projects engaged the writing of histories concerning the
practice of ordinary people, small events and society in general,
resulting in new discourses related to the medium.
Far from presenting a historical account of the AIF, this exhibition
presents an artist’s perspective, which is critical for understanding the
organisation’s practice. Through Akram Zaatari, one of AIF’s founding
members who played a key role in its development, the exhibition
reflects on AIF’s 20‐year history and the multiple statuses of the
photograph, as descriptive document, as object, as material value, as
aesthetics and as memory. Zaatari’s expansive work on photography and
the practice of collecting, takes an archaeological approach to the
medium, digging into the past, resurfacing with new narratives and
resituating them in the contemporary.
The exhibition will look at the dual status of the AIF itself, as an archive
of photographic and collecting practices and as an artist‐led initiative
that left a visible mark on the artistic landscape of its times, signalling
significant moments in its history and the critical debates generated
throughout its evolution. Past projects and new productions related to
the collection will be presented.
Akram Zaatari, Installation view of On People, Photography and Modern Times, 2010. Photo: Thierry Bal. Courtesy of the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery
MIRALDA.MADEINUSA
Press conference: 19 October, 11.30 h
Opening: 20 October, 7.30 pm
Dates: 21 October 2016 – March 2017
Curated by: Vicent Todolí
Miralda, Wheat & Steak – Parade, Kansas City, 1981 ©fotogràfic: D. White
With a career spanning five decades, Antoni Miralda (Terrassa, Spain, 1942) has turned something as universal as food into a creative universe. Having moved to Paris in 1962, Miralda pioneered a type of artistic practice that centred on the collective rituals that celebrate the ceremonial act of eating by using colour and its symbolism. The critic Pierre Restany valued his individual work, as well as his collaborations with artists such as Daniel Spoerri, Joan Rabascall, Dorothée Selz and Jaume Xifra. In 1972 Miralda moved to New York where he initiated a series of participative projects based on the fusion of cultures and their popular manifestations. As Umberto Eco wrote in 1985: ‘Miralda wanders the world recreating the old ritual of celebration.’
Miralda has developed a method based on participation and on the ritual and ceremony related to gastronomy. Employing a non‐conformist language, baroque and full of humour, that celebrates the senses and brings art close to life; he undertakes an ethnological exploration of human behaviour in his work.
The exhibition Miralda. MADEINUSA brings together all the projects of the artist linked to the United States. Curated by Vicent Todolí and produced by MACBA, the exhibition will run from 21 October 2016 to April 2017 in Barcelona. In close collaboration with the artist and his archive, it will document for the first time and in a comprehensive manner the fourteen projects made by Miralda in the United States from the mid‐seventies to the late nineties. The most significant installations will be reconstructed showing sculptures, drawings, photographs, visual recordings, sketches and other material. This will highlight the complexity of his projects and the collective nature of the artist’s methodology.
Among the most representative works are Breadline (1977), a monumental line of bread presented at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Wheat & Steak (1981), a food parade along the streets of Kansas City, an exhibition at the Nelson‐Atkins Museum and a special event at the Board of Trade of this city; El Internacional Tapas Bar & Restaurant (1984–86), a social and artistic experiment made with the restauranteur Montse Guillén in New York’s TriBeCa; and Honeymoon Project (1986–92), a symbolic wedding between the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Columbus Monument in Barcelona, performed in several locations. The exhibition will also include the large installation belonging to the MACBA Collection, Santa Comida (Holy Food), 1984–89, based on the legacy of Afro‐Caribbean culture in America today.
Miralda.Honeymoon(WeddingCeremony),LasVegas,1992©fotogràfic:J.Ollé
THE EIGHTIES. WHAT WAS HIDDEN BY EUPHORIA [working title]
Press Conference: 2 November, 11.30 am
Opening: 3 November, 7.30 pm
Dates: 4 November 2016 – February 2017
Curated by: Teresa Grandas
On 22 August 1979, the editorial in the newspaper El Pais entitled ‘Reform, break up and symbols’ reflected on the years following the dictatorship and the ‘peaceful and gradual’ transition to a parliamentary monarchy led by ‘politicians and professionals from the previous regime, who had acquired their skills and capabilities by being pragmatic and serving a power that had systematically denied, in theory and in practice, the rights and freedoms of constitutional democracy’. We have paid a high ‘moral and pecuniary’ price for this process, since the institutional framework on which it was built can still be felt today, and it is still difficult, not to say annoying in some circles, to reclaim the right to the historic memory or to talk about the problems and the cost to the country of this transition.
