Opened to the public in 2002, MARCO is one of the youngest museums in Galicia. Although its name and acronym defines it as a ‘Museum’, there is no permanent collection at MARCO. It functions as a contemporary art centre focusing its programming on temporary exhibitions and a variety of parallel activities.

On the 22nd of October 2002 representatives from Vigo City council, the banking entity Caixanova, Xunta de Galicia (Galician autonomous government) and the County Council of Pontevedra created MARCO Foundation, a legal body under the jurisdiction (auspices) of the Foundation Services of the Xunta de Galicia to direct and finance the museum’s activities. On the 11th of January 2006, the Spanish Ministry of Culture decided to give its support to the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vigo.

Located in the heart of the city’s commercial quarter, MARCO occupies what was formerly Vigo’s prison and court (1880), a place closely related to the collective memory which constitutes one of the centre’s main attractions. Manuel Portoles Sanjun, Francisco Javier Garc’a-Quijada Romero and Salvador Fraga Rivas formed the team of architects commissioned to develop the site as early as 1995. Special attention was paid to the integration of the building into its urban context, by surrounding it with a pedestrian area and building a staircase linking it to the streets on the back facade.

The refurbishment project devised by the architects strictly respected the original layout of the building, which followed the “panoptical” concept developed by the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). Therefore, its radial distribution of space was maintained by restoring the central panoptical area within its cylindrical structure, and shifting the entrance to the exhibition rooms from the main facade to the centre of the building. From this point, one can see the layout of the building: three wings and four courtyards extending outwards from a central nucleus, each with rooms around their perimeter.

MARCO focuses its programming on temporary exhibitions of thematic and group shows and began presenting solo shows from 2009.

MARCO has a dynamic programme of temporary exhibitions, featuring recent multidisciplinary work by both international and Spanish artists. This is representative of the wide multicultural artistic panorama of the moment and contributes to the circulation of exhibitions among other art centres. Temporary exhibitions–most of them produced by MARCO–are the main activity around which the museum’s programming strands are organised.

MARCO presents approximately 9–10 exhibitions each year.

Most outstanding projects in recent years:

The Invisible Show, October 20th, 2006–January 21st, 2007, produced by: MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo/ Centro Jose Guerrero, Granada, Curator: Delfim Sardo;

Switch on the Power! Noise and policies on music, June 9th–September 17th, 2006, produced by: MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo / CAAM, Centro Atl‡ntico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas / Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria, Curator: Xabier Arakistain;

Taking Time, 5th Anniversary of MARCO, October 19th, 2007–February 17th, 2008, produced by: MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo, Curator: Isabel Carlos and I–aki Mart’nez Antelo;

Doppelganger, Reality’s Double, July 6th–October 7th, 2007, produced by: MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo / CAAM, Centro Atl‡ntico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas / Montehermoso Cultural Centre, Vitoria, Curator: Montserrat Albores Gleason, (Winner project of MARCOÔ06 Award for Young Curators);

7+1 Project Rooms, October 10th, 2008–April 19th, 2009, produced by: MARCO, Museo de Arte Contempor‡nea de Vigo, Curator: Gerardo Mosquera;

The Museum as Medium, June 20th–September 21st, 2008, produced by: MARCO, Museo de Arte Contempor‡nea de Vigo / Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, San Sebastian Curators: Pablo Fanego and Pedro de Llano.

MARCO is characterised by a spirit of participation and hosts a variety of parallel activities complementing the exhibitions; conferences, seminars, lectures, concerts, seasons of cinema. This is in addition to the services offered by the Library-Documentation Centre and the activities organised by the Friends of MARCO.

The educational training program at MARCO includes visits and workshops for schoolchildren, activities for families, summer workshops for children, courses for adults, guided visits and artists workshops.

MARCO publishes approximately 6 exhibition catalogues per year.

Basement, 2,960 m2; Ground floor, 3,481 m2; First floor, 2.411 m2; Second floor, 1.012 m2; Annex Space (Project Room), 143 m2; Exhibition room, 90 m2.