Two students of the MUN's Master in Curatorial Studies will curate the exhibition 'Function and Fiction' at Cuatrecasas, with pieces from the Bergé Collection.

A reflection on the role of art and fiction in working life and vice versa. This is the idea that runs through Function and Fiction. Forms of Encounter with the works of the Bergé Collectionthe exhibition proposal that opened last Thursday in the hall of the Cuatrecasas law firm in Madrid. Curated by Santiago Avila and Celeste Garduño, students of the IV promotion of the Master in Curatorial Studies at Museo Universidad de Navarra, the project was selected among those submitted to the competition by the students, who worked with works from the Bergé Collection. 

At the opening, the curators met with the public and were accompanied by Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, partner at Cuatrecasas; Pedro Enciso, vice-president of Bergé y Cía; Nieves Acedo, director of the postgraduate program; and María Aguilera, curator of the Bergé Collection, who remembered Jorge Badía, CEO of Cuatrecasas, who passed away last July.

Through nine pieces of contemporary art from the Bergé Collection, the curators have populated a space socially conceived as aseptic and businesslike to invite us to think about the human and functional relationship we have with spaces and objects of everyday use, and to give them a new meaning. Specifically, works by Andy Warhol, Nina Saunders, Richard Wilson, Caroline McCarthy, M+M, Chila Kumari Burman, Marijke van Warmerdam and Patrick Vanden Eynde will be exhibited. One of the pieces will be chosen by the office's own workers and visitors through a vote promoted by the curators.

As the curator Santiago Avila explained, "the proposal is based on two reflections: the function that everyday objects can have in an office and to think about spaces that are completely opposite to the office: universes that we can create, colors, contrasts..., but not only aesthetically, but also how other types of worlds can be fictionalized".

In this sense, his partner Celeste Garduño points out that they not only thought "about the conceptual part, but also about how these works could speak from these concepts and from the space they were in. It was very important for us how to relate to the works and to this space from function and fiction". Likewise, the curators stressed that this has been "a collaborative curatorial work" and that they conceive "curatorship from other points of view, not only from the prototypical, but as something much more free and horizontal".

In her speech, Saénz de Santamaría pointed out that "a good lawyer has to think outside the box, to have imagination, and this project will increase our productivity and our creativity". He said that the proposal "is a gift" because "it seeks a way to make art part of our daily lives and our work. For his part, Enciso underscored the capacity of this curatorial work "to go beyond the dialogue of the works among themselves, which is evident in this type of collections and the dialogue between the artist and the spectator. Putting oneself in the shoes of a collective that is going to coexist during these months with the selected works is not an easy task. It's a big job.

Acedo pointed out that "within the profession of exhibition curator, a very interesting field of action is working with collections and also experiences that go beyond the usual circuits and introduce art into people's daily lives. This is an exemplary case and an opportunity to consider how to do it".

Cuatrecasas, the Bergé Collection and Museo Universidad de Navarra share the objective of incorporating art into daily, business and professional life, since art contributes to the development of critical capacity and, through creativity, helps us to reflect on the reality around us, while enriching individual skills and those of the society it serves. 

The jury of the competition in which the project was selected -formed byJorge Badía Carro; Alicia Alcocer Koplowitz, collector; Ángel J. Gómez Montoro, president of the Board of Trustees of Museo Universidad de Navarra; Nieves Acedo del Barrio, director of the Master in Curatorial Studies; Pedro Enciso Bergé, vice president of Bergé y cía; and María Aguilera Aranaz, curator of the Bergé Collection - highlighted the high quality of the proposals received, among which this one was selected "for its clarity in the exposition of the concepts, its sharpness in understanding for the public and the humor in the selection of the pieces in keeping with the project".