50 years for and by art, MACE

Ibiza has different halls and museums of international importance, such as the MACE, one of the oldest contemporary art museums in Spain, located in Dalt Vila, the upper part of the historic center of the city of Ibiza, and which, since 1999, is a World Heritage Site.

MACE's facilities are composed of two buildings: "The Old Building" a military construction by the engineer Simón Poulet, whose plans he signed in 1727, and the "New Building" by the architect Víctor Beltrán Roca. On the second floor of the museum there is an archaeological complex preserved under the ground that includes elements from various historical periods; the oldest constructions, with a chronology that goes back to the 6th century BC. Among the museum's permanent collections, there are works by Bechtold, Floris, Broner, Micus, Zush/Evru, Flanagan, Vedova, Schlosser, Hausmann, Le Parc, Tàpies, Gordillo, Dmitrienko, Hinterreiter, Vallribera, Broto, Faber, Tur Costa, Echarri, Portmany, etc.

The Museum of Contemporary Art of Eivissa celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2020, a special date that will have its big day on September 9th with an artistic exhibition called "Theory of Joy" directed by the poet, Enrique Juncosa and Elena Ruiz, the current director of the museum.

The preparation of this work will be carried out by a great generation of young artists of Balearic origin as they are: Joan Bennàssar Cerdà (Palma, 1991); Irene de Andrés (Ibiza, 1986); Lara Fluxà (Palma, 1985); Belio Fullana ( Palma, 1985); Adrián Martínez (Ibiza, 1984); Julià Panadés (Mallorca, 1981); Albert Pinya (Palma, 1985); Cristòfol Pons (Ciutadella, 1981); Stella Rahola Matutes (Barcelona, 1980); Bartomeu Sastre ( Palma, 1986) and Marcella Barceló (Mallorca, 1992). All of them have been working during the last two years on this exhibition that will serve to celebrate the 50th anniversary of MACE.

The museum is committed to new talents in contemporary art, along with already seasoned artists, who have taken their art to different international museums. 

The exhibition will enjoy a multidisciplinary practice that applies to arts such as drawing, photography, video, painting, sculpture, music and even performances where socio-political, ecological and solidarity issues will be touched.

This exhibition should have been inaugurated last June 13th but due to the confinement and the current health situation, it has been delayed until this coming Wednesday September 9th. The work will be distributed between the Sala de Armas of the MACE and the space previously occupied by the Lune Rouge gallery, in the Es Gorg de Vila industrial estate. 

MACE has another project for this 50th anniversary about the 1970 Biennial and the origins of the museum. At that time the Ibizan museum did not have large budgets and the art fund was created through donations from artists and prizes from the Biennials where everyone worked on a voluntary basis.

In addition to these artistic projects, one of the latest developments at MACE is the incorporation of 'sign-guiding', a pioneering system of accessibility to the museum's works of art for the deaf and hearing-impaired, so that they can enjoy an explanation of the works in its collection. This work has been carried out together with the Federation of Deaf People of the Balearic Islands (FSIB).

With this action, the museum is moving forward to open its space to all audiences with the implementation of a pioneering system of accessibility that once again places MACE as one of the world's leading museums. Congratulations and for 50 years more.