Critique of the new permanent exhibition of the Queen Sofia collection: playful, melancholic and rebellious

However, the concept of “permanent collection presentation”, inherited from historical museums that dedicate most of their space to it, does not work in contemporary art museums. Volcados in the program of time exposures, despite the sedimentation of time on the one hand and in accordance with their disagreement in the face of the authoritarian concept of the canon, on the other hand are limited to show designs that last only five years in betweendepending on the duration of the load of the direction, sobre quien goes to the dispatcher.

In this case, the misconception is even greater. We face the appointment of the Minister of Culture as the current director of the Reina Sofia Museum – among many other museums and activities supported during this year – to commemorate death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and the transition and consolidation of democracy continues to this day.

Speculations concern whether Segade, for three years in circulation, began its renewal precisely with this third and last historical period of the collection, and whether this choice could be perceived with the fact that the previous one was a Trojan horse manipulated by the media to prevent – in a bad sense – continuity in the role of the director who held the position for five years, Manuel Borja-Villel added. illness and the catharsis of trauma who would expect support. Y redobla the inevitable comparative.

A hateful paragon

Let’s start with dates and numbers. To realize with architectural rigor, Segade and his team transferred this third and final period of the collection to the fourth plan of the Sabatini building, in which the second plan begins the vanguard period until the Second World War, while the transitional chapter continues in the New Building. The goal is to finally assemble a complete presentation of the collection in 2028 on the three upper floors of the Sabatini building.

The fourth floor with a “u” structure is more than three thousand square meters, which corresponds to two or three extended time exposures of the previous stage. This resizes the network to establish a relationship over the last fifty years of democracy, which, according to Segade, allows “recognizing in the present the desirable futures that are here.”

I am very excited to find the best or most prestigious pieces from the collection. It’s no extravagance when it comes to what this “presentation” is about slightly more than 400 works are essentially Spanishwhich, with many exceptions, was wrong over the years of service.

Shown with a good visual rhythm, with the power of a vision of a progressive and immeasurable Spain

Of the 224 exhibited artists (collected 26) el 77% are Spanishamong which are virtually all the recent National Prizes for Visual Art and Photography and the recent Velázquez Prizes. Additionally, 31% come from Latin America. This broadly reflects our current demographic situation.

Before the eventual de-escalation of “provincialism”, we adopt international standards in full, as we find out when traveling to neighboring countries. You also noticed it at first glance territorial department in the selection of artistsalthough here we might discover what is more than a historical awareness of autonomy.

In terms of means of expression, there are no new essentials: the shared understanding of art within visual culture is reflected in the coexistence of other fine arts: painting, sculpture, architecture and cinema, with photography, video, comics, sound art, etc., sometimes with a certain lack of 3D production.

in exchange yes, there are substantial differences that are more important than the subject’s internal dexterity. Let us tell you: if Borja-Ville’s position were historical-social-political, based on a critical theory with a Debordian derivation, twenty years younger, Manuel Segade, a mover from micropolitics, is determined from the politics of representation on the differences of poststructuralism.

This is reflected, for example, in the fact that all the political propaganda posters of Přechod, now in the Unrest exhibition, are ignored here. Libertad and democracy, through salidas de las dictaduras in Spain and Portugal, at La Casa Encendida (until March 8). And the comparative here: ya que 258 jobs (64%) will never be filled. In fact, 70 years he got the direction of Segade.

Three relationships

Exhibition that is three. The story started once more and twice more since 1975but if we start from another elevator that takes us to the fourth floor. What we encounter in the first itinerary (or the third one we embark on from the final one) are the works of feminist artists: a total of 35% are female artists, so we can experience the generous generosity of artists who work in gender perspectives. So abandoning the current issue in the current climate of polarization.

Together, shown with a good visual rhythm, with the power of a progressive and instilled vision of Spain, with international echoes. Melancholic and rebellious on the first itinerary, A history of effects in contemporary artfrom sexual liberation to the crisis of the city and heroines: Esther Ferrer, Juan Hidalgo, García-Alix, Pepe Espaliú, Cabello/Carceller, among others.

Y playful and vitalistic on the third itinerary, Institutions, the market, and the arts that relate to bothin a boring prologue with documentation that records the genealogy of this museum and ARCO, with vivid visual passages from the eyes of: Gordillo, Alcolea, Menchu​​​​​​Lamas, Patiño, Costus, Chema Cobo, Ceesepe, Ugalde, Gadea, Pérez Villalta…

Ageless

Because the more specific the proposal, the more interesting it will be, I prefer the second itineraryThe Power of Fiction: Sculpture, New Materialisms, and Relational Aesthetics: A Great Cultural Gallery. The happy coexistence of artists of different generations and trends culminated in the selection, with exceptions, of compositions from the first stages of the trajectories of such notables as Susana Solano, Cristina Iglesias, Ángeles Marco, Juan Luis Moraza, María Luisa Fernández, Txomin Badiola, Ángela Alspocos and Terasa Solar at the Venice Biennale, among many others.