Alicia Garcia de Francisco |
Madrid (EFE) to society and citizens.
Segade (A Coruña, 1977) explained in an interview with EFE that he wants to bring to Reina Sofía the model that has worked so well for him in his almost eight years as head of the Dos de Mayo Art Center (CA2M) in Móstoles (Madrid). , in which all the social agents have been involved, but without forgetting to maintain and consolidate the legacy of Manuel Borja-Villel.
social implication
There are two clear points in the work and they are “consolidation and social permeabilization”, to achieve a “broader consensus with the participation of more agents of society”.
“That combination seems very important to me”, explains Segade enthusiastically, who considers that on the one hand there are “the more specific, more complex things that have to do with contemporary art and that even we are still trying to understand”.
“It is essential to think about these risky spaces and combine them with others that are closer to popular culture because contemporary art touches society from many places.”
Project for the future and legacy of Borja-Villel
An opening to society that does not imply a radical change in the museum project that he has in mind for the museum.
Because he doesn’t want to make much progress – “I have to meet first with the team, with the board of trustees, with the ministry” – but he does repeat the word “consolidation” forcefully.
“We are facing a museum that, despite what is said, is considered one of the great structures of contemporary art in the West” and that is the legacy that is on the table of his predecessor, Manuel Borja-Villel.
Borja Villel has built a jewel that was recognized outside of Spain before within it, he has obtained his own law for the museum that gives it “institutional independence and privileged freedom”, he has created two foundations and has laid the foundations for the opening of a headquarters in Santander to house the Lafuente Archive.
Many achievements that he wants to highlight beyond “unfortunate controversies,” he says in reference to criticism for alleged irregularities in Borja-Villel’s management.
But he acknowledges that “it is important to generate consensus.” “It is part of the political work that falls to the management of a national public museum like the Reina Sofía” and it is something that is achieved by talking a lot with the advisory council and also by listening to society.
Regarding the disappearance of some artists from the permanent collection, such as Antonio López, or the reduction of temporary exhibitions, he points out that the museum’s funds are enormous.
“Only five percent of the 24,000” works that the Reina Sofía has have been exhibited. “The number of stories, authors and authors that deserve to come to light is infinite, that is the wealth of such an important collection.”
These works will be coming out, but always in temporary exhibitions that will be set up in a museum in which he wants to improve “those almost labyrinthine plots” that exist today and that he wants to make it easier for the public to navigate.
Essential Latin America at the Reina Sofía
Yes, he will maintain Borja-Villel’s commitment to Latin American art – “it is fundamental, it is part of the genetics of the museum” – introduced by José Guirao, who was in charge of the Reina Sofía from 1994 to 2000.
“The presence of Latin American artists has been essential in recent years,” says Segade, who points out that there are artists such as the Mexican Teresa Margolles, the Cuban Carlos Garaicoa or the Venezuelan Alexander Apóstol who are “fundamental in the Latin American context” and who also They live in Madrid.
What unites Latin American art with migration, an important social issue. Again the relationship with society, something that obsesses this Art Historian and curator of national and international exhibitions.
Feminism, hand in hand with contemporary art
Just like women in the art world. It is not because it is a fashionable subject, it is something “central in contemporary art, which was born in the sixties, at the same time as the second wave of feminism”, Segade highlights.
Women were the first to make performance art an artistic genre. “Feminism is part of the DNA of contemporary art”.
In addition to the fact that there is the 2007 Gender Equality Law that obliges public workers to seek parity, “beyond ideologies”, which makes it essential to maintain the work already started in this regard by the museum.
As well as reaffirming the parallel spaces of the Reina Sofía, the Cristal and Velázquez palaces in the Retiro Park, which receive an “impressive amount of public”.
“It is essential to maintain spaces in which artists can create works from scratch and something that I have always insisted on a lot, that public spaces dedicated to art must always be where artists have the right to make mistakes”.