Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires
The Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (Malba) – Costantini Foundation, better known simply as MALBA, is an Argentine museum founded in September 2001. It was created with the objective of collecting, preserving, studying and disseminating Latin American art from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. It is a private, non-profit institution that preserves and exhibits a heritage of approximately 400 works by the region's leading modern and contemporary artists.
The Malba combines a calendar of temporary exhibitions, with the permanent exhibition of its institutional collection, and functions simultaneously as a plural space for the production of cultural and educational activities. It offers cycles of cinema, literature and design and carries out an educational task through programs aimed at different types of audiences.
In May 2007, the Malba was declared a Site of Cultural Interest by the Legislature of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, and in November 2008 it received the Platinum Konex Award as the Best Cultural Entity of the last decade.
Building
The MALBA headquarters was designed by the Cordovan architects Atelman-Fourcade-Tapia, winners of a project competition held in 1997. The jury was made up of Norman Foster (English), César Pelli (Argentine) and Mario Botta (Swiss), internationally renowned architects.
This is a deconstructivist style building, a current of fashion architecture in the '90s, characterized by the juxtaposition of volumes forming polyhedral pieces, and the use of sharp angles highlighting the edges of the bodies. The construction management was in charge of the veteran Argentine studio MSGSSS, and the contractor was Gerlach Campbell Construcciones S.A.
In general terms, the museum is read from the outside as a set of volumes clad in Spanish limestone, with one of green glass like a courtain wall. From the beginning, the exterior appearance of the building has been associated more than once with the Galician Center for Contemporary Art, designed by the architect Álvaro Siza in 1993, since it even shares the cladding material on its facades. Inside, The main access to the collections is from the east side of the building, via a series of escalators that run along the glass façade as they go up.
Expansion in Plaza Perú
In 2011, the Buenos Aires Legislature authorized the project of the architect Carlos Ott for the construction of the MALBA annex, expanding the museum under Plaza Perú and maintaining that public space, using a transparent glass floor that would allow viewing the exhibition also from the square, and giving overhead natural light to the new museum.
MALBA Facade
Interior of the entrance of MALBA
Interior of MALBA
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Permanent Collection
One of the institutional pillars of Malba is the exhibition of its artistic heritage. The permanent collection of the museum, dedicated to the production of Latin America, is made up of 400 works by 160 artists ranging from the beginnings of modernity to the most recent productions of contemporary art, including works from Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, among other countries.
Paintings, sculptures, drawings, collages, photography, video, installations, and objects show the variety and complexity of the region's art, through a set organized into four basic nuclei: the different variants of Latin American modernities and avant-gardes from the 20s; a set of paintings from the 1930s and 1940s that show the diversity of surrealism and the affirmation of the art/politics debate; a third sector exhibits abstract and concrete tendencies, from Madí art to kineticism; and the last part dedicated to contemporary art with works from the new figuration, pop, conceptualism and minimalism of the 60s and 70s.
Outstanding works
- 'Abaporu' (1928) Tarsila do Amaral
- 'Retrato de Ramón Gómez de la Serna' (1915) Diego Rivera
- 'Authorport with chango and parrot' (1942) Frida Kahlo
- 'Pareja' (1923) Xul Solar
- 'The Green Morning' (1943) Wilfredo Lam
- 'El viudo' (1968) Fernando Botero
- 'Universal symmetrical composition in black and white' (1931) Joaquín Torres Garcia
- 'Women naked reading' (1932) Armando Reverón
- 'The Disasters of Mysticism' (1942) Roberto Matta
- 'Fiesta de San Juan' (1936) Candido Portinari
- 'Candombe' (1921) Pedro Figari
- 'The Impossible' (1945) Maria Martins
- 'Metaesquema' (1958) Helio Oiticica
- Diego y yo' (1949) Frida Kahlo
Exhibitions and programs
Acquisition Program
In 2004, Malba began an Acquisitions Program with the aim of expanding the collection towards contemporary art and completing its historical heritage. The program is financed by the Costantini Foundation, the Friends of Malba Association and a group of individuals, foundations and companies that generously participate in the call. Added to these actors is the arteBA Galleries Fair, which since 2005 has invited Malba and other museums in the country to participate in its Matching Funds program, sponsored by the Zurich company. The American Express Foundation also joined, which donated a piece within the framework of the Buenos Aires Photo fair. The Acquisitions Program has already allowed the museum to add 100 works by the main exponents of local contemporary art.