The official account of the eighties advocated installing a democracy that prioritised necessity over reason and looked toward the future to the detriment of analysing the recent past. The official construction of the country rejected all critical considerations on any affiliation to the Franco regime, and was based on the principles of forgetting. Political parties used culture as a form of mediation of great potential. Culture was seen as celebratory and festive, as exemplified by the movida in Madrid and Galicia, and was orchestrated as such to project the image of a country with an active, dynamic and fashion‐conscious youth; a country that had overcome its grey past and looked to the future with creative ideas and an apparent drive for renewal. This official narrative resembled a media circus. A country that had in the past suffered a dearth of cultural institutions promoting art and contemporary creation was now hell‐bent on filling the gap with grants for artists, spaces for emergent art, mammoth institutions such as the MNCARS, the ARCO art fair and all types of events. In Barcelona a huge urban transformation got underway with the proclamation of the 1992 Olympic Games, and the idea of creating a contemporary art museum took flight thanks to a
Consortium formed by the Ajuntament (City Council), the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan government) and the MACBA Foundation.
Focusing on the period 1977–1992, the exhibition reflects on a series of historical events of a socio‐political nature. It features the work of groups, cultural activists and artists who went against the grain by embodying attitudes that, ten years earlier, had been symbols of refutation, irony and political dissent. While in the seventies underground art was shrouded in secrecy and thwarted by censorship, in the eighties it argued for a critical reformulation of cultural practices. Through publications, magazines, comics and anti‐artistic exercises, they added a sour note to the democratic regeneration of the country by questioning the political parties’ desire to ‘turn a new page’ and forget the years of dictatorship, without a due process of political accountability and an analysis of the social consequences.
The collective Vídeo‐Nou (1977–83) is an ideal point of departure for this type of reflection. On the one hand, it articulated new collective social forms; on the other, it ceased to be a counter‐informative instrument with the creation of democratic social structures that took over this role and shifted the balance of power toward centrality. Precisely the reverse of the process we are experiencing today.
MACBA IN THE WORLD:
CO‐PRODUCTIONS & TOURING EXHIBITIONS 2016
One of the distinguishing features of MACBA is that it produces almost all of its exhibitions and programmes in collaboration with a wide network of museums and art centres, universities and international research centres, mainly in Europe and North and South America.
Since its opening, MACBA’s collaborations with other museums and art centres have been increasing. It currently has more than 100 co‐productions and touring shows, made with about 80 institutions around the world.
TOURING EXHIBITIONS
The Passion According to Carol Rama
EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo. Finland
14 October 2015 – 10 January 2016
IMMA, Museum of Modern Art Ireland, Dublin
24 March – 1 August 2016
GAM, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino
12 October 2016 – 5 February 2017
Die Bestie ist der Souverän
Württembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) Stuttgart
16 October 2015 – 17 January 2016
Xavier Ribas. Nitrat
Museo Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona
29 October 2015 – 6 March 2016
Past Disquiet. Narratives and Ghosts from the International Art Exhibition for Palestine, 1978 Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin 19 March – 9 May 2016
Andrea Fraser. L’1% c’est moi
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City
8 October 2016 – March 2017
MACBA takes its public and educational programmes as an opportunity to challenge some conventional divisions in society: those who know against those who do not know; the normal in friction with the exceptional; high and low culture. Above all, we believe it false and outdated to differentiate between ‘specialists’ and the ‘general public’, and would rather approach this from the broad horizon generated by art. These programmes have a collective and experiential basis, and, thanks to their immediacy and greater tolerance for experimentation than that of other formats – like the exhibition –, they help to establish new relationships between the Museum, the social fabric in which it is inserted and that which the institution creates. It is our conviction that the ‘producers’, the ‘transmitters’ and the ‘receivers’ are not separate groups, and that the Museum is an extraordinary platform from which this can be put into practice.
Our aim is that from the specialist to the first‐time visitor, from the student to the professional, whether alone or accompanied by family or friends, during the week or weekend, with half an hour or a whole afternoon to spare, they may all discover a museum that meets all their expectations. Therefore, our different public and educational programmes should be capable of considering this variety of audiences. To the multiplicity of guided visits already on offer, we have added for the fourth consecutive year the programme Experience MACBA, a different way to enjoy the experience of the Museum every Saturday evening; visits followed by a chat over coffee; as well as the more specialised formats of lectures, seminars and workshops.
As for the Educational Programmes aimed at schools, we continue investing in teacher training courses taught not only at MACBA, but throughout Catalonia in collaboration with the Department of Education and the Network of Visual Arts. We now offer workshops with artists as a new feature. We insist on the idea of promoting training in and facilitating access to contemporary art at all levels of education. Thus, the range of courses and workshops is addressed to teachers in both primary and secondary/high school education. In addition, in 2016 we intend to make an attractive offer to those in higher education, opening our galleries and public programmes to university students, and doing joint projects between the Museum and universities.
