A Stronger Connection: Latin America and the Museo Universidad de Navarra
Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro will take the lead in promoting this change, which has been developing for years.
The recent appointment of Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro (A Coruña, 1970) as the new artistic director of the Museo Universidad de Navarra (MUN) marks a significant shift for the museum, especially regarding its focus on Latin America. This leading private university museum in Spain will celebrate its tenth anniversary on January 22, with festivities already underway, highlighted by the exhibition “Colección Museo Universidad de Navarra. Cuatro décadas” (University of Navarra Museum Collection. Four Decades)”, which will be on display until August 24, 2025.
Pérez-Barreiro's arrival is particularly noteworthy, as emphasized by the museum. He has collaborated with the museum for the past six years and has a distinguished career in university museums featuring Latin American collections. Notably, he has also served as the director and chief curator of the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, one of the most significant collections of Latin American art, which has been a key supporter of the MUN in its engagement with Ibero-America.
This evolution towards a greater emphasis on Latin American art has been gradual but consistent, fostered by the growing connections the museum has established with patrons from the region. With Pérez-Barreiro at the helm, it is clear that the MUN is poised to deepen its commitment to showcasing and celebrating Latin American culture in the years to come.
Another way to connect with Latin America has been through the Master of Curatorial Studies, which in 2018 became Spain's only official postgraduate degree to train the new generation of curators. "From the first day of class, I knew I wanted to be part of this project. The MUN has a unique characteristic, that of being a university museum in Spain," said Gabriel, who, throughout its six editions, has been a teacher of this master's degree that has mainly welcomed students from Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Panama, among other countries.
Just a few days ago, the MUN Master's degree took another step forward: graduate Dailey Fernández (Cienfuegos, Cuba, 1993) became the first to earn a doctorate at the University.Just a few days ago, the MUN Master's degree took another step forward: graduate Dailey Fernández (Cienfuegos, Cuba, 1993) became the first to earn a doctorate at the University.
A 21st-century museum, with many improvements in terms of genre
Although the donation of the photographic work and materials of the engineer and artist José Ortiz Echagüe in 1981 gave rise to the idea of the museum, the true genesis of the Museo Universidad de Navarra (MUN) building, the contemporary art museum of the University of Navarra, was cemented after the donation of the collection of María Josefa Huarte Beaumont in 2008.
Since then, the MUN collection has continued to grow through different channels, such as “Tender Puentes”, a curatorial project in which contemporary artists engage in dialogue with pioneering 19th-century authors and works from the Museum Collection. In addition, the program allows invited artists to create new productions, which become part of the collection of 21st-century Photography.
Just as in the 19th and 20th Century Photography collections, sadly, one would not expect to find gender parity; in the 21st Century Photography collection, I would have liked to see a more significant presence of female photographers among the list of 41 creators that make up the collection.
In the collection of 20th-century Paintings, things are not very different, although it is worth noting that the only female artist present, the Navarrese Isabel Baquedano (Mendavia, 1936-Madrid, 2018), has the largest number of works, just over double that of the next artist on the list.
In the Sculpture, drawings, and Engravings collections, Elena Asins's solo presence (Madrid, 1940—Azpíroz, Navarra, 2015) stands out.
Clearly, gender equality is an issue that the new artistic director should intensify his efforts on.
9 years in review: the bigger picture revealed
Finally, I would like to share some comparative data from the museum's annual reports. Over the past nine years, the museum has published nine reports that cover a complete academic year, running from September 1 of each year to August 31 of the following year. This data provides insight into the museum's activities, allowing you to interpret and evaluate its performance over this period.