Pedro G. Romero speaks with a clear conviction: popular culture is not simply fame, nor folk art, nor folklore. It is a shift among these elements, a movement that defies neat boundaries. He has spent extensive time researching to shape this idea, and the result is a bold exhibition titled Popular, which opens at IVAM on the fifth of the month.
The curators describe the concept as giving meaning to those with the least political representation. The exhibition hovers above its audience in a performative, plastic, and mobile form that is in constant metamorphosis, leaning more toward ritual than to the monument itself.
The team delved into I’s funds to illuminate the argument. They drew on works from institutions such as the Valen cian Institute of Modern Art, Reina Sofia, and MACBA. Forty pieces were selected from the Jenkins-Romero Collection housed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Alicante (MACA). This is a significant contribution and the largest single group drawn from this fund.
Although the macro exhibition features 1,500 works, the IVAM director Nuria Enguita praises the Alicante funds as crucial for the show. She adds that the generosity of the MACA team has enabled replacements when some works were temporarily unavailable, ensuring the installation remained robust.
Jenkins-Romero’s collection is described by Enguita as a great legacy for the Valencian Community, almost miraculous in its scale. She notes that never before had so many tracks been released, and the collection adds a new dimension to the exhibition. The works reveal a spectrum of voices in contemporary art that would not be present without this fund.
Popular features pieces by artists who are part of the Jenkins-Romero Collection, including Black Walkermany, Guerrilla Girls, John Giorno, Andy Warhol, Tony Gray, Félix González-Torres, Ellen Gallagher, Anna Bella Geiger, and Corita Kent among others.
Partnership
The collaboration highlights MACA’s role in this IVAM show, underscoring the value of the Alicante museum as a model for cross-institutional exchange and joint curatorial projects.
IVAM’s director envisions a future built on sustained cooperation, noting that this is a legacy for the entire collection and its history, including artists such as Eusebio Sempere. He emphasizes that the city benefits when institutions join forces, working together with professional rigor and shared ambition.
IVAM and MACA discuss ongoing collaboration across artistic, exhibition, and technical dimensions. The two institutions view museums as a collective enterprise, exchanging ideas and mutual advice to strengthen programs and audience reach.
Among the featured contributors, Teresa Lanceta from Alicante presents a textile-centered practice that resonates with the exhibition’s global-popular theme, showing how craft and social commentary intertwine on a large scale.
The exhibition runs through April 14, 2024, and is framed as a reference point for future curatorial projects. Nuria Enguita describes it as an eight-month, thought-provoking process where new ideas can emerge and be debated openly.
Niño de Elche contributes the musical dimension to the narrative, offering a soundtrack through fifteen songs created specifically for the show. The sonic works are woven into portions of the route, inviting visitors to experience themes through sound as well as image. Enguita notes that these tracks reflect a broad range of ideas, which were recorded and adapted for cinema screenings and live performances planned for February. The Elche-based artist is expected to perform these pieces in a live setting, expanding the exhibit’s reach beyond the gallery walls.