The Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao

The Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao dedicates its 5th Summer Course to modern art and its contexts
It also opens the call for the 11th edition of training scholarships aimed at young people
The Museum of Fine Arts and the Gondra Barandiarán Foundation reissue their strategic alliance. As a result of this collaboration, both institutions are once again promoting the Summer Course that is taught at the art gallery every summer and which in its fifth edition will analyze the origin and development of museums understood "in their sociocultural contexts."

Under the title The plot of (modern) art. The museum and its contexts, the art gallery will review in 14 sessions – which will be held on June 26, 27 and 28 – various case studies, including that of the Museum of Fine Arts itself “as a paradigm of its connection with the community.” . The experiences of the Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid) and the cases of the Latin American Art Collection of MoMA (New York) and the National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin) will also be exhibited. All these examples aim to diversify “the point of view of the role of museums and collections in the collective story of art. Thus, the conversation will address topics such as decolonization, the construction of speculative fiction stories or image, matter and desire.
Likewise, on the occasion of the centenary of the creation of the Museum of Modern Art of Bilbao – whose collection was de jure joined to the institution governed by Zugaza in 1969 – the fifth Summer Course will be dedicated to remembering the Museum's link with Basque art. In this way, a group of specialists will dissect the path taken by the modern Basque school from its dawn, at the beginning of the late 20th century, to the current scenario. This framework “will be well represented” by research professionals, the artistic curator and creators such as the artist Asier Mendizabal, Luis Pérez-Oramas, Curator Emeritus of Latin American Art at the MoMa, or Miren Jaio, professor in the History degree at the Art from the UPV/EHU and member of Bulegoa z/b. “Institutions such as Azkuna Zentroa, Artium Museoa or the Guggenheim Bilbao, among others” will also meet at the Torre Iberdrola Auditorium, venue of the event.

Furthermore, as on previous occasions, on the last day of study the museum director, Miguel Zugaza, will participate in a conversation with a person with experience in the topic discussed. On this occasion, the Fine Arts has opened the dialogue to the sculptor Cristina Iglesias.

On the other hand, on May 24, the call for applications for the training scholarship program offered by the Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Gondra Barandiarán Foundation was opened. Until next June 16, interested people will be able to opt for a nine-month program – from October 2024 to July 2025 – that includes an amount of 500 gross euros per month. The stay will be supervised by seasoned professionals in different areas of museum management, the same ones that offer places to scholarship recipients: archive and documentation, library, curatorial services, publishing, education, registration and exhibitions and general services.

Those who obtain one of the seven scholarships “will enrich their curriculum, update their knowledge and acquire new skills,” according to the Fine Arts. At the same time, it is a program from which the institution also benefits, seeing its team enriched by the fellows who participate in it. To date there have been nearly 80 participants throughout the 10 editions held by the educational mission.

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