The collections of Qatar Museums, Jorge M. Pérez, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, António Cachola, Inelcom and Banco Sabadell are the award winners on this exceptional occasion
Radio Televisión Española receives the Special “A” Award for its work in spreading culture
Madrid, 3 February 2016.- Coinciding with the 35th Anniversary of ARCOmadrid, the “A” Awards for Collecting, granted by the ARCO Foundation, will celebrate their 20th edition. On this exceptional occasion, the Foundation has granted six awards to distinguish the work done by collectors, institutions and the artistic value of their collections, as well as their support in diffusing contemporary art.
Hence, the ARCO Foundation has rewarded the H. E. Sheikh Hassan Bin Mohammed Bin Ali Al Thani Collection (Qatar Museums), the Jorge M. Pérez Collection (PAMM Museum Miami) and the Patrizia Sandretto Collection (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo) in the International Collecting category; the António Cachola Collection, in the Private Collecting category, and the Inelcom Collection and the Banco Sabadell Collection in the Corporate Collecting category. Furthermore, Radio Televisión Española (RTVE) has received the special “A” award for its work in cultural diffusion.
The ARCO Foundation thus acknowledges the work of both the national and the international collectors, the promotion of which has been one of the main objectives since their creation in 1987.
QATAR MUSEUMS
Qatar Museums (QM) connects the museums, cultural institutions and heritage sites in Qatar and creates the conditions for them to thrive and flourish. It centralizes resources and provides a comprehensive organization for the development of museums and cultural projects, with a long term ambition of creating a strong and sustainable cultural infrastructure for Qatar. Under the patronage of His Highness the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamid Al-Thani, and led by its Chairperson, Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, QM is consolidating Qatar’s efforts to become a vibrant center for the arts, culture and education, in the Middle East and beyond.
Since its foundation in 2005, QM has overseen the development of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the Al Zubarah World Heritage Site Visitor Centre, and the Fire Station: Artists in Residence.
Future projects include the launch of the highly anticipated National Museum of Qatar and the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum.
QM is committed to instigating Qatar’s future generation of arts, heritage and museum professionals. At its core is a commitment to nurturing artistic talent, creating opportunities and developing the skills to service Qatar’s emerging art economy. By means of a multi-faceted program and public art initiatives, QM seeks to push the boundaries of the traditional museum model, and create cultural experiences that spill out onto the streets and seek to involve the widest possible audiences. Through a strong emphasis on originating art and culture from within and fostering a spirit of national participation, QM is helping Qatar find its own distinctive voice in today’s global cultural debates.
JORGE M. PÉREZ COLLECTION (PAMM MUSEUM MIAMI)
The work of Jorge M. Pérez as a collector has been extensive and systematic since the decade of the eighties. In line with his personal history, his first steps in collecting were marked by an interest in Latin American art from the first half of the 20th century, with the presence of names such as Wifredo Lam, Roberto Matta, Diego Rivera and Joaquín Torres García, particularly standing out, among others.
In 2013, the majority of these works were donated to the Pérez Art Museum of Miami (PAMM), which adopted his name in acknowledgement of the contributions made by Mr. Pérez in both monetary terms and in works for the collection. Also in 2013, the Frost Art Museum, of Florida International University (FIU), received a donation of over twenty Cuban works of art from the 19th and 20th centuries from him.
Following these donations, the personal collection of Jorge M. Pérez experienced an exponential growth in the last two years and currently includes around 800 works of art by about 500 artists. Although the vocation for Latin American art persists -now focused on the production of a younger generation of artists, among which names such as Ernesto Neto, Vik Muniz, Rafael Lozano Hemmer and Los Carpinteros stand out -, the collection has an increasingly international profile, including works by contemporary North American and European artists. The latter two contexts also include works by renowned artists; in the case of the United States: John Chamberlain, Alex Katz, Elizabeth Murray, Kenneth Noland, David Salle; and from Europe: Kiki Smith, Antony Gormley and Imi Knoebel, among others. Furthermore, countries such as Spain are extensively represented through the work of Juan Genovés, Luis Gordillo, Daniel Verbis, Néstor San Miguel Diest, Secundino Hernández, or Rubén Guerrero, among others.
The work of Jorge M. Pérez as a collector is defined by a philanthropic spirit and the commitment to promote art and collaborate with the community. His work has contributed to the transformation of the urban image of Miami, not only because of the audacity of his architectural projects, but above all because of the integration of art into both the inside and the outside of each new building, thus enabling the placement of public sculptures by artists such as Julio Le Parc, Jaume Plensa and Enrique Martínez Celaya in different points of the city.
Jorge M. Pérez is, moreover, very actively responsible for the patronage and support of cultural exchange programmes, artist residences and projects revolving around the drive and promotion of local, national and international art. A selection of his growing personal collection, to be donated in its entirety to the collection of the PAMM in the future, will be open to the public in the exhibition A Sense of Place, to be held in Miami in the first week of next December.
PATRIZIA SANDRETTO COLLECTION (FONDAZIONE SANDRETTO RE REBAUDENGO)
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo began collecting in 1992. Since then, she has been visiting galleries, museums, fairs and biennials, getting to know artists by visiting them in their studios and, in many cases, forging a direct relationship with them. The works that make up the collection have been created from the 80’s to the present day, except for the photographic component, for which she felt the need to look back and begin to collect antique photos dating from the year 1939.
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo has always attached particular importance to curatorship, allowing her to work with international artists to produce new works.
