Manuel Segade Feminizes and 'Performs' the Reina Sofía

Decidedly feminist and with a leading role for 'performers' exploring themes such as immigration and racism through their pieces. This is how the new season of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía will be, where female artists will take center stage. Its director, Manuel Segade, has designed this feminized exhibition calendar, starting to turn the page on the legacy of Manuel Borja-Villel. He will also address the "gradual" reorganization of the collection that his predecessor already restructured. Although many proposals are inherited, Segade introduces three key exhibitions dedicated to Laia Estruch, Marisa González, and Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre.

The new season will be the prelude to a triennium of significant changes in both the collection and the architectural and administrative structure of the museum. Works will be undertaken at its main headquarters, on the façades of the Nouvel and Sabatini buildings, in some rooms and auditoriums, and the Crystal and Velázquez palaces in Retiro Park will be closed for renovations. The new reorganization of the collection starting in 2026 and works in the historic Sabatini building "will not alter visits to Guernica."

Five out of nine planned exhibitions this season will be dedicated to female creators. "Women artists, performance art and their bodies, and early 20th-century Spain are the three pillars of the new season," summarized the museum director, dressed in a striking "hope green" pleated fabric suit as he highlighted.

The season opens with a major retrospective dedicated to Soledad Sevilla, winner of the Velázquez Prize in 2002. Titled 'Rhythms, Patterns, and Variables,' it is the most ambitious of the nine temporary exhibitions scheduled.

Female artists will continue to play a crucial role at Reina with national creators like Barcelona's Laia Estruch and Bilbao's Marisa González - Velázquez Prize 2023 winner and pioneer in feminist art and media criticism - Lebanese Hugette Caland, or Lisbon-based African-origin 'performer' Grada Kilomba, previously programmed by Borja-Villel and now presented in Spain.

"Caland and Kilomba address issues such as racism or migration in their exhibits," highlights Segade. "Caland's work traverses major migration problems of the 20th century; she is a painter who works with textiles, from whom we will showcase more than 200 hours in the largest retrospective ever held of her work," notes the director about this artist born in 1931 and passed away in 2019, whose work has garnered attention from MoMA and other major museums. 'Opera to a Black Venus. What Would Tomorrow Say If Today's Ocean Emptied?' is Kilomba's exhibition title, whose performances address memory, trauma, race, and gender.

The exhibition dedicated to Guatemalan Nafus Ramírez-Figueroa's "political and poetic" art and Estruch's also emphasize performance art. Segade presents Estruch as "the most relevant performer in contemporary Spain." He highlights how her "enormous sculptures" featured in 'Hello Everyone' "are physical scores through which she generates peculiar sounds with her gymnastic acrobatics."

The museum reevaluates early 20th-century Spanish art with exhibitions like 'Esperpento. Popular Art and Aesthetic Revolution,' which revisits Valle Inclán's contribution to avant-garde," according to Segade, or 'Néstor Reencountered,' a retrospective of neglected Canary Islands artist Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre. 'In Moved Air...' curated by French philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman will rethink Lorca's idea of duende. A verse from 'Romancero Gitano' titles this exhibition featuring works by Rodin, Giacometti, Dalí, or Michaux. "Alongside 'Esperpento...' these are two expository essays on two key contributions to Spain's 20th-century aesthetics brought into current cultural debate," says Segade.

"The setup for the new permanent collection arrangement and changes will be gradual," he promises. "We will do something very basic to improve the labyrinthine condition of the museum - dedicating Sabatini building's top three floors to the permanent collection and the lower two floors plus basements to temporary exhibitions."

"Improving resources is slow," says Segade regarding the reform calendar. In 2026 rooms dedicated to art from the 80s to present day will be remodeled. In 2027, it will be the third floor from the 40s to 60s; in 2028 all of the second floor from late 19th century until Civil War with avant-garde movements and Guernica safe from closures. "We will carefully coordinate not closing its rooms or interrupting visitor flow," he says.

Architectural renovations costing over 16 million euros will be funded by European Recovery Plan (PRTR) funds.

This year’s most notable modification occurs on Nouvel building terraces with Toni Miralda piece removal for new works by Martín Chirino, Soto, Negret "reviving interest in geometric sculptures from sixties-seventies."

Additionally restructuring its organizational chart while reorganizing human capital: artistic management administrative staff moving from group 2 up group 1 highest within Administration providing “clear advantages.” “After recent changes we have more efficient effective model ensuring institution public service developing own resources public relations,” celebrates Segade alongside artistic deputy Amanda de la Garza Carlos Urroz head Institutional Cabinet.

Segade also promises more avant-garde cinema literature live arts including music contemporary dance within museum activities.