Monographic exhibition of the Fundación ARCO Collection at Torreão Nascente da Cordoaria Nacional in Lisbon

Curated by Miguel von Hafe, the exhibition will feature a total of 37 works by 33 artists, all of them acquired at different editions of ARCO. The exhibition will host pieces by Portuguese artists such as Ana Jotta, Carlos Bunga, Filipa César, Francisco Tropa, Gil Heitor Cortesão, Helena Almeida, Jorge Molder, Miguel Palma, Pedro Cabrita Reis, Rui Toscano, Vasco Araújo,and Von Calhau!,and will be placed in an international context with works by artists such as Ângela Ferreira, Antoni Muntadas, Arnulf Rainer, Babi Badalov, Christian Boltanski, Danh Vō, Elmgreen & Dragset, Francesc Ruiz, Giuseppe Penone, Gwenneth Boelens, Ibon Aranberri, Jarbas Lopes, John Chamberlain, Lucia Koch, Marlena Kudlicka, Regina de Miguel, Ryan Gander, Thomas Ruff, Wolfgang Tillmans, Yinka Shonibare and Yorgos Sapountzis.

Project curator Miguel von Hafe has been associated with the Fundación ARCO Collection since 2010, first as director of the CGAC (Galician Centre for Contemporary Art) and later as head of acquisitions. He is also a great connoisseur of Portuguese art following his visit to the Museo Serralves and other institutions in the country.

The invitation of the Câmara Municipal de Lisboa to Fundación ARCO to hold the Criteria exhibition falls within its programme of exhibitions of private collections that began with the Fundación Serralves Collection and that of Fundación La Caixa. This invitation will serve to further strengthen, if possible, ARCO and IFEMA’s ties with Portugal, as well as to continue furthering the work of Fundación ARCO in promoting the collecting and appreciation of contemporary art, especially on the Portuguese art scene.

Created and promoted by IFEMA since 1987, the collection gathers works acquired at each edition of ARCO. In the words of exhibition curator Miguel von Hafe, "from its creation, the Collection has taken on a pedagogical character with the desire to become an example for the constitution of an important international collection in a context in which the institutional structures that could assume that role in Spain were still virtually non-existent”. Hence also the need for advice from professionals in the art world for the selection of works, "thus ensuring independence and an external viewpoint based precisely on professionally established and justifiable criteria”.

Currently, "it is impressive to see how in the initial phase of purchases a differentiating territory of unquestionable quality was instantly consolidated, proposing a reading of contemporaneity, essentially through well-established names", he adds.

Today, the Collection, with more than 300 pieces, is an active part of the programming of the CA2M Centro de Arte dos de Mayo in Móstoles, where it has been on loan since 2012, with works present in the different themed exhibitions. One of the big projects that will take place alongside ARCOmadrid 2019 will be the exhibition at Sala Alcalá 31 entitled "Hay cosas encerradas dentro de los muros que, si salieran de pronto a la calle y gritaran, llenarían el mundo". Latinoamérica en las Colecciones CA2M y Fundación ARCO, curated by Manuel Segade, that will include the most important works by South and Central American artists owned by Fundación ARCO. The CA2M team manages the Collection in such a way as to transform it into a catalogued, accessible and active asset that is available for loans to institutions, both here in Spain and overseas. In this regard, in 2019 loans are planned for Berlin’s KW Institute, CDAN (Huesca), Museum of Fine Arts Houston, PAMM Museum Miami and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.