Prizes awarded by the ARCO Foundation

Madrid-. The #FundacionARCO has given for the 19th consecutive year, the awards "A" to collecting. On this occasion, the institution has awarded the art collection at the Bank of the Republic of Colombia, in the category International Collecting; the Iberdrola collection, in the category Collecting Corporate, and the Bar-on collection, in the category of Private Collectting. In addition, and it is something new for this year, a Special Prize “A” will be given to Celia Birbragher Sredni, ArtNexus founder.

The #FundacionARCO acknowledges the work of national and international collectors, whose promotion has been one of the main objectives since its creation in 1987.

BANCO DE LA REPÚBLICA DE COLOMBIA OF COLOMBIA | Award for International Collecting

The art collection from the Banco de la República, which began in 1957, now has more than 5,000 works representative of Colombian and Latin American and international artists during the past 500 years. This collection is included among the most important ones in Colombia and has a continuing annual program for acquisitions. The Museums of the Banco de la República displaying different collections carry out top-level international exhibitions, in permanent manner, retrospectives of Colombian artists, national curatorship of modern art, exhibitions as a result of collections research, and it has a space for experimentation with new media. Parallel, in the 29 cultural sites of the Bank in this country, travelling exhibitions are developed, programs for education and art in community.

The Bank collecting starts with the interest of showing Colombian art and through the years it has been consolidated thanks to a permanent program of acquisitions and generous donations, among which we must highlight that of Master Fernando Botero. The collection allows today to show the history of national art for Colombia and the entire world, in a context to see the counterpoint with international art.

According to José Darío Uribe, current general manager of the Banco de la República, "our  main impetus with these collections that has not to do with the desire to treasure, but the interest for preserving and make these works of art available for all Colombians in order to contribute to the intellectual development of the country."

Since 2013, the collection is permanently displayed in a new assembly, in which, through five independent curatorships, more than 800 pieces by 250 artists, made between the 15th century and the first decade of the 21st century are exhibited. Located in 16 rooms, the proposal favors dialogues between the Colombian and international plastic art, while it contrast works of different historical periods to establish thematic and aesthetic relationships between them. Chronological assembly, but non-linear is an invitation to reflect on Colombian art in its multiple contexts. More information at: www.banrepcultural.org/ coleccion-de-arte-banco-de-la-republica

IBERDROLA COLLECTION | Award for Corporate Collecting

The Iberdrola collection has been increasing over the time, mainly in the last seven years when it has had a major boost, since it has been rearranged and considerably expanded, including acquisitions carried out at ARCOmadrid.

The set of works forming today the collection is ordered in three blocks in constant development illustrating and highlighting three important stages of the development of Iberdrola as a company. Also, we must highlight the important presence of pieces from the cultural environments in which Iberdrola develops its activity, as realization of the close ties between the company and the societies in which it is present. Finally, light has a special role in all the works, both those projecting the surface of the pieces and those radiating light from inside.

The first block of the collection illustrates the emerging of the company in Bilbao at the beginning of the last century (1901), with Basque artworks of the late 19th century and early 20th, when the modern art was put in our country. Currently, this group has paintings of Guinea, Guiard, Regoyos, Iturrino, Echevarria, Zuloaga, Zubiaurre, Maeztu, Arrúe, Arteta or Ucelay, among others.

The company's growth and the consolidation of its energy leadership in Spain from the middle of the last century are reflected in the second block of the collection, which is made up of works by Spanish artists from 1957 – a year in which groups like El Paso or team 57 -are created until nowadays. From 1957 are works by Oteiza, followed by Chillida, Tàpies, Saura, Palazuelo, Antonio López, Equipo crónica, Valdes, Arroyo, Gordillo, Esther Ferrer, Pérez Villalta,  Sicilia, Broto, Uslé, Muñoz, Iglesias, Plensa, Navarro, Badiola, Irazu, Urzay, de la Cruz, Prego, Mendizabal and Aranberri, among others.

Finally, the international expansion of the company from 2001 is the opening of the Collection to international artists and a new focus on other media such as photography and video. Six photographs that Gerhard Richter had made form himself at his studio opened a third group that has a broad representation of the Düsseldorf school (Bernd & Hilla Becher, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruff, Candida Höffer, Axel Hütte) and the presence of artists such as Cy Twombly, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Robert Mapplethorpe, Francesca Woodman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Shirin Neshat, Mona Hatoum, Gabriel Orozco, Vik Muniz, Willie Doherty and Luisa Lambri, among others.

