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Valentín Roma calls for a MACBA committed to the conflicts of the present
The new director of the museum defends an institution open to the public sphere, far from paternalism and capable of addressing contemporary political and historical tensions.
The new director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA), Valentín Roma, has presented the general outlines of his new period at the helm of the institution with the aim of placing the museum in a space of tension and debate within the public sphere. In presenting his directorship, Roma has defended the need for MACBA to confront the political and historical conflicts of the present and distance itself from the reactionary thinking that, as he has pointed out, 'besieges culture' around the world.
The new management thus proposes a museum that is not limited to the exhibition and dissemination of contemporary art, but also assumes an active role in understanding social transformations. Roma has claimed that MACBA must occupy a 'place of tension in the public sphere', establishing a direct relationship with its environment and with the different realities that shape contemporary society.
Valentín Roma, new director of MACBA. From left to right: the Secretary of State for Culture, Jordi Martí; the president of the MACBA Foundation, Ainhoa Grandes; the new director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA), Valentín Roma; the councilor for Culture and Creative Industries, Xavier Marcé, and the secretary general of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat, Josep Maria Carreté.
This relationship, he noted, must be built 'without paternalism', with tools that allow addressing and understanding the diversity of social realities. The Rome proposal thus positions the museum as a space for debate, confrontation of ideas and critical reading of the context, at a time when cultural institutions are also facing the effects of political and social changes.
Among the objectives of the new stage is also to recover and overcome the barrier of 300,000 annual visitors, a figure that MACBA had already reached before the pandemic. The increase in public is considered one of the challenges of the institution, along with the definition of a new working framework for the coming years.
Roma will draw up a work plan for the three years of his directorship. In the coming months, he is expected to present the programming corresponding to the first year and a half of his mandate, which will allow him to specify the lines announced during the presentation ceremony and define the new direction of MACBA.
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