Following the trend of large European museum institutions such as the Boijmans of Rotterdam, which two years ago inaugurated the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, an imposing building where, in addition to storing the 150,000 works that make up its extensive collections (Hieronymus Hieronymus, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Kandinsky ) seeks other uses beyond custody and conservation, the Fundació La Caixa will transform its current warehouse in l’Hospitalet de Llobregat into a new cultural facility. The ArtStudio CaixaForum will bring together the 1,069 works from its contemporary art collection, one of the most relevant private collections that currently exist in Europe, and will be a research space and think tank or meeting and exchange point for art and culture professionals. and thought at the national and international level.
The project was announced this Thursday by the president of the La Caixa Foundation, Isidre Fainé, and the mayor of l’Hospitalet, Núria Marín, who have sealed an agreement for the conversion and expansion of the warehouse located at the confluence of the Leonardo da Vinci Street and Carrilet Avenue in a modern artistic space that aspires to become the great driving force and one of the largest poles of attraction of the Cultural District, where in recent years numerous artists have settled and the old factory complexes are giving way to galleries and creative spaces. The rehabilitation of the warehouse, based on an architectural project by Pretel Arquitectura, will begin in mid-2024 and the ArtStudio CaixaForum is scheduled to begin operations in 2026. In total it will occupy 10,000 square meters and will involve an investment of 12 million euros.
“ArtStudio CaixaForum represents the high point of 40 years of work with our collection and will be a boost in our commitment to bring culture to everyone as an engine of social transformation. With this project we want to give even more value to this unique heritage and continue working in the connection with the most vivid reality of the art of our days and in the ability to create associations and establish links between art and the world around us,” said Isidre Fainé. Started in the eighties by María de Corral and currently directed by Nimfa Bisbe, the collection brings together a unique collection with relevant works by 455 artists such as Joseph Beuys, Bruce Nauman, Gerhardt Richter, Sigmar Polke, Doris Salcedo, Mona Hatoum, Cristina Iglesias, Tacita Dean, Olafur Eliasson, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Juan Muñoz, Pierre Huyghe, Antoni Tàpies, Ignasi Aballí, Soledad Sevilla, Antoni Muntadas or Dora García. To date it has been the subject of 194 exhibitions and so far this year alone it has had 585,000 visitors.
Although private, the collection has always had a public vocation. When the fund began to be assembled, which today offers a vision of the last forty years of creation and points towards the future, there were hardly any museums, foundations or collections dedicated to contemporary art. It is currently distributed between the aforementioned warehouse in l’Hospitalet and CaixaForum Barcelona, ??both of which are at the limit of their storage capacity. The concentration of heritage in a single space, which in addition to storage and custody will perform other functions as a “state reference center for research and conservation of works of art”, with projects led jointly with universities and centers around the world, will allow the At the same time, free up spaces in the Barcelona center to increase its program of activities.
The building that will house ArtStudio CaixaForum was built in 1976 and will be transformed and expanded by Pretel Arquitectura, a studio that has worked, among other renovations, on the Annex Hall of the Palau Sant Jordi or the stands of the Olympic Stadium. It is designed to be open for visits by interest groups and professional groups, and seminars and activities related to artistic heritage will be organized. Its implementation in l’Hospitalet has been welcomed with enthusiasm by its mayor, Núria Marín, for whom the center “brings our artists and creatives closer to a unique and singular heritage, and reinforces a district that has never stopped growing and that includes day after day new artistic and creative proposals that consolidate it as a cultural reference in our country”.
The building will be equipped with the necessary infrastructure for good conservation, restoration and storage. The basement and a side plot will be expanded, and will have spaces for different uses, such as conservation, study, management and storage of works that require strict climate conditions (light, temperature and humidity) for their conservation. In addition, it will have spaces to store works, packaging, museum furniture and equipment, audiovisual equipment and senior management office furniture that do not require climate conditions with restrictive parameters. There will also be a unit for logistical, technical and maintenance support of the new warehouse, as well as spaces that will house the facilities, machines and equipment necessary for the correct functioning of the building.
