The Museo Nacional de Cerámica y Artes Suntuarias 'González Martí', a state-owned museum of the Ministry of Culture and Sport, today presented the project 'PI©A$$o™' by Rogelio López Cuenca, which can be visited until 28 January.
The proposal, organised by the Ministry of Culture and Sport through the Subdirectorate General of State Museums, is part of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 and forms part of the cultural programme of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
On the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of the famous painter from Malaga, Rogelio López Cuenca, winner of the 2022 National Plastic Arts Prize, has devised a series of museum installations designed specifically for each of the 10 participating state museums. In them, the artist establishes a different dialogue with each collection in order to critically approach the Picasso phenomenon.
The Valencian museum is, after the Museo Nacional de Altamira and the Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática (ARQVA), the third venue for this initiative. On this occasion, the intervention consists of a dialogue between the museum's collection and a set of ceramic pieces and objects with a decorative function, inspired both by Picasso's artistic production and the figure of the painter as a character.
Valladolid; Museo Nacional de Arte Romano, in Mérida; and in Madrid, Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, Museo del Traje. CIPE, Museo Nacional del Romanticismo and Museo Cerralbo, which will be joined by the Museo Fundación Lázaro Galdiano.
A free newspaper
In addition, the project is completed with a publication in the form of a newspaper that will be available free of charge to visitors to the different project venues. It brings together a selection of articles by leading researchers and scholars both on Picasso's work and on the diversity of ways in which the phenomenon of his contradictory fame unfolds and is consumed in contemporary society. The publication accompanies the process of contextualisation and reflection of the interventions in the different museums, with the aim of continuing after the exhibition project has been completed.
The authors of the different articles are, in addition to López Cuenca himself, Paula Barreiro López, Isabel Bellido, Pepa Bueno Fidel, Helena Chávez Mac Gregor, Javier Cuevas del Barrio, Santiago Eraso Beloki, Ana García Alarcón, Francisco Godoy Vega, María Dolores Jiménez Blanco, Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel, Antonio Javier López, Txema Martín, Jorge Luis Marzo, Maite Méndez Baiges, Ángela Molina, Justo Navarro, Mariano de Santa Ana Pulido, Carlos Pardo, Rocío Robles Tardío and Elo Vega.
Sobre la Celebración Picasso 1973-2023
About the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023
The Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 is organised by the Spanish National Commission for the Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso and the Musée National Picasso-Paris, with the support in Spain of Telefónica. The governments of France and Spain agreed to work together on a programme of international scope through this Commission, which brings together the cultural and diplomatic administrations of the two countries, and coordinates the joint actions of the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs of the two countries. In its first half, the programme has registered more than one million visitors to the 22 national and international exhibitions inaugurated, with shows in countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, the United States, Italy and Switzerland. Both the administrations and the state cultural institutions and the Picasso cities have complemented the official international programme with various activities with the same objective of celebrating the work of Pablo Picasso.
PI©A$$o™ PROGRAMME
National Museum of Underwater Archaeology
Cartagena. 26 July - 29 October 2023
The installation consists of the dispersion, throughout the permanent collection, of a set of 'Picasso' (sic) brand diving instruments and material and the video 'Opening Picasso', which revolves around the inauguration of the Picasso Museum in Malaga in 2003, which coincided with a storm that caused the shipwreck and death of some thirty people; coincidentally migrants, like Picasso himself.
González Martí National Museum of Ceramics and Sumptuary Arts
Valencia. 20 September 2023 - 28 January 2024
Proposing a dialogue with the museum's own collection, the installation is made up of a set of ceramic pieces and objects with a decorative or sumptuary function, whose inspiration is both Picasso's artistic production and the figure of the artist himself as a personage.
National Sculpture Museum
Valladolid. 28 September 2023 - 28 January 2024
In the space known as Rincón Rojo, the artist proposes a critical approach to a deep-rooted cliché of patriarchal culture, that of 'the-artist-and-the-model', of which, once again, both Picasso's work and his personal history with regard to his 'muses' represent an archetypal example. In the Casa del Sol, meanwhile, the intervention will consist of the 'infiltration', within the collection of plaster casts, of a bust of the 'hero' Picasso, the mythical King Midas of 20th century art.
National Museum of Roman Art
Mérida. 5 October 2023 - 28 January 2024
The installation proposes a reflection on the construction and legitimisation of the concept of authenticity, linked to the glory disputed by the different 'holy places of Picasso', in a struggle for the exploitation of the symbolic capital represented by his imprint as a fetish and as a relic.
Lázaro Galdiano Foundation Museum
Madrid. 19 October 2023 - 28 January 2024
In the history of 20th century art, Picasso is undoubtedly a major figure. A polysemic term. In one of the most representative rooms of the museum, which houses works by Goya, Salvador Maella, Bayeu, Esteve or Paret and Alcázar, among others, a bust with the painter's features is exhibited, a head that is also a piggy bank, a money box. The object is also known as a 'thief box'.
National Museum of Decorative Arts
Madrid. 19 October 2023 - 28 January 2024
Installation throughout the permanent exhibition of dozens of 'caganers', recurring figures in the nativity scene tradition present in the museum itself. The pieces, from a project carried out in collaboration with Elo Vega ('The Prodigal Son / El hijo pródigo'. Museu Picasso de Barcelona, 2019), have the artist's face and are characterised with different garments and attributes alluding to the diversity of facets of the Picasso myth.
Museo del Traje - Centro Interpretación Patrimonio Etnológico (Costume Museum - Ethnological Heritage Interpretation Centre)
Madrid. 19 October 2023 - 14 January 2024
In the foyer of the museum, a mannequin wears the traditional Breton T-shirt. By having his photograph taken with this seafaring garment, Picasso turned it into a distinctive sign of his own personality, incorporating, with this simple gesture, a complex symbolic set of cultural references. A specially made video completes the installation.
Museum of Romanticism
Madrid. 19 October 2023 - 28 January 2024
A video addresses the Romantic roots of the myth of the genius artist and his popularity. The work is shown in one of the most scenographic rooms in the museum, which houses the Teatrino, a recreation of the façade of the Museum itself that allows the public to take a look at the scenes that took place there in order to better understand the 19th century.
Cerralbo Museum
Madrid. 19 October 2023 - 28 January 2024
On the museum's entrance screen, interspersed with practical information about the museum, a video is projected that looks at one of the main contradictions of the figure of the artist amidst the noise of advertising and the role of art in post-industrial societies.