The Macba creates an award to make people talk more about contemporary artists

The Macba Foundation wants more discussion about contemporary art and to make it more accessible, trying to end the mantra that no one understands it. With this purpose, it is launching the Macba Foundation Award, endowed with 50,000 euros, which will be awarded to the Spanish or Portuguese artist who has stood out for the quality and impact of their production in the last two years. "We know little about the names of artists. It is fundamental to verbalize a creation that, let's not kid ourselves, is more difficult to communicate. With this award, we want, for example, my mother to read about the winners and be able to explain them," defends its president, Ainhoa Grandes. The award will take the form of one of the museum's icons, La ola by Jorge Oteiza, located in front of the main facade and hindering the passage of many skaters.

Discussions to choose the first winner of the award are still underway, with the award ceremony scheduled for November 26. But the award will not only have the formal ceremony, but will be accompanied by a party to make contemporary art visible, as other disciplines do, such as cinema, with its widely broadcast festivals and galas, or literature, with literary prizes or a Sant Jordi that puts books on everyone's lips. "In the world of contemporary art, we see very little of each other," says Grandes, with ARCO as the only small excuse for the sector to meet.

The Macba Foundation Award is designed for artists who are in the middle of their career, a moment that the foundation has identified as the most complicated, past the boom as emerging artists and before widespread recognition for a consolidated trajectory. Artist collectives can also be awarded. Biennially, the most relevant professionals will be selected both for the work they have produced and for an exhibition they have starred in. "It is an award for the present," remarks the president, comparing it to when the best film director of the season is chosen.

Born in Barcelona, it will look beyond the city, wanting to reach all those artists who work in Spain, but also those who do so from Portugal. The Macba thus wants to put a face to the multiple cultural relationships that exist between both neighboring countries, although they are often ignored and closeness is sought elsewhere, with many Spanish professionals living in Portuguese territory and vice versa.

This commitment translates into the presence of experts from different geographical points and cultural institutions for the selection of the winner, with the participation of the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Centro Botín in Santander, the Museo Guggenheim in Bilbao or the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha. The process, which will not be an open call, will be divided into two phases. In the first, a committee will propose up to 30 artists, from whom it will eventually choose five. Then, from these finalists, the jury will choose the award winner. In this first edition, it will be formed by the director of Macba, Elvira Dyangani Ose, the Culture advisor of the Generalitat, Manuel J. Borja-Villel, or the director of the Museo Reina Sofia, Manuel Segade. The intention is that the members, both of the committee and the jury, change every two editions.

Macba follows in the footsteps of the Prix Marcel Duchamp awarded by the Centre Pompidou or the Turner Prize of the Tate Modern, but with a greater gratification, compared to the 25,000 euros of the Parisian prize and the 35,000 euros of the London one. It will exceed the 30,000 euros of the National Prize for Plastic Arts and will only be below the 100,000 euros of the Velázquez Prize, both awarded by the Ministry of Culture. The new award will not involve the purchase of works or the organization of any exhibition, compared to others. In addition, it will be complemented by three finalists, who will receive 10,000 euros each, bringing the overall budget up to 80,000 euros.

Ready for expansion

The launch of the new award coincides with the final preparations for the groundbreaking of the expansion of Macba, a project that has been difficult and has finally found consensus with its surroundings. The long-awaited works will allow to gain around 3,000 square meters to accommodate the museum's continuously growing collection. The operation will involve an investment of more than 16 million euros.