Donations and loans
Since its foundation, Malba has sought to constantly expand its collection of Argentine and Latin American art, in addition to the quality of works offered to the public. Donations from individuals and institutions, as well as the strategy of requesting works on loan, in loans for extended periods of time, are fundamental and necessary to continue with the expansion of the museum's heritage. The donations received are exposed to the public with a special recognition towards the donor, with the express mention of the origin of the work and its way of entering the museum. Likewise, the commodatums express in room the collection from which they come and are opportunely integrated into the publications of the collection.
Temporary exhibitions
Malba displays in its annual program a series of temporary exhibitions of Argentine, Latin American and international art, with an average of 4 large exhibitions per season, which last approximately 3 months each. In addition to small-format exhibitions that are presented in room 3, located on the first floor of the museum.
The shows involve a dynamic of local, regional, and international guest curators, their own productions, exhibitions produced in collaboration with other similar institutions, and traveling exhibitions taken over by the museum.
Contemporary Program
A program dedicated to current local and regional art, with the aim of contributing to creating a space for professional curatorial practice and, at the same time, a field of discussion for the production of contemporary Latin American artists. This cycle presents collective and individual exhibitions.
Intervention Program
An architectural and symbolic space for local and regional artists to carry out works specially designed and produced to be installed in Malba. In March 2009, the sixth project of the Intervention program was presented, designed and produced by Pablo Reinoso, an Argentine artist living in Paris.
Roaming exhibitions
As one of the axes of growth and development of Malba, starting in 2005, a part of the exhibitions produced by the museum began to be presented in other international institutions, reinforcing Malba's presence on the international art map. Among them, the following stand out:
- Xul Solar. Visions and revelationsco-produced by Malba and the Pinacoteca do Estado de Sâo Paulo, which was presented at both offices mentioned and also at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, between 27 January and 16 April 2006; and at the Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo Museum, Mexico City, between 18 May and 20 August 2006.
- Victor Grippo. A retrospective. Works 1971-2001which was exhibited in Malba and in the Miami Art Central (MAC), from March 23 to June 18, 2006.
Cultural programming
Education and cultural action
In addition to the regular programs of guided tours of the permanent collection and its temporary exhibitions, and activities for children, families and schools, the Education and Cultural Action area has implemented new proposals adapted to the needs of different audiences over these years.
The museum now offers programs for seniors; people with mental and motor disabilities; deaf and hard of hearing people; blind and visually impaired people, and adults in permanent education. In addition, with the Let's Play Visits program, Malba educators carry out activities in soup kitchens and community institutions, allowing the museum and its heritage to reach new areas.
Cinema
malba.cine is one of the main alternative cinemas in the city. From Thursday to Sunday, it offers different independent film cycles, reviews by established filmmakers and a privileged space for the premiere of Argentine and Latin American films that are not widely distributed in commercial spaces.
Since its beginnings, Malba has been one of the venues of the BAFICI (Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival), developing retrospectives and exhibitions in the context of the festival, and schedules its cycles in permanent collaboration with Filmoteca Buenos Aires, one of the most important archives in the country and with the Audiovisual Heritage Support Association (APROCINAIN). Together with this association, dozens of essential films of national and international cinematography have been rescued in 35 mm. In addition, it publishes a collection of DVDs of Latin American cinema.
Literature
The area organizes different literary activities such as presentations, conferences, round tables, meetings with authors and tributes to writers. Throughout the year, it develops an average of 30 courses by renowned storytellers and more than 50 activities open to the public, with free admission. In November 2008 malba.literatura presented the first International Literature Festival in Buenos Aires (Filba), which brought together more than 80 international and Argentine writers, and gathered 6,000 people for three days.
Design
The malba.diseño area was launched in 2003 as a space dedicated to hosting different expressions of Argentine and Latin American design. It is divided into different thematic axes: the selection, exhibition and dissemination of products in Tiendamalba, in relation to different object themes related to Latin American design; an annual cycle that brings together different creators from the world of clothing / industrial design based on a curatorial proposal; a program that addresses the problem of children's toy design, and different special projects, such as MoMA Destination: Buenos Aires. New Argentine Design (2007) or Destination Brazil, a selection of Brazilian design made by MoMA in collaboration with Malba (July 09).
How to get there by public transport
The bus lines (urban bus) 67, 102 and 130, run along Avenida Figueroa Alcorta, in the vicinity of the museum.