Manuel Borja Villel will coordinate the MNAC expansion and promotion project

The art historian Manuel Borja-Villel has been appointed new museum adviser to the Department of Culture of the Generalitat by the Board of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC). Borja-Villel will have the mission of coordinating the temporary program for the development and fitting into the art museum system of the MNAC expansion and promotion project. The intention of the signing, which will be effective from September, is to have an "external vision" that advises the Government on the implications, opportunities and challenges that may arise from the expansion of the Barcelona museum. The program, which is located in the Department of Culture, has been worked on jointly by the ministry, the Barcelona City Council and the MNAC itself.

As indicated by the Department of Culture, the aim is to add to and contribute to the dialogue that will be generated by the expansion of the National Museum, and to optimize the fit with the city of Barcelona, the country and the international museum system.

The expansion of the museum is led by the director Pepe Serra, and within the framework of the work plan he is carrying out, the task of the new advisor will be to advise the Department regarding everything that may arise from it, and to contribute in the specific questions established by the museum.

For its part, the MNAC has indicated in a statement that the advisory program is part of a wider work plan that the National Museum has been carrying out since May 2022, when the Board of Trustees approved the start of all the necessary actions for the conceptualization and definition of the new museum.

This stage includes the carrying out of technical work already underway (viability plan, economic and social impact plan, among others) and especially a process of analysis, dialogue and participation on an internal, national and international scale where consultations and work sessions will be held with experts, museums and other institutions or groups that can advise the museum and contribute to shaping and improving the project.

In this sense, says the MNAC, in recent months the museum has already carried out an international collection of cultural, social and museum trends, and a selection of cases to be studied, of experts to consult on issues specific institutions and groups in the country with which to establish a process of debate and participation, given "the relevance and dimension of the project".

Director of Reina Sofía

Manuel Borja-Villel holds a degree in Art History from the University of Valencia. Between 1981 and 1982, he was a Special Student at Yale University. Between 1981 and 1983, he received a Fullbright scholarship.

In 1987 he received a Master of Philosophy from the Art History Department of the City University of New York. In 1988 he obtained the Kress Foundation Fellowship for Art History. And, in 1989, the Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Art History at the Graduate School of the City University of New York.

He was director of the Tàpies Foundation from June 1990 to July 1998. He was also director of MACBA from July 1998 to January 2008. From January 2008 to February 2023 he was director of the Museu Nacional Center of Art Queen Sofia.

During these years he has collaborated in projects and exhibitions at an international level. Currently, curator of the Sao Paolo Biennale.

Cultura affirms that his expertise and international prestige as a historian, art critic, curator and director of art museums, as well as his knowledge of the museum system, make him ideal for the tasks assigned to the Directorate of the Temporary Program .