The Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, and the former director of the Reina Sofía Museum, Manuel Borja-Villel, met today at ARCO. It was the first public meeting after the departure of the second from the art gallery on January 19, reports Ep. «It has been a fantastic meeting. I am a devoto admirer of Borja-Villel, which has made the Reina Sofía a reference center for contemporary art”, explained the minister. We hadn’t seen each other for days and I was delighted to find him here, where else, at ARCO. We have talked about art and Borja-Villel has explained to me that he has found a Turkish painter that he did not know ».
Three days ago, Iceta guaranteed “143 percent” that the election of the new management of the Reina Sofía Museum will be impartial and independent. «We have some bases of this contest that have been published and that curiously I have not read any objections“, he said about it. “We have formed an international committee of experts precisely so that the proposals that arise are independent.” The final decision rests with the minister.
Cabello/Jailer. ‘A voice for Erauso. Epilogue for a trans time’ (2021-2022). Double projection installation
On the other hand, Iceta has referred to the criticism of the Ministry by the association of Women in the Visual Arts in response to the latest acquisitions of his department -allocating only, according to this association, 7% to works by women artists and the rest to works by men-. «I missed a lotbecause last year half of the works acquired by the ministry in ARCO were made by women and this year, who already know that the minister does not decide but a commission, they have told me that it will be a higher percentage than last year past, which was half and half,” Iceta explained. Regarding the lack of initiatives in ARCO in terms of parity, she has highlighted that women «still find too many obstacles so that their works are known and valued. Not only in this fair, but in general, even in the cinema, although we are in a moment of effervescence and hatching of female talent».
Museum purchases at the fair
Hours later, after the meeting of the permanent commission of the Reina Sofía Board of Trusteesthe museum made public the purchases in ARCO: the acquisition of 26 works, by 18 artists, for about 400,000 euros, contributed by the Ministry of Culture. The works belong to Cecilia Bengolea, Gabriela Bettini, Hair / Prisoner, Lucia C. Pino, Diego Del Pozo, Ana Esteve Reig, Anaïs Florin, Marisa Gonzalez, Ana Jotta, Lea Lublin, Carlos Martinez, Asunción Fat Mills, Jaume Sans, Pink Torres, Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Damian Ucieda and Javier Utray.
The works, which cover different artistic disciplines (installation, video, painting, photography, collage…), will become part of the Museum Collection and belong to different generations of artists: historical, such as Torres-García; creators with consolidated careers such as Marisa González or Rosa Torres; and younger artists, from whom works carried out in the last three years have been acquired.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, at the ARCO ABC Cultural stand
In addition, during Friday, the leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, visited the ABC Cultural stand at ARCO to discover the news that this newspaper has prepared for the 2023 edition by Javier Díaz Guardiola.