Manuel Segade, new director of the Reina Sofía Museum

2023-06-05 18:43:49

There was a buzz in the art world about whether Miquel Iceta Yes or yes, I would like a woman in charge of the Reina Sofía. In that case, the best placed to replace Manuel Borja-Villel seemed the Italian Cristiana Collu (Cagliari, Sardinia, 1969) and the Mexican Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy (Mexicali, 1975). The latter had in its favor being Latin American (one of the legs in Borja-Villel’s management in these 15 years at the helm of the museum, along with feminisms, decolonization and the online archive) and having curated the Phelps de Cisneros Collection (another of the candidates, Gabriel Perez-Barreiro, has also been closely linked to this collection). Collu, for his part, had in his favor a great connection with Spain. Part of her academic training was developed at the Complutense University of Madrid, she speaks perfect Spanish and she is a great admirer of art in our country. She has a Picasso exhibition scheduled these days. It seems, then, that the shadow of Borja-Villel, although it is very long, has not finally clouded the process.

Manuel Segade (La Coruña, 1977), director of the Dos de Mayo Art Center (CA2M) of Móstoles, I played at a disadvantage… in terms of gender. However, his good management at the head of the Madrid museum, his work in the CGAC, in addition to having curated the Spanish pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, had raised hopes in his closest circle. ABC published on Sunday that his candidacy was the one that had gained the most strength in recent days.

Segade has a degree in Art History from the University of Santiago de Compostela. He has served as programming coordinator for the Metronom space of the Rafael Tous d’Art Contemporani Foundation in Barcelona and as chief curator of the Galician Center for Contemporary Art (CGAC) in Santiago de Compostela. In addition, he has curated numerous exhibitions for two decades. Among them, a monograph by the Spanish Lara Almarcegui or a double exhibition by Juan Muñoz coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the birth of the great artist from Madrid.

The first was inaugurated in February in the Alcalá 31 room, which brought together the production of his last decade, the most recognized. It will close its doors on July 9. The second will open on the same day as his 70th birthday, on the 17th, at the Móstoles museum, with his first works. In 2017, Segade was the Spanish curator of the Spanish Pavilion at the 57th edition of the Venice Biennale, where he presented the work of the Catalan artist Jordi Colomer.

Only nine candidates have run for office: a huge failure

In December 2007, the first competition to direct the Reina Sofía Museum took place, following the Code of Good Practices. So, 29 applications were presented (22 from Spain, 3 from other European Union countries, 2 from the US, one from Latin America and one from Asia). The one chosen by the committee of experts was Manuel Borja-Villel, who replaced Ana Martínez de Aguilar. Fifteen years later, only nine people (five from Latin America, three Spaniards and one from Italy) have opted for the position. A failure, taking into account that it is an international competition and the main museum of contemporary Spanish art. Why so little interest? It will have influenced that, as can be deduced from the bases, a specialist in gender issues was being sought and the fact that Borja-Villel played clueless until the last moment about whether he was going to present himself or not. He didn’t help.

As teacher, has worked as a professor in university programs in South Africa and Brazil. He has published articles, essays and books, such as ‘End of the Century Narcissus’ (2008). It has several awards and mentions. Among them, some for her commitment to gender equality. precisely, the gender issues they were a matter in which much was affected in the bases of the contest.

The Minister of Culture cleared yesterday the most awaited news in a meeting of the Reina Sofía Board of Trustees, which began in the early afternoon. The ministry announced a couple of hours later that the man chosen to run the museum is Manuel Segade. He will be proposed today in Council of Ministers as the new director of the Reina Sofía.

Iceta had to designate his favorite among the shortlist chosen by a committee of experts, made up of Christophe Cherix, chief curator of Drawings and Engraving at MoMA in New York; Cuauhtémoc Medina, Mexican art historian, critic and writer; Polish Joanna Mytkowska, conservator and art critic; and the Spanish Gloria Moure, art historian, critic, curator and editor; and María Nicanor, curator of architecture, design and urbanism. They met last week at the National Auditorium, where they interviewed the five finalists in the third and final phase of the project. Segade was the candidate who has obtained the highest score in the selection process, which began on February 10, ten days later than expected. A delay that, they said, was due to “administrative procedures.”

Will you keep the museum’s permanent collection, which Borja-Villel turned around, like a glove? Will he have the team closest to him?

Borja-Villel’s contract expired on January 19. From the next day the artistic assistant director, Mabel Tapiaand the deputy managing director, Julian Gonzalez, assumed command of the museum on an interim basis. But the truth is that there has hardly been any activity at the Reina Sofía this year. Amen to the closure of many rooms, there have been no temporary exhibitions in 2023. Some have been canceled and there are only three announced on the museum’s website: ‘Angela Melitopoulos. Cine(so)matrix’ (June 14), ‘Machinations’ (June 21) and ‘Call it another way. Something Else Press, Inc.’, in September.

You mess upand has many challenges ahead: to know if he will maintain the permanent collection of the museum, which Borja-Villel turned around, like a glove; if he will have his closest team (his right hands, the heads of Collections and Exhibitions, Rosario Peiró and Teresa Velázquez, respectively, who opt to obtain a permanent position); if the Situated Museum will continue with the residents of the Lavapiés neighbourhood, relations with the Fundación de los Comunes and the Red de Conceptualismos del Sur, etc. Continuity or break? Time will tell..