The Alicante Ministry of Culture will again allocate a budget of sixty thousand euros to acquire works by local artists. The program is designed to strengthen Alicante’s artistic heritage while recognizing generations that have been underrepresented. It reinforces the city’s commitment to presenting a more inclusive recent history of visual arts, ensuring diverse voices are documented within the municipal collection.
Following precedents set by earlier cultural measures from the Generalitat, the program launched last year and drew broad interest. A total of 248 proposals were received from about 150 artists across the province, evaluated from a pool that included roughly a dozen disciplines. The selected works are now on display in an exhibition at the Lonja de Alicante, the city hall’s historic venue, inviting residents and visitors to engage with contemporary local art.
Antonio Manresa, the municipal culture director, recalled that after the initial acquisitions in 2021 there was strong optimism about more proposals in 2022. He emphasized the opportunity this program provides for Alicante artists to reach a large audience and have their work incorporated into a collection of municipal significance, highlighting the potential for lasting impact within the city’s cultural narrative.
Artworks will be purchased from contemporary galleries and individual artists. In exceptional cases, and for clearly justified reasons, the committee may consider proposals from alternative sources. The purchased pieces must meet specific criteria: the creator must be an artist or a collaborating group with a connection to Alicante, either by birth or by residence, and the artist must have an established professional career linked to the city. Galleries or artists may present proposals, with up to three offers allowed to win. A single set price may cover up to three works, or the committee may evaluate groups of works under a unified pricing approach. Artists are not permitted to submit works both directly and through galleries. The works can cover any theme, discipline, and production technique, with the understanding that the pieces should be created at the time of proposal and not at a drafting or planning stage.
Inside the Lonja de Alicante, the current exhibition features ten works that were purchased in 2021, demonstrating the enduring impact of the program on the city’s visual landscape. The display includes pieces such as Lightning in a Box, Orange Sonata, Blue Movement, and Magic Screen, among others, which have become part of Alicante’s local heritage.
The City Council reserves the right to exclude works that could present assembly or durability challenges or complications for long-term preservation. Complete information and the required documentation are available at the official cultural convocations portal of Alicante.
The Ministry of Culture commits to investing a maximum of sixty thousand euros, while retaining the option not to exhaust the entire budget if the selection process is halted or significantly altered. The municipal framework allows the purchase of at most one work from each artist or gallery owner, provided the artist has not had a purchase within the past three years. Selected works will be finalized through contractual agreements and payment will be issued upon receipt of the work and presentation of the invoice, ensuring a straightforward acquisition process for participating creators.
The overarching aim is to enrich the municipal collection with contemporary local art while strengthening connections between artists, galleries, and the community. The program supports diverse practices and welcomes proposals from a broad spectrum of creators rooted in the Alicante region, reflecting the city’s evolving cultural identity.
top ten works
Last year’s call yielded 248 proposals from 150 artists, with ten works selected for a total of 62,300 euros. Several pieces have since become integral to the city’s heritage, including Lightning in a Box by Aurelio Ayela, Orange Sonata, Blue Movement by Miguel Banuls, Magic Screen by Ana Esteve Reig, and The Discourse of Uncertainty by Daniel G. Andújar. Other notable titles include The Vitality of Medusa’s Hair by Susana Guerrero, Collection of Silences by Aurelia Massanet, The Infinite Language of the Grid and The Poetics of Contradiction, together with The Archaeology of Metaphor and the Infinite Displacement of the Object from Louis Shepherd’s Deconstruction on Paper series, Pharaoh of the Orgy, and Children’s Corner by Jesús Zuazo. These works together illustrate a diverse and dynamic slice of Alicante’s contemporary artistic landscape and its ongoing narrative within the city’s heritage.