Miguel López-Remiro, until now deputy director of Curatorial and Documentation at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, has been appointed director of the contemporary art museum of the University of Navarra. López-Remiro, born in Pamplona in 1977, holds a degree in Economics and a PhD in Philosophy and Letters, and will take up his new post on July 1.

The University of Navarra Museum project was born in 2008 with the donation of the contemporary art collection of María Josefa Huarte Beaumont. In addition to this collection, consisting of fifty works by artists such as Oteiza, Tápies, Palazuelo, Picasso and Rothko, it will house the Photographic Fund of the University of Navarra, created with the José Ortiz Echagüe bequest and now one of the most important in Spain.

The new museum, which will be directed by Miguel López-Remiro, will promote research and serve as a platform for disseminating knowledge of contemporary art and aesthetics, developing a program of cultural activities that will include exhibitions, performance events, research, dissemination and educational projects, and a large part of the University's cultural life, while also contributing to that of the city. The Museum, designed by architect Rafael Moneo, will be located on the University campus and its activities will be open to the city. 

Likewise, the project is part of the current impulse that the University of Navarra wishes to give to the humanities and art.

 

 

Commitment to art and a vocation to serve society

Miguel López-Remiro graduated in Economics from the University of Navarra, where he did his PhD in Philosophy and Letters, within the framework of the Félix Huarte Chair of Aesthetics and Contemporary Art. He is also editor of the first anthology of Mark Rothko's texts(Éditions Flammarion & Yale University Press), and has been a visiting professor at the University of California (San Diego). He has also given lectures and courses at various Spanish and foreign universities and institutions.

For Miguel López-Remiro, "it will be an honor to collaborate with the University of Navarra in a pioneering contemporary art museum project. An initiative with enormous potential to become a pole of attraction for artistic creativity in the region, as well as enriching university life, generating cultural activities, being a meeting place for professors, students and citizens and enhancing the cultural attractiveness of Navarre in collaboration with other museums in Navarre".

For his part, Jaime García del Barrio, general director of the Culture and Society Institute, on which the art center depends, emphasizes that "the incorporation of Miguel López-Remiro is a new step in the commitment assumed with María Josefa Huarte Beaumont, as well as in the University's commitment to contemporary art and its vocation of service to society. We have thoroughly analyzed the profile we were looking for and the various candidates, and we are very pleased that Miguel has accepted this challenge. We are sure that the museum of contemporary art will represent a new leap in quality at the University and in Navarra".