Bombas Gens donates part of its art collection to the Generalitat

VALENCIA. The agreement between the Fundació Per Amor a l’Art (FPAA), manager of the Bombas Gens exhibition space, and the Generalitat Valenciana seems to be beginning to take shape. It was a few months ago when the intention of the private project to find a fit with the public administration was revealed, an offer that necessarily goes through the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM), now directed by the former director of Bombas Gens, Nuria Enguita. Although the Ministry of Culture insisted in December that it was only a proposal and even denied the start of conversations, the private foundation has revealed today that both institutions are working on a collaboration agreement “that will make it possible for part of the José Luis Soler Vila collection (previously called the Per Amor a l’Art collection and advised from its origin by Vicente Todolí) contributes to enriching the cultural heritage of the Valencians”.

Thus, the private foundation will donate “part” of its collection to the public administration. Asked by this newspaper, from the entity they have declined to specify which part of the collection will become part of public funds, funds whose “ideal place” would be the IVAM itself, as specified by the department of Rachel Tamarit. “The objective of the FPAA is to make an important contribution to public artistic funds that serves as a legacy of philanthropic work, love for art and roots in Valencia de Jose Luis Soler. It is about giving continuity to the philosophy of the collection which, since its inception, has been to share art with all people. A philosophy that evolves in form, but not in substance”, stresses the vice-president of the Foundation, Susana Lloret.

For its part, from Culture of the Generalitat they see the “progress” of the work meetings as “very positive”. “It is a sign of generosity and trust in the public conservation of some exceptional artistic collections by the Fundació per l’Amor a l’Art. In addition, the fact that these collections can become part of the IVAM Collection enriches and supposes an undoubted guarantee for its conservation and its diffusion”, they explain from the Conselleria. Negotiations are advancing, then, and they do so with a clear objective from the public administration, a message that they have repeated on numerous occasions: “We manage public resources that cannot be happily used to save companies or foundations.”

This last sentence was recently signed by the regional secretary, ximo lopez, although it is a message that has been repeated several times in recent weeks. Also the President of the Generalitat himself, Ximo Puigwho highlighted in his day: “It is not about rescuing anyone but about taking advantage of a very positive investment and giving it continuity to the extent that the cultural project fits into a global project.”

The unknowns of Bombas Gens

All in all, there remain some unknowns to be resolved, since it remains to be known what will be the fit that this collection has in the collections and rooms of an IVAM with a limited space… or not at all. The museum is currently waiting for the green light to be given to its sub-headquarters, which will be located in one of the Parc Central’s warehouses. Another big question still remains to be resolved, what will happen to the foundation’s artistic project and, especially, to the Bombas Gens center once the donation is made.

It should be noted that the young exhibition center, which opened its doors in 2017, has undergone a process of internal transformation in recent years, especially after the pandemic lockdown, with a restructuring of its organization chart, the removal of Vicente Todolí and with the closure of his artistic collection. This was announced by Lloret herself, who spoke of a center focused on the search for “sustainability” and of a collection that is considered finished. “It’s over, because we are in a new stage and we have to be consistent. We have reached where we had to go,” reflected Lloret in an interview published by the magazine Vanity Fair.

Looking to 2023

Although in the process of change, the exhibition proposal at Bombas Gens is maintained in 2023, in which it will present three new exhibitions. It will be in just a few days that the center opens its doors to perform naturethe first major anthological exhibition of the Portuguese artist Carlos Flowers in Spain, a project that reflects on the “temporalities of nature, its refuges and its living and organic qualities”, through a selection of representative works of the author that go from the beginning of his career to the present, including some pieces made especially for the exhibition.

In April it will arrive at your rooms Miralda. Honeymoon: Unclassifieda documentary exhibition that reveals for the first time the unpublished projects that Anthony Miralda he conceived within the framework of his ‘Honeymoon Project’, an artistic project resulting from the “marriage bond” between two monuments: that of Christopher Columbus, in the port of Barcelona, ​​and the Statue of Liberty, in New York. The third exhibition will revolve around the work of the photographer Tim Rauterta sample that covers five decades of his artistic production, from his first experimental works as a student of Otto Steinert, going through some of his most emblematic series, collages and recent works.