MARCO de Vigo, the commitment to what is local and excellent

With almost twenty-five years of filming, the MARCO in Vigo has become a benchmark on the museum map of contemporary Spanish art. Exhibitions such as those dedicated to Francisco Leiro, Glenda León, Lluís Lleó, Juan Giralt or Concha Martínez Barreto, the careful editions of catalogues, in addition to conferences, seminars, film cycles, concerts, educational activities, a library documentation center and a group of friends vouch for the solidity of a project that today faces new challenges. We talk to its director, Miguel Fernández-Cid, who has just been renewed in the position for three years.

the building

"The MARCO is in the center of the city, in an area for pedestrians with a very active trade, which is a privilege, even if we have to compete with other storefronts. Despite the fact that the building has a past as a prison that continues to weigh on people, the idea of turning a monumental penitentiary into a cultural space was considered and continues to be positively valued today. In fact, one of MARCO's achievements is to have preserved the structure of the panopticon, the radial galleries and the glass-covered, double-height patios, which require specific interventions. Artists have to think a lot about which pieces they place in each space, because the dialogue with the environment is decisive. Given the uniqueness of the building, I have always tried to make each sample different from the previous one, not to repeat approaches."

The collection

"One of the peculiarities of MARCO is that it is a museum without a collection, or with a minimal one: seven purchases made before the opening and two donations approved by the first management. In the last meeting, the board of trustees unanimously ratified a donation proposal from artists who have exhibited in the rooms, such as Jorge Martins, Yolanda Herranz Pascual, Manuel Quintana Martelo, Alfredo Alcaín and Andrea Costas Lago, and others who have not done it, such as Washington Barcala, Leopoldo Nóvoa and Marta María Pérez Bravo, all works of first quality. In this same meeting, it was also approved that, when the budget allows, specific pieces can be incorporated. In the meantime, it's about building a fund that will give rise to a consistent future project."

Lluís Lleó, Pittore. MARCO, 2022. © Arquivo MARCO / UMFotografia

The statute of the museum and its financing

"At the beginning MARCO had a budget of more than two million euros, coming from the trustees (the Vigo City Council, Caixanova, the Xunta de Galicia, the Diputació de Pontevedra) who initially formed the foundation. Over time, this situation has varied: help from the Galician bank disappeared, for years that of the Provincial Council and, since 2011, the weight of the foundation has been borne by the municipality, which contributes almost 80% of the million of euros from the current budget. Fortunately, this support is energetic. Hopefully the contributions of public institutions will increase, because freedom and independence are achieved with plural support (although I must point out that, since my arrival, the respect has been exemplary). This funding is complemented by the sponsorship of private companies."

His approach to the MARCO

"Over time, what we remember about the institutions is their history, which is the sum of the contributions made by the different teams and managers, and it is good that the approaches are different, always within the commitment to excellence and contemporaneity My idea was to complement what had already been done with what I thought was necessary, such as giving more diversity to the programming, strengthening the library, increasing the visibility of the spaces, recovering the bookstore and the publication policy and strengthening the pedagogical activities. When I arrived I understood that the task could not be so immediate because there were other emergencies, such as the state of the building and equipment that was twenty years old."

His concept of a museum

"To think about a museum like MARCO, you have to start from the fact that reality is not what it was twenty or thirty years ago. Back then there were fewer spaces, higher budgets, and one of the tasks was to find the connection with the outside. Exhibitions of foreign artists were scheduled, but this effort did not have the counterpart of bringing ours outside. I think that today it is clear to us that we need to strengthen the commitment to excellent local artists, which is already very important. It is not a question of being localists, but of defending what is one's own, close. In addition, it seeks to establish collaborations with other institutions in two ways: itineraries and connections with other countries (in this sense, Portugal seems the first logical destination). All, of course, conditioned by the budget. Our idea is to establish and move forward, to take irreversible steps, based on clear criteria of contemporaneity, plurality, excellence and parity."

Programming for 2024

"For 2024, the MARCO has scheduled exhibitions of Jordi Bernadó, Daniel Verbis, Bosco Caride, Irene González, Susanne Themlitz, Laía Argüelles and Alfonso Galván, as well as the first with funds from the collection, which unites Andrea Costas Lago and Yolanda Herranz Pascual with Marta María Pérez Bravo, one of his great references, on common issues, such as self-portraiture, identity or the status of women and artists." Rosa Gutierrez