Graduates of the Master's Degree in Curatorial Studies at Museo Universidad de Navarra select the works from the ARCO Foundation Collection to be exhibited at ARCOmadrid 2025.
The curators will carry out this curatorial project with the supervision of a team from the CA2M, which currently houses the Collection. The Sala Consejo, by architect Pedro Pitarch, will host this selection of works during the fair, which will take place at IFEMA MADRID from March 5 to 9.
FotoManuelCastells/ Museo Universidad de Navarra./Students of the VII promotion of the Master in Curatorial Studies at the MUN with Maribel López, director of the ARCO Foundation; the directors of the curators' TFM, María Aguilera and Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro (artistic director of the MUN); and the coordinator and director of the Master, María Ozcoidi and Nieves Acedo.
Four graduates of the VII promotion of the Master's Degree in Curatorial Studies from Museo Universidad de Navarra have been invited to curate the selection and arrangement of works from the ARCO Foundation Collection, which will be exhibited at ARCOmadrid's Sala Consejo from March 5 to 9. A team from CA2M (Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo), led by its director, Tania Pardo, collaborates with the curators in this project, which will be presented in a space designed by architect Pedro Pitarch.
This curatorial work has been commissioned to students whose Master's Thesis (TFM) was selected among those of their class last year. Under the title "Dear viewer, what are you looking at?", this exhibition project will soon be on display at the MUN, and includes 35 works from the ARCO Foundation Collection, which since 1987 brings together productions by renowned artists from the national and international scene, including works by Jon Mikel Euba, Sigmar Polke, Eva Fábregas, Teresa Solar Abboud, Anish Kapoor, Thomas Schutte, Teresa Margolles, Mario Merz, Elena Asins, Boltanski or Jorge Macchi. In the proposal contained in their TFM, they invite each visitor to be the protagonist of the tour and to reflect on their way of looking, adopting possible ways of linking with the works.
The opportunity to carry out this project arises from the very nature of the ARCO Foundation. As its director, Maribel Lopez, says, one of the Foundation's missions is "to offer opportunities, tools and visibility to the new generations of curators. That's why they have put their Collection at the disposal of the project of the graduates of the Master's program at Museo Universidad de Navarra, thus reaffirming their commitment "with the promotion of young people". "Supporting the new voices of contemporary art is a responsibility we assume as a fair," he adds.
The curators -FlorenciaBaliña, Andres Ruiz, Aroa Urteaga and Andrea Vargas- propose an exhibition that focuses on the figure of the contemporary art spectator and wonders what ways of looking are activated in contact with each work. Their starting premise is that the act of looking is in itself a form of action, since the one who observes also "does": selects, compares and interprets.
It is a privilege to approach a collection of this relevance, with works that we find so stimulating," says Florencia Baliña, a member of the curatorial team. - It is also an opportunity to share our view of the ARCO Collection with other interlocutors". She explains that, in their work process, the team is giving a central role to the reflection on who each piece is addressed to, and who is the addressee that is visualized when thinking about an exhibition; on this occasion, specifically, the professionals of the art world who will attend the ARCOmadrid fair.
ARCOmadrid's Sala Consejo is a meeting place for patrons, collectors and national and international cultural agents. This space will host, among others, the Annual Luncheon of the International Council or private meetings with directors of museum institutions.