Talking Galleries

MACBA to hold the first edition of Talking Galleries. The 1st International Meeting of Gallery Directors brings together 25 leading figures on the worldwide contemporary art scene in Barcelona. The MACBA Auditorium will be the venue for Talking Galleries, the 1st International Meeting of Gallery Directors, which will take place in Barcelona on 19, 20 and 21 September 2011.

Organised by La Fabrica Barcelona and designed by Llucià Homs, Talking Galleries will welcome some of the top international gallery directors, as well as curators, collectors, art critics, art centre directors and other key figures in the industry to debate and explore current issues on the international gallery scene.

Each and every one of the 25 speakers from 11 countries has been chosen for their extensive experience in the industry and, more specifically, for their knowledge and expertise in the fields covered by the discussion panels to be held over the three days of debate:

Panel A: Gallery directors’ new role in the art market

• Casey Kaplan, Casey Kaplan Gallery (New York)
• Claes Nordenhake, Galerie Nordenhake (Berlin, Stockholm)
• Emilio Álvarez, Galería Àngels Barcelona and Co-director of Loop (Barcelona)

• Moderated by Ann Demeester, Director, De Appel Arts Centre (Amsterdam)

Panel B: The gallery industry and the economic downturn

• Georgina Adam, Journalist at the Financial Times (London)
• Robert Tornabell, Professor of International Banking and Finance at ESADE (Barcelona)
• Soledad Lorenzo, Galería Soledad Lorenzo (Madrid)

• Moderated by Carlos Urroz, Director, ARCOmadrid (Madrid)
  

Panel C: The future of art fairs

• Victor Gisler, Mai 36 Galerie (Zurich)
• Noah Horowitz, Director, VIP Art Fair (New York)
• Pierre Huber, Galerie Art & Public (Geneva)

• Moderated by Carles Guerra, Chief Curator, MACBA (Barcelona)

Panel D: Gallery directors as collectors

• Helga de Alvear, Fundación Helga de Alvear (Cáceres)
• Boris Vervoordt, Galerie Axel Vervoordt (Antwerp)
• Paul Maenz, Galerie Paul Maenz (Berlin)
• Luise Faurschou, Faurschou Foundation (Copenhagen, Beijing)

• Moderated by Estrella de Diego, Curator and Professor of Contemporary Art History (Madrid)

Panel E: Boosting a gallery’s international scope

• Janelle Reiring, Metro Pictures Gallery (New York)
• Gregor Podnar, Galerie Gregor Podnar (Ljubljana, Berlin)
• Silvia Dauder, Galería ProjecteSD (Barcelona)

• Moderated by Guillermo Romero Parra, Galería Parra & Romero (Madrid)

Panel F: Analysis of emerging markets: Focus on Brazil

• Eduardo Brandão, Galeria Vermelho (São Paulo)
• Ricardo Resende, Director, Centro Cultural de São Paulo (São Paulo)

• Moderated by Carlos Durán, Galería Senda and Codirector of Loop (Barcelona)

The opening session will also be attended by Ferran Mascarell, Catalan Minister of Culture; Fèlix Riera, Director of the Catalan Institute for Cultural Industries (ICIC); Jaume Ciurana, Deputy Mayor for Culture, Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation at Barcelona City Council; Bartomeu Marí, Director of the MACBA; Alberto Fesser, member and Director of Projects at La Fabrica; and Llucià Homs, the driving force behind the Talking Galleries project.

Photo: © Jonathan Monk. Waiting for famous people (Leo Castelli), 1997. Courtesy of the artist and the Nicolai Wallner Gallery, Copenhague

Long loan makes Barcelona a Matta-Clark centre

BARCELONA. The collector Harold Berg has agreed to lend “indefinitely” a cache of photographs, taken by US artist Gordon Matta-Clark in the 1970s, to the Museu d’Art Contermporani Barcelona (Macba).

The loan consists of 46 images documenting Matta-Clark’s the famous “building cuts”, including Splitting, 1974 (above). The photographs, formerly known as the Bex archive, were acquired by Berg from Florent Bex, the director of the International Cultureel Centrum in Antwerp.

The collection joins the 17 Matta-Clark works Macba already owns (13 videos, two photographs and two photocollages). Thus means the museum now holds one of the largest Matta-Clark collections in Europe, along with the Generali Foundation in Vienna, the Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Reina Sofía in Madrid. An exhibition of Matta-Clark’s works, including those loaned by Berg, is due to open at Macba at the end of 2012.

Meanwhile, the Barcelona museum is currently negotiating the acquisition of 7,000 volumes from the late Catalan poet Joan Brossa’s library. Macba is in discussion with the Fundació Brossa and the city of Barcelona over the possible acquisition, which also includes 40,000 items, including letters, object poems, visual poems and installations.

The Fundación Brossa has been forced to sell the volumes and archive of the poet’s work owing to the harsh financial climate. One of the foundation great endeavours has always been that Brossa‘s work should not be dispersed.

Earlier this year, Macba accepted a loan of 80,000 photographs, taken by Xavier Miserachs, between 1954 and 1998, for a renewable 25 years period. Other recent loans include 800 pieces by the English-American collective, Art & Language, loaned by the French art collector Philippe Méaille for a period of five years (The Art Newspaper, May, p.20).

Published at Museums (20), The Art Newspaper - International edition Vol. XX No. 226, July/August 2011

Barcelona gains Art & Language collection

The French art collector Philippe Méaille has lent the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Macba) a substantial group of 800 pieces by the English-American collective, Art & Language, for a period of five years. “The deposit of the collection of works by Art & Language is a major qualitative and quantitative leap for the museum”, said Bartomeu Marí, the museum’s director.

Méaille has been buying the collective's work for 15 years, and displaying them at his home, the Château de la Bainerie in the French Loire region. He started to collect when he was a 21-years-old student (he is now 36). The collection includes the most representative pieces made by the conceptual group including documents, texts, magazines and books as well as more conventional works of art.

Méaille was advised by collective members Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden. The French collector's holding include pieces from the group's inception, in the late 1960s, including 100% Abstract, 1968, to Flags for an Organisation, 1978, and more recent works, such as Tell Me, Have You Ever Seen Me?, 2003. The collective has included, at various times, the American conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth and the Oscar winning film director Kathryn Bigelow.

“This is an unique archive”, said Marí, "and this loan has made [Macba] the international museum with the largest number of works by the collective."

The Macba study centre will make accompanying documentation available to researchers, with a major exhibitions planned for 2014, curated by Art & Language expert Carles Guerra.

Published at Museums (20), The Art Newspaper - International edition Vol. XX No. 224, May 2011