More presence of Spanish artists and more openness to the public, the challenges of Manuel Segade at the head of Reina Sofia

Segade also expressed yesterday that he “respects the remaining candidates” and admitted he is proud to have been “selected” to the Dos de Mayo Art Center Museum, which I still manage: The Community of Madrid has one of the most important contemporary art museums in Móstoles. It is important in Spain, and I believe my selection once again demonstrates that it makes a fundamental contribution to contemporary culture, whether it is ostensibly small or geographically environmental”. The manager is preparing these days for the opening at CA2M on June 17th. The second of the Juan Muñoz exhibitions that he curated (the first one opened in the room Alkal 31 last February), in addition to two other exhibitions dedicated to artists Cristina Garrido and Susana Solano.

Before the new director of MNCARS, whose appointment will be confirmed by the Cabinet this Tuesday multiple challenges In the management of one of Spain’s largest cultural institutions, Whether the museum collection designed by Borja-Villel is permanent, internationalization and more Spanish artists are included in the museum or more ties to the public are developed. and region by institution. And while he has yet to reveal his future areas of work, in an interview last January with El Periódico de España of the Prensa Ibérica group about the management of Reina Sofia head Manuel Borja-Villel and about the future challenges the Institution will face, Segade has already made a statement. possibly an outline of what the roadmap is As director of the museum, which he describes as “one of the exemplary museums in the West today”.

Open the museum to other social strata

In his conversation with this newspaper, Manuel Segade stressed the enormous importance of the structure that supports, expresses and defines the activities of Reina Sofia: “It is a structured museum with a foundation behind it, its own law. It is a bit more contemporary in a way because it is one of the biggest problems we have in Spain. one,” explained the administrator, “is that the structures in general are rather poorly adapted to what a contemporary art museum needs, and I think The whole structural part is really overwhelming in MNCARS”.

Regarding the challenges Reina will have to face in the future, Manuel Segade said: There is an effort to make Reina Sofia penetrate her neighborhood and the city of Madrid in another way, but also just for tourists or other peoples who are not the usual art folks in the city, and I believe,” he noted, “there is an effort to do so. began only with the discovery of the museum, but Much more work is needed to get many more social layers to circulate in Reina Sopfía.. “I think it’s an exciting business that is just starting out, and it would be a shame if it was ignored,” he said.

More Spanish artists and permanent collections

In his speech with this newspaper, Manuel Segade underlined something, as well as influencing the importance of opening the museum to other segments of citizens. Certain sectors of contemporary art have been demanding for years: Spanish artists to have more presence in the halls of the institution.. In the interview cited, CA2M’s director at the time was determined to “preserve the museum’s status as an international heavyweight through programming, combining that perhaps with the fact that there should be more of Spanish art in the museum itself.” it’s huge because indeed MNCARS is very well positioned internationally but now it will be necessary to try that this projection is at the service of the art scene in Spain”. Segade said that while there was no criticism of the previous administration, it still believed it was a “pending issue”.

Regarding the permanent collection of Reina Sofia designed by Manuel Borja-Villel, Segade said, “There is still a lot of work to be done with the collections; The collections are already there, they exist, you just have to work with them. I think in that sense the framework has already been created, you may like this or that more but The important thing is that it’s a built collection and you can continue working from there.. But I think there’s one thing that really stands out about this museum, both nationally and internationally, and it’s that we have a better museum than the one we’ve got, the main thing is that it doesn’t get lost, and that’s why.” We are not creating that crisis because that is the only thing that hurts the institution,” he said. The director of CA2M at the time was referring to the work of Manuel Borja-Villel during his 15 years in charge of the museum and to some media discussion about the possibility of presenting his candidacy in his own term. for selection.

“We all know how difficult it is to build these institutions and put them where they are. And now that that’s over, it’s about how to protect it and, above all, how to use those abilities in other ways.with a lot of corporate imaginationThis is what is always needed and see where it will lead,” Segade said in his speech to this newspaper, where he also talked about the internationalization of Spanish artists: “When I am abroad, I realize that I am less interested in Spanish. More art than the forms of institutionalization we use in Spain. In other words, our institutions are much more radical, interesting and much more experimental than most institutions in the international contemporary art world. Our museums are highly respected on the outside, but more respected for the way they work than the artists we display. And this is different, this is a change. But of course, what we need to do now is to rotate the axis, right? We have institutions and an international perspective, but how are we going to get things moving?

Initial reactions to his appointment

Among the first reactions of the industry to the election of Reina Sofia’s new director Inma PrietoE’s four-year directorBaluard’sin Palma de Mallorca and recently Tapies Barcelona Foundation. Speaking to this newspaper, Prieto believes Segade’s election is “undoubtedly good news, because it represents not only a generational change, something obvious, but also a significant shift when it comes to understanding the institution and the discourses that these lines need to be understood.” .feed him. issues of gender and a certain decolonization of bodies will now take on another presence and also find a way of interrelating with other organizations and scenes.. I believe CA2M is a good example of this, an institution that has formed its own very clear identity from the periphery, and it has been thanks to the vision that Manuel Segade bestowed upon it”.

“Manuel Segade is bright, daring, and has clear ideas,” he tells this newspaper. Adrian Piera, head Institute of Contemporary Art (IAC)The new director of MNCARS, “predicting that, as the heir or student of Manuel Borja-Villel, his administration will maintain the positive aspects of that avant-garde museum, but that Segade is also someone with a deep knowledge of Spanish art”, and so in the previous administration the sector I think you’ll get good marks for what you missed and Here he will give more importance to art. If the museum and avant-garde exhibitions continue to internationalize while increasing the presence and exchange of Spanish artists, Reina will fill the gaps in Sofia”.

Lucia Casanimanager Madrid’s Illuminated HouseWhere Segade curated the project in 2011 At homeadmits he’s “very happy” to be chosen as the new director of Reina Sofia, whom Segade sees as “undoubtedly the best of the candidates”. he is a great contemporary art expert who knows the context very well in the international arena”. According to Casani Manuel Segade “During these years at CA2M, he showed himself very well in the community, social and small space and also has the ability to put on huge exhibitions.Like Juan Muñoz’s. It seems to me that this is very good news for everyone and also that Manuel Segade represents a whole new generation.”

For Elvira Dyangani Osemanager MACBA In Barcelona, ​​the appointment of Manuel Segade as director of the Reina Sofia Museum presupposes “recognition of a career dedicated to the glorification of the social and museological context in which each institution is located”. According to him, Segade’s choice was “the most an award from a not-so-first-class institution for work well done, calm, developed over time, and taking on challenges, mistakes, and successes Until the work produced in collaboration with Tania Pardo values ​​important Spanish and international figures for other artists and audiences of all genres. His work with Escuelita and other non-hegemonic forms of collaborative knowledge production with local communities and professionals in the industry is admirable and I believe will guarantee Reina Sofia’s interest in such forms of production. such as knowledge and co-responsible work. established museum or sociopolitical research and art theory replaced by previous leadership”.

In addition, the director of MACBA, Manuel Segade, “a key figure in national and international relations With scale structures similar to CA2M and think tankafter celebrating so long ago European Forum for Advanced Practices The European Forum for Advanced Practices proposes to draw attention to the social sciences along with interdisciplinary forms of research and other artistic practices. L’InternationaleWe from MACBA are also a part of it. And of course, working together as both institutions to advance the artistic practices of our context”.