In Conversation: The Museum and the Collection

Location: Exhibition Halls A and C

On 30 January 2024, Es Baluard Museu d’Art Contemporani de Palma celebrates its 20th year and, on the occasion of this anniversary, the exhibition “In Conversation: The Museum and the Collection” will be inaugurated in exhibition halls A and C of the building. The exhibition, curated by Eva Cifre—Head of the Education Department—and Soad Houman—Head of Registration and Collection/Artistic Department—will present a chronological itinerary through Es Baluard Museu’s Collection in which the pieces articulate a series of conversations at different levels.

Firstly, the Museum’s container and content will be linked, that is to say, the container understood as the history of the building and its patrimonial surroundings. We aim to show not only the content of the Museum by means of the permanent Collection, but also the history of its location. With this purpose in mind, Mallorcan Berlin-based artist Tonina Matamalas will present an expressly created intervention in the form of a graphic recording that will take us from the time of the construction of the fort’s walls in the 16th century to the establishment and inauguration of Es Baluard Museu in 2004. This work will be located on Floor 0 in front of the entrance to the exhibition, where it will remain throughout 2024.

The second level of conversation will be generated amongst the works themselves. Throughout the itinerary, designed chronologically, we will move through the different periods and currents of the different contexts, namely the Balearic, the Spanish and the international, paying close attention to the alignments and connections that take place. In Exhibition Hall A on Floor 0, the exhibition begins in Mallorca at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, with the emergence of landscape art, and ends with the resurgence of painting in the 1980s. Between one milestone and another, the itinerary will lead us through cubism, the first avant-gardes, the Spanish and European post-war period—where the focus centres on gesture and material-based pictorial experimentation—to then continue with conceptual art, mail art and the first incursions into video art. At certain points, five pieces dating from the year 2000 onwards will infiltrate the exhibition, as a way of interrupting the established chronological line and thus creating spaces for reflection on contemporary art and for dialogue between the different periods, as well as on diverse issues such as the relationship with the territory and the landscape, the role of women throughout history and the search for identity.

Finally, in Exhibition Hall C on Floor -1, the works in the Collection that date from the 21st century become a metaphor for the definition of “Museum”. The pieces will serve to break down and analyse the features that identify the museum institution, through concepts such as research, collection, interpretation, diversity, community and education, all of which are present in the most recent and updated ICOM definition of museum (August 2022). The aim is to open up the debate on what the 21st-century museum should be like and the challenges it faces from now on.

“A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.”

(Definition updated by ICOM on 24 August 2022)

Thus, with the exhibition “In Conversation: The Museum and the Collection”, we look to reflect on the 20 years that have passed at the heart of the institution, to reaffirm our identity through the Collection, to bring the Museum and contemporary art closer to the public, and to highlight the possibilities of the museum institution in our current times as a means for facing our future challenges as a society.