Updated online collection and related acquisitions
Santander Cantabria 39004
Spain
Call for Fundación Botín Art Grants
Fundación Botín is pleased to announce the 33rd edition of its Art Grants, offering six scholarships for artists of any nationality. This scheme has an expected duration of nine months and an endowment of 23,000 euros for each selected project. The Art Grants support artists´ development, research and production. In addition, the programme includes the public premiere of the works developed over the grant period in a collective exhibition at Centro Botín, Itinerarios. At the end of the grant period, Fundación Botín continues its commitment to the artists by closely following their career and, where appropriate, by acquiring works for the Collection or inviting to present their work in the exhibition series Enredos.
Artists interested should make an initial application using the registration form available on the websites of Fundación Botín and Centro Botín, and submit the required documentation on paper by May 8. Every application received is evaluated by a specially convened external jury composed by artists, curators and other art professionals, which rotates for each edition. From July, the jury´s final decision will be made public on Centro Botín and Fundación Botín websites.
Since the Art Grants were launched in 1993, more than 200 artists have benefitted through its dynamic stimulus to contemporary art, supporting practitioners seeking to develop research projects in the visual arts. A large number of Fundación Botín grant recipients have established themselves on the international art scene and are regularly present at significant arts events.
Recent and upcoming exhibitions by grant recipients include: Carlos Bunga at CAM – Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa; Fernanda Fragateiro at Serralves Foundation Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto; Lucía C. Pino at CA2M, Madrid; Pedro G. Romero at Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA), New York; Teresa Solar at Kunstverein Hannover; and Oriol Villanova, representing Spain at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
2026 Fundación Botín Workshops: Yuko Mohri and Solange Pessoa
In 2026, artists Yuko Mohri and Solange Pessoa will each direct a Fundación Botín Workshop: an intensive program for artists organised by the foundation in Santander since 1994, which offers a non-academic space for exchange and experimentation.
Yuko Mohri will lead a workshop in Santander from June 1 to 10, 2026, titled Moré Moré (Leaky): Santander. Participants will first explore Mohri’s exhibition Entanglements at Centro Botín alongside the artist and engage in a series of conversations, participatory activities, and collaborative work over the course of the week.
In advance of the opening of her exhibition Of Day or Night at Centro Botín, Solange Pessoa will direct a workshop titled Gardens of Delirium from September 21 to 29, consisting of visual, philosophical, and poetic investigations of the gardens, squares, parks, and surrounding environments of Santander.
Participants will be selected via an open call, which will be announced here.
Fundación Botín Collection—acquisitions
Fundación Botín Art Collection reflects its program of support for contemporary art with a trajectory spanning more than forty years. Specialising in contemporary art, it includes works created across a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, video, installation, sound, and performance. Since 1993, the Collection has grown year after year, bringing together works by the directors of the art workshops as well as by grant recipients.
Among 2025 acquisitions are works by artists who received the Fundación grant: Javier Arce, Lucía Bayón, Katinka Bock, Alice Dos Reis, Belén Rodríguez, Santiago Borja, Sandra Gamarra, Maider López, Cristina Lucas, Nuno da Luz, and Jon Mikel Euba, as well as by workshop directors Cooking Sections.
