Desires and Necessities. New Incorporations to the MACBA Collection
From 18 June 2015
In memoriam: Richard Hamilton (1922–2011)
MACBA
Plaça dels Àngels, 1
08001 Barcelona
www.macba.cat
Desires and Necessities. New Incorporations to the MACBA Collection presents 86 works including new acquisitions made in the last three years—over half of which are exhibited here for the first time—together with works already belonging to the Collection. The title of the exhibition is inspired by Some Objects of Desire, the work of Lawrence Weiner that has presided over the atrium of MACBA since 2009. The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Richard Hamilton, one of the most important artists to the understanding of art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and a great friend of MACBA. Exhibited here is his emblematic work Growth and Form, created by the artist and presented at the ICA, London, in 1951.
Desires and Necessities revolves around a series of chapters focusing on groups of works that cover a wide chronological range of over six decades. The MACBA Collection, with over 6,000 pieces, contains works with very different characteristics: from attention to our “classics” of contemporary art—the abstract painting of the fifties and sixties, wherein must be placed the work by Esteban Vicente—and the rational and non-expressionist abstraction, inspired by mathematics and Minimalism, of the works by Esther Ferrer and Néstor Sanmiguel, to significant works by artists who are central to the discourse constructed by the Museum during recent decades, such as John Baldessari, Marcel Boodthaers, Joan Brossa, Öyvind Fahlström, Richard Hamilton, Muntadas, Pablo Palazuelo and Dieter Roth.
Also included are younger artists such as Patricia Dauder, Francesc Ruiz and Mireia Sallarès, and more established artists such as Gego, Antoni Llena, Dora García and Francesc Abad. The creativity of North Africa and the Middle East is manifested in the works of artists such as Younès Rahmoun, Sigalit Landau, Walid Raad and Wael Shawky, while artists such as Ali Cherri and Adrian Melis invite us to consider the validity of the media as the major writer of history. The works of Richard Hamilton and João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva reflect modern art’s fascination with scientific innovation. On the other hand, the cultural and social changes imposed by the global economy on our society are represented by the work of Octavi Comeron and Marc Pataut. The role of photography is also present in the works of Allan Sekula and Jorge Ribalta.
Seen together, we are invited to consider the complex, sometimes irresolvable, relationship between that which cannot be otherwise, the fragility of the affairs of this world and the unpredictable events that turn everything on its head.
Exhibition organised and produced by the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA).
Curated by Bartomeu Marí, director of MACBA.
Daily guided tours (included in Museum admission fee)
For times and languages please consult www.macba.cat
