Macba collection. Itinerary

Any contemporary Art collection which aims to be in harmony with current events should be an open and polymorphous space which accommodates various understandings and multiple definitions, and which excludes all artistic intentions, be they accumulative, representative or encyclopaedic. Basing itself on this principle the MACBA, in 2003, carried out an introspective examination of its catalogue in hopes of finding its own heterogeneity. The selection of 257 works from among the more than 2,000 was, from the beginning, conceived as an alternative, itinerant essay on contemporary Art as opposed to a canonical and definitive understanding of it. The Catalonia Generalitat, the Barcelona City Council, and the MACBA Foundation were the original sources of these pieces. The curator, Borja-Villel, wanted, with this show, to change Art History’s bourgeoisie, theological and progressist character which was the framework for most European collections. The catalogue includes explanatory text in the margin next to each piece to highlight its significance as part of the selection. For this publication, he director of the Museum wrote a panoramic vision of the show.