This article carries out a contextualization concerning the conception of the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, emphasizing the directorship of Manuel Borja-Villel (1998-2008), during which were held institutional experimentations that intended to approximate the museum, the city and the community. Subsequently, we analyze the directorship of his successor, Bartomeu Marí (2008-2015), to verify the construction of an “institutional culture” concerning the proposition of these institutional experimentations. We evaluate, on the one hand, the possibility that the maintenance of this kind of proposition is linked to the personas of specific directors. On the other hand, we question whether the internal structures of the institution could determine and limit the autonomy of the directors in case of eventual conflicts of interests.
Institutional Experimentations; Art Institutions; Art Museums; MACBA