Dates: September 14, 2011 - January 9, 2012
Place: Sabatini Building, Espacio Uno and different spaces
Organization: Museo Reina Sofia

Andreas Fogarasi (Vienna, 1977) examines the aestheticization and commercialization of urban space and the use of architecture, art and design as instruments of legitimation at the service of power, using different media and formats, from video, photography and text up through installation art and sculpture. In his work, Fogarasi articulates broad, complex webs of discourse that explore the mechanisms by which cultural hegemony is represented, as well as their possible fault lines. His pieces are referential and didactic in appearance but also have a strong aesthetic and formal presence, in which echoes of minimalism and conceptual art can be heard.

With a transversal reading of history and a critical use of exhibition space as the point of departure, in this show the artist analyses the use of abstract art as an element of modernism during the Cold War and explores how this fact can be associated with the process by which contemporary cities have become settings of representation and control. The exhibition's central piece is the documentary Vasarely Go Home, which talks about a twofold event that took place on 18 October 1969 in Kunsthalle Mücsarnok (Budapest). It was the day of the inauguration of the first large retrospective dedicated in Hungary to Victor Vasarely (Pecs, 1908- Paris, 1997), a show presented as a gesture of openness and political normalisation, and also the day that an artist named János Major carried out a discreet yet significant intervention. He attended the inauguration with a small sign saying “Vasarely Go Home!" which he surreptitiously showed to some of the people in attendance.

In addition to the documentary -in which various representatives of the Hungarian cultural scene at the time talk about the significance of the Vasarely retrospective and recall Major's action-, Fogarasi has also installed a series of low walls (built in the same white marble as the floor of the Sabatini Building) that function as sculptures and at the same time as display structures. On these panels we find everything from images of the projects designed by Vasarely to decorate and personalise the facades of the apartment blocks seen throughout the outskirts cities in the 1960 and 70s, to photographs of contemporary urban scenes that illustrate how the legacy of modernism can be seen in the design of public space and in what is called spectacle-architecture. The exhibition also includes a group of walls, this time without photos or textual inscriptions, whose abstract forms the logos of various international cultural institutions.

History of Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
When the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía opened its doors in 1990, it stood as a modern, contemporary Spanish museum on an international scale. Nevertheless, its building has gone through many challenges in order to achieve this goal.

King Felipe II first founded San Carlos Hospital – current headquarters for the museum– in the sixteenth century. It was here that all of the hospitals dispersed throughout the Court were centralized. In the eighteenth century, Carlos III decided to found another hospital, as these facilities did not meet the city’s needs. The present building is the work of architects José de Hermosilla and Francisco Sabatini, who was responsible for a large part of its construction.

In 1788, the death of Carlos III brought the building’s construction to a halt. Although a mere third of Sabatini’s project had been completed, the hospital was set up and began operations as originally planned.

From that time on, several modifications and additions were made until the hospital was shut down in 1965. Its functions were transferred to the Madrid Province Health Service. In spite of many rumors of demolition, the building’s survival was guaranteed in 1977 when it was declared a national monument by royal decree, due to its historic and artistic value.

In 1980, restoration began under the direction of Antonio Fernández Alba, and in April 1986 the Reina Sofia Art Center opened. Its ground and first floors were used as temporary exhibition galleries. Towards the end of 1988, architects José Luis Iñiguez de Onzoño and Antonio Vázquez de Castro made final modifications, of which the three steel and glass elevator towers – designed in collaboration with British architect Ian Ritchie – merit special attention.

The Museo Reina Sofia, an autonomous organization depending on the Spanish Ministry of Culture, was created by Royal Decree 535/88 of May 1988. With its headquarters in San Carlos Hospital, the Collection was made up of works conserved at the time by the Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art. On 10 September 1992, their Majesties King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia inaugurated the Permanent Collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, which until then had only held temporary exhibitions. Now a bona fide museum, its goals – as set forth in the aforementioned decree – were to conserve, expand and exhibit its collections; to promote the general public’s knowledge of and access to contemporary art in its various manifestations; to hold exhibitions at the international level, and to offer training, educational and assessment activities related to its holdings.

http://www.museoreinasofia.es

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