The MUN opens the group exhibition “Museum of Fleeting Memories,” an exploration of the fragmented and ever-changing nature of memories
The exhibition features works by 15 national and international artists from the Generaciones Collection of the Montemadrid Foundation-La Casa Encendida, which challenge the idea of memory as a faithful and stable account of the past
It was selected from among the Master’s Theses of the eighth graduating class of the MUN Master’s Program in Curatorial Studies and is supported by the Palazuelo Foundation
02 | 09 | 2026
“We are our memory; we are that chimerical museum of ever-changing forms, that pile of broken mirrors,” Jorge Luis Borges. This was the phrase that inspired Angie Grijalva, Shalynne Ouellette, and Elena Stanley Tobin as they studied the works in the Generaciones Collection and delved deeper into the fragmented, chaotic, and ever-changing nature of memory. The result of this research is *Museum of Unstable Memories*, the group exhibition that the Museo Universidad de Navarra ( ) opened this Wednesday in the Sala Torre.
The exhibition brings together the work of 15 national and international artists who explore how memories are rewritten and reinterpreted: Santiago Giralda, Rubén Grilo, Bleda and Rosa, Carolina Belén Martínez, Mariona Moncunill, Irene de Andrés, Juanli Carrión, Perla Zuñiga, Oriol Vilanova, Jaime de la Jara Velasco, Agnes Essonti Luque, Bestué and Vives, Leonor Serrano Rivas, An Wei, and Elena García Jiménez. The exhibition has been selected from among the Master’s Theses of the 8th graduating class of the Master’s Program in Curatorial Studies at the MUN and is supported by the Palazuelo Foundation.
For the curators, the starting point was the discovery, while studying the Generaciones Collection, that many of the works were connected by themes of memory, recollections, and the spaces where these are constructed. They also note that they found it interesting to observe how these themes evolve across different generations. This research led them to draw connections to authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Mark Twain, and Vladimir Nabokov, and to delve deeper into a single idea: “memory is subjective, fragmented, and ever-changing.”
ARTISTIC DIALOGUE
The proposal offers a journey through memory, understood as a living process in constant transformation. The exhibition is organized into two main sections: “A Pile of Broken Mirror Shards,” which explores the fragmentation of memories, and “Chimerical Memories,” which focuses on the imagination’s ability to piece together those fragments and construct new narratives.
The very architecture of the Sala Torre is part of this approach. Inspired by Borgia’s image of the labyrinth, the space is conceived as a journey toward the center of the mind, where memories meet and are reorganized. “It can be accessed via different routes because our mind does not follow a single path to recall a memory, even if it is the same one,” the curators note. The transition from light colors to increasingly darker blues also accompanies this journey into the deepest layers of memory.
WORK IN THE MASTER'S PROGRAM
This project is part of the training received by students in the MUN Master’s Program in Curatorial Studies. At the end of each cohort, the graduate students present their proposals to a panel, which selects the one whose technical and artistic quality warrants an exhibition as part of the museum’s programming. The vision of these young curators, enriched by their experience in the academic program, is a good reflection of current trends in the profession.
In the curators’ own words, the graduate program has been of great help to them in undertaking this first curatorial project. “This exhibition marks the culmination of months of research, reflection, and collaborative work. We have learned about the effort and complexity involved in developing an exhibition of this caliber, working with nationally and internationally renowned artists and overcoming the challenges.” They add that the master’s program has provided them with the tools to conduct rigorous research while also approaching each situation from a creative perspective.
CO-PRODUCTION AND SUPPORT FOR EMERGING TALENT
"Museo de Memorias Inconstantes " is a co-production of theMuseo Universidad de Navarra , and Fundación Montemadrid-La Casa Encendida, resulting from the collaboration between these two institutions to support artistic creation and emerging talent.
The works included in the exhibition are part of the Generaciones Collection, an initiative of La Casa Encendida that, since 2000, has supported young artists in Spain by providing them with visibility and resources for the production and dissemination of their projects.
MUSEUM OF FLUCTUATING MEMORIES
Authors: Santiago Giralda, Rubén Grilo, Bleda and Rosa, Carolina Belén Martínez, Mariona Moncunill, Irene de Andrés, Juanli Carrión, Perla Zuñiga, Oriol Vilanova, Jaime de la Jara Velasco, Agnes Essonti Luque, Bestué and Vives, Leonor Serrano Rivas, An Wei, and Elena García Jiménez
Produced by: Museo Universidad de Navarra and Fundación Montemadrid-La Casa Encendida
In collaboration with Fundación Palazuelo
Dates: September 2 – January 24, 2026
Number of works: 15
Venue: Torre del MUN Gallery
Press site: https://museo.unav.edu/prensa/museo-de-memorias-inconstantes