As for the school programmes, the permanence of the MACBA Collection throughout the academic year allows us to continue expanding projects such as The Right Hemisphere, which this year will be structured through its third capsule. This proposal for secondary schools, following on from the successful practice in recent years of the Expressart programme, entails initial work in the classroom prior to a visit to the Museum. 2015–16 also saw the presentation of the new project Dissident Actions
and Theatricalities, without forgetting the improvement and expansion of educational initiatives for the whole of the education community, such as the project Video MACBA. An Analysis of the Audiovisual Image; Hybridisations: Art and Architecture; The Secrets of Conservation and Restoration in Contemporary Art; and the Performative Visits. Our aim is to reach out to schools not only in Barcelona and its surroundings, but throughout Catalonia.
The MACBA for Families programme, now in its fifth year, has become a favourite place for quality family entertainment, and we have expanded our range of family workshops to also cover the Christmas, Easter and summer holidays. In other words, the programme opens when schools are closed, so that on weekends and during school holidays we have something for the family. MACBA for Families is a laboratory for building new audiences and, therefore, remains at accessible prices. Workshops change every six weeks, offering a varied programme for families who are interested in our proposals. For the first time, this year we are diversifying by offering workshops for families with young children (1–5 years) and others for older ones (6–12 years). This programme is completed with the participation of the Museum in some of the city’s festivities, such as the Mercè, the Day of Santa Eulàlia and Món Llibre (Book World), a literature festival addressed to children.
2015 was the year of consolidation of Habitació 1418, a meeting place offering activities for creative young people from 14 to 18 years. This is an inter‐institutional programme (in collaboration with CCCB) that we wish to maintain and develop during 2016. Habitació 1418 presents an ongoing programme of activities that allow free use of the resources suggested by the CCCB and MACBA. The programme aims to draw young people from the metropolitan area and help them develop a special bond with the Raval.
If MACBA wants to be a Museum for the public at large, above all it should be accessible. Therefore, during 2016 we will be consolidating and extending all accessibility programmes such as visits for people with visual impairment, guided tours with sign language, incorporating resources to the exhibition of the Collection, such as labels in Braille, tactile prints, reproductions of works and adaptation of vitrines to the height of people in wheelchairs to enhance the museum experience for all people in an inclusive way.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Opening hours
MUSEUM — Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, from 11 am to 7.30 pm Tuesday closed (except public holidays) Saturday, from 10 am to 9 pm Sunday and public holidays, from 10 am to 3 pm Friday 12 February, from 10 am to 7.30 pm Last tickets are sold 30 minutes before closing. LIBRARY — Monday to Thursday, from 10 am to 7 pm Public holidays, closed. ARCHIVE, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS ROOM — Monday to Thursday, from 10 am to 2.30 pm Public holidays, closed.
Admission fees
ENTRY TICKET: 10 € Admission is valid for one month. Included in the admission price is access to all exhibitions and the Experience MACBA. REDUCED ADMISSION PRICE (requires proof of entitlement) Students, tourists over 65s, journalists, teachers (excluding those holding the official card of local government), Carnet Jove, Barcelona Public Library Network card, Gestor Cultural APGCC, Club TR3SC, Tourist Bus, Barcelona City Tour and groups over 15 people, as well as to members of groups to which free admission has been agreed. PASSI (PASS): 15 € Unlimited entry to MACBA for one year. Included in the admission price is access to all exhibitions and activities in the galleries included in the price. It is available, for your own use or as a gift, directly from the Museum ticket desk. Upon exiting the Museum, you can exchange your general admission for an annual passi (pass) by paying the difference. FREE ADMISSION (requires proof of entitlement):
Friends of MACBA, Passi (Pass), children under 14, tarjeta rosa, over 65s residents in Barcelona, unemployed, teachers (Generalitat teachers card holders), journalists*, members of the AAVC, ICOM, AICA, ACCA, Amics dels Museus de Catalunya and official tour guides. Free admission is also available to Spanish students studying Geography and History, Fine Arts and Art History, as well as to members of groups to which free admission has been agreed.
MACBA Store Laie
Located in the Meier building, the MACBA store and bookshop specialising in contemporary art offers over 4,000 titles, including books, magazines and exhibition catalogues. The stock is in ongoing dialogue with the exhibitions, collections and activities organised at the Museum, which reflect the diversity and complexity of contemporary art and culture. Also noticeable is the presence of MACBA’s publications, which are available from the shop, online from the Laie webpage or from our Publications Department, where there is a detailed file for every book. MACBA Store Laie also offers a careful selection of design objects inspired by works and artists from the MACBA Collection, as well as gift items and unique pieces created by designers linked to the Raval area, selected on the basis of three key aspects of artistic work: ethics, design/craftsmanship and creativity.
Transports
METRO – L1, L2 (Universitat) and L3 (Catalunya or Liceu) BUS – Lines 7, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 24, 37, 41, 42, 50, 54, 55, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 91, 120, 121, 141, H12, Aerobús BICING – Station 059, Plaça dels Àngels FGC – All lines (Catalunya) RENFE (TRAIN) – Plaça Catalunya CAR – Parking at Plaça dels Àngels