The Collection shows the Iberdrola's commitment related to the world of art and it is an example of the sponsorship it develops as a socially responsible and sustainable company supporting actions preserving the heritage of the past as those promoting the forms of artistic expressions that, from our time, give us the keys to the future.

The accessibility to funds is an important part related to this commitment, so it is usually lend to museums and other institutions, and they are displayed for the public through the “La Piel Translúcida” traveling exhibition, which after having been exhibited in Bilbao and Valladolid, they will come to Madrid on February 26 (CentroCentro), coinciding with the ARCOmadrid celebration. The exhibition includes a selection of the painting works, sculpture, photography and video from the Iberdrola collection.

BAR-ON COLLECTION | Award for Private Collecting

The collection focuses on the Colombian contemporary art with some international figure. It is distributed among three floors elegantly set up around the rooms and living spaces. They worked for the ARTbo edition in a new presentation showing new acquisitions and inviting Erika Martínez Cuervo as a curator.

Under the title Presencias, the presentation of the collection was mainly focused on the drawing and on the intimate relationship between the drawing as the first manner to present an idea and its relationship with other media (painting and sculpture). In this sense, there were important series of drawings of a artist mimo hung together as in the case of the series by Beatriz González, Oscar Muñoz, Luz Ángela Lizarazo.

Also, there is a series of works questioning the concept of the line as a catalyst of ideas and stories.

Artists who are part of the collection: Luis Fernando Roldan, Ana González, María Paris, Angélica María Zorrilla, Flavia de Rin, Bernando Ortiz, Alberto Baraya, Johanna Calle, Liliana Angulo, María José Argenzio, María Fernanda Cardoso, Mark Dion, Luz Ángela Lizarazo, Nil Yaler, Jaime Avila, Juan Fernández Herrán, Gabriel de la Mora, Rosario Lopez, José Alejandro Restrepo, Edwin Sánchez, María José Arjona, Glenda León, Teresa Margolles, Magdalena Atria, Lucas Ospina, Carlos Garaicoa, Marina Abramovic, Cesra del Valle...

CELIA SREDNI OF BIRBRAGHER - ARTNEXUS| Special Prize "A"

Celia Birbragher Sredni, a founder for the ArtNexus magazine has been one of the pioneers in favor of the Latin American art to create a monographic magazine on this theme in 1982. The most outstanding art critics and curators in the continent that hold today posts of prestige in museums and patronages have worked for this magazine.

Celia Sredni from Birbragher ArtNexus have participated in ARCOmadrid since the first edition, and they have worked as ambassadors when the fair has wanted to know about the artistic scene of other South American countries.

Contemporary Latin American art in Colombia/ArtNexus is a specialized magazine with 38 years of existence, and to confirm its leadership as the magazine of higher quality, coverage and history of the continent, it launched the portal Artnexus.com to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

It was created in 1976 in the city of Bogotá as Arte en Colombia, with the aim of becoming a specialized magazine dedicated to disseminate, promote and deepen the knowledge related to national art. Its initial objectives covering the local area, but soon, the necessity to cover a broader horizon, made it to extend their borders to the Latin American sphere, and it became the magazine   for spreading - par excellence- related to the Latin American plastic arts.

During this quarter century, 135 published editions and a team composed of more than 150 collaborators around the world are included. The coverage includes the current international exhibitions, the emerging of new figures, the analysis of trajectories, spreading of events, fairs and auctions, the quarterly calendar for galleries and museum, the catalogues review and art magazines, as well as the selling books.

Artnexus.com project allows you to set a field of action in Internet, to offer all kinds of services related to other areas related to the world of art. They include index of all published articles, archive of photographic material, permanent news updating, galleries and virtual catalogs, sale and promotion of art works, links with institutions and museums around the world.

In 1996, the magazine had celebrated its 20 years, a record time for the existence of a cultural magazine in Colombia. ArtNexus had been consolidated as a company and as a manager of culture. Years of experience attending international art exhibitions and related events made stronger the prestige of the magazine. It was the moment of thinking how to take another step forward.

The facilities of the magazine moved to a better space that would respond further as a container for alternative projects including the creation of the ArtNexus Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Documentation Center related to the information collection assembled by the magazine in its time of existence. The books cataloging, magazines, documents, works and materials for visual support are some of the tasks currently the magazine offers among its different activities.