In the first three years, the Collection played a private role until in 1995 it was ceded for use to the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, which has been promoting and handling access to it since then, placing it at the disposal of the public. From this moment on, the Collection has been exhibited in the Banco Santander, Madrid; in the Salle Quai Antoine 1er, Monaco; in the Whitechapel Gallery, London; in the Centro de Arte Contemporánea, Quito and in Sheffield Cathedral, United Kingdom; in the Kunsthalle, Krems, Austria; in the Olbricht Foundation, Berlin; in the Maison Particuliere, Brussels, among others.
ANTÓNIO CACHOLA COLLECTION| Private Collecting Award
The origin of the António Cachola Collection dates back to the early nineties and is a reflection of the last 25 years of visual art creation by Portuguese artists. Fundamental works that outline the map of the last few decades of art production in Portugal form part of the collection. The acquisitions have been made with a coherence that builds a rigorous and diversified historic panorama of contemporaneity, the result of constant movement of the collector towards the artists and institutions.
From the beginning, his personal wish to collect was accompanied by a determination to endow the collection with a public dimension which is how the Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Elvas (MACE) came about in 2007, in the city of Elvas, a UNESCO world heritage site.
The collection comprises Portuguese artists who began to exhibit publicly and regularly from the decade of the eighties. This is an open collection, in constant growth, that does not set any limits in terms of subject matter or technique. It is made up of works in the most varied of formats and techniques, that reflect the wealth of contemporary art practices.
The collection has gradually taken on a mixed strategy, both extending the number of artists forming part of it and making acquisitions that allow for the careers of certain artists to be intensively complemented. In this way, the collection allows the coexistence of artists who were just born when others were consolidating their career, thus adapting an intergenerational component.
At present, the collection comprises 614 works by 115 artists such as, for instance, Julião Sarmento, Pedro Cabrita Reis, José Pedro Croft, Fernanda Fragateiro, João Maria Gusmão y Pedro Paiva, Alexandre Estrela, Augusto Alves da Silva, Ângela Ferreira, Rui Chafes, Pedro Calapez, Joana Vasconcelos, Vasco Araújo, João Onofre, Francisco Tropa, João Louro, Rui Sanches, Alexandre Farto/ Vhils, Filipa César, Jorge Molder, Priscila Fernandes, Musa Paradisíaca, João Pedro Vale, André Guedes, Bruno Pacheco, Diogo Pimentão, Gabriel Abrantes, João Queiroz, Rui Toscano and Pedro Barateiro.
COLECCIÓN INELCOM | Corporate Collecting Award
The Colección INELCOM Arte Contemporáneo was born of a social responsibility to civil society, of a long-term cultural project with the aim of bettering the Spanish cultural heritage and providing opportunities to young talents on the art scene. It was also born of the need the company feels to make the use of the new technologies applied to their products and also their diffusion in the world of art, known. One example of this is the application of lighting technologies to project a certain image of the INELCOM brand.
The collection is an asset that forms part of the business assets of INELCOM that is directly and exclusively linked to its activity. The company’s equipment and systems have been supplied to galleries, museums, etc. Moreover, it collaborates with various artists in the creation of works of art, offering them the best knowledge in engineering along with a vast experience.
The collection comprises 143 works by 51 artists that revolve around three ideas strongly connected to INELCOM. In the beginning, the axis revolved around the communication/ non-communication concept, dealing with the reality of the human being and his relationship to his context, fitting with INELCOM’s main line of business, telecommunications.
Subsequently, energy efficiency caused the collection to evolve towards a new theme: energy as the source, vehicle and object in all of its possible manifestations.
The final stage has been connected to memory, art as a form of knowledge in the face of oblivion, and with it came the Hotel Mont Sant de Xátiva, property of INELCOM, built on Cistercian ruins, formerly an Arabic palace, where archaeological work is being undertaken.
Both the collection and the Museum Project of Xátiva (Valencia), have enjoyed the guidance of the art professional, Mr. Vicente Todolí, since 2011.
COLECCIÓN BANCO DE SABADELL | Corporate Collecting Award
The Colección Banco Sabadell, directed by Miquel Molins, has an extensive collection of works of art permanently exhibited in the offices, branches and installations of the bank, used daily by employees and clients.
Due to its initial ornamental function, the Banco Sabadell was not originally conceived as a collection. However, in recent years, the acquisitions have been more selective, and quality together with retrospective value have replaced that initial decorative slant.
As a result of the bank’s growth and expansion, the acquisition of works has undergone a considerable drive, and at present it includes the best work of Spanish and international artists which must be present in any collection of contemporary Spanish art. The collection also responds to a philanthropic intention and through its activity aims to foster creation, the art system and the art market.
Miquel Molins is a Doctor in the History and Theory of Art and Associate Professor of the History and Theory of Art at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. He directed the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona. He has also been a curator at the Fundación Miró de Barcelona and has curated numerous exhibitions both in Spain and abroad. He has published a number of essays on art reviews and on modern and contemporary art in the specialised press and publications. At present, he is professor of Contemporary Art and Theory at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, President-Director of the Fundación Banco Sabadell and Director of the Banco Sabadell art collection.
RADIO TELEVISIÓN ESPAÑOLA | Special “A” Award
RTVE, faithful to its duty to public service and its firm commitment to the world of Culture, has been strongly present at ARCO for 35 years, offering extensive cover on both programmes and the news. Moreover, the web, RTVE.es dedicates considerable space to this important cultural event in its digital format.
RTVE has been actively participating in ARCO since 2011 through the installation of a stand from which, under the motto “RTVE, somos cultura” programmes are made and live connections broadcast for both TVE and for RNE, in their various national and international programmes. The Corporación also shows visitors to the stand documentaries on ARCO.
DIRECCIÓN DE COMUNICACIÓN Y MARKETING
Guadal Guadalupe Madueño Chacón Dpto. Comunicación
Tel: (34) 91 722 58 22 • Fax: (34) 91 722 57 93
lupe@ifema.es
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