Tatxo Benet will open a museum of forbidden art in Casa Garriga Nogués

New project by Tatxo Benet in Barcelona. After the inauguration of the Ona bookstore, the partner and director of the Mediapro audiovisual group announced to TV3 his intention to open a museum dedicated to forbidden art. Benet, who has specialized in buying and collecting this type of controversial works, had been looking for a place to gather and exhibit the 150 pieces he has treasured in the last ten years. In the end, he found the ideal place: the modernist mansion Casa Garriga Nogués, which had been the headquarters of the Mapfre Foundation in Barcelona.

According to the Catalan public television, Taxto Benet has reached an agreement to locate his collection in this building starting in the spring of 2022, when he hopes to open its doors. Designed by architect Enric Sagnier, who built it at the end of the 19th century for banker Rupert Garriga Miranda, Casa Garriga Nogués is located on Diputació street, between Rambla Catalunya and Balmes. The ground floor and the main floor of the building were left empty after two years ago, in autumn 2019, the Mapfre Foundation announced the relocation of its Barcelona headquarters to a new space located in the Port Olímpic, at the foot of the Mapfre Tower, where it opened the KBR center, specialized in photography exhibitions.

In the new museum dedicated to forbidden art, Tatxo Benet will exhibit works that have caused a stir, have been vetoed, and have even led to the resignation of museum officials. These are pieces that debate the limits of freedom of expression and provoke angry reactions for political, gender, or religious reasons. Highlights include the controversial sculpture by Inés Doujak in which the emeritus king was represented sodomized ---it caused the suspension of an exhibition at MACBA---; the collection on political prisoners by artist Santiago Sierra, withdrawn from the Arco fair; and an installation in which Saddam Hussein can be seen submerged in formaldehyde, by Czech sculptor David Cerny.