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Valentí Roma returns to MACBA as director a decade after the controversy that marked his departure
The current director of La Virreina will assume leadership of Barcelona's contemporary art museum after being unanimously elected, in a process questioned for its lack of transparency.
After almost ten years at the helm of La Virreina Image Centre in Barcelona, Valentí Roma Serrano (Ripollet, 1970) has been appointed the new director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA). His appointment, unanimously approved by the institution's board of trustees, marks the return of a figure who was already part of the museum's management team as head of collections between 2013 and 2015.
The appointment comes amid debate following criticism of the transparency of the selection competition , but the jury highlighted the solidity of the project presented by Roma, as well as the coherence of his professional career and his ability to bring “intellectual ambition, dynamism and relevance” to the museum.
His return to MACBA has an obvious symbolic charge. In 2015, Roma left the institution amid the controversy generated by the exhibition The Beast and the Sovereign , which included a sculpture of King Juan Carlos I in an explicit sexual representation. The crisis led to the dismissal of the museum's director, Bartomeu Marí, as well as the departure of Roma and the philosopher and curator Paul B. Preciado.
Roma will replace Elvira Dyangani Ose, who is leaving the MACBA directorship after accepting to lead a project linked to the Abu Dhabi Biennial, a responsibility that the board of trustees considered incompatible with her duties at the Barcelona museum. The handover will take place in the coming weeks, with an initial period of transition and advice from the outgoing director.
Valentí Roma's contract will have an initial duration of five years, with the possibility of a single renewal of three more years. The MACBA board of trustees —made up of the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Ministry of Culture— has had external advice from Anna Vallès, president of the Sorigué Foundation; the artist Francesc Torres and the gallerist Antón Maragall during the selection process.
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