17.01.2006

NMAC Foundation

We often think that living in Tarifa means not enough culture… and we don’t look for it. When we live in a big city we are surrounded with culture and we don’t need to search. Here it’s not like that, art isn’t far away but we have to look for it.

Text_Gaetane Hermans
Fotos_NMAC & Foto Luz

We often think that living in Tarifa means not enough culture… and we don’t look for it. When we live in a big city we are surrounded with culture and we don’t need to search. Here it’s not like that, art isn’t far away but we have to look for it.

I am often surprised that lots of friends don’t know about the NMAC foundation. We have a high quality modern art centre only 30 minutes away from Tarifa and only a few know that... so I will introduce you to the NMAC foundation. NMAC, Montenmedio Arte Contemporáneo foundation is an institution open to the public since June 2001. It is situated in a meadow inside a nature park near the hilltop town of Vejer de la Frontera (Cádiz). The main activity of the foundation is to develop a collection of open air sculptures. At the moment it’s possible to see works of art by 19 artists and young people. Every set was developed specifically for this location and completed by our production team in situ.

The purpose of NMAC is to organize two exhibitions per year, showing the latest trends in modern art (especially those adapted for the open air) and at the same time transforming the province of Cádiz into an international reference centre for modern art.

Every current project was created specifically for this location by the invited artists using local materials and assembled by specialized technicians from this region. Some 10 artists are invited every two years to develop projects for the foundation. Their election is decided by an international committee composed of art experts from all over the world: Marc Blondeau, modern art expert; Enrico Lunghi, art director of the Casino of Luxemburg; Bartomeu Marí, chief conservator of the MACBA (Barcelona) and Jerome Sans, co-director of the Palais of Tokyo in Paris. The selection is based on the criteria of supporting young artists and giving them the opportunity to exhibit together with experts. Consideration is also given to foreign artists who have never exhibited in Spain.



There is a school and university project running, and guided tours to spread the idea. For children we offer visits with commentary on the works of art, and workshops focused on the natural environment with its plants and animals.
We also offer educational conferences dealing with art and landscape. The aim of the NMAC foundation is to promote respect and appreciation of nature with open air activities like talks, conferences and concerts.

During the summer months NMAC organizes a family programme including open air concerts, photography workshops for children, story lectures and manual workshops (see agenda at end of article or consult www.fundacionnmac.com/actividades_culturales.htm). The NMAC foundation was the coordinator of an EU art and nature project called “Cultura 2000” which took place during 2002 with the participation of the the Wanas foundation of Sweden, the GAIA association of biological architecture and the town hall of Mola di Bari (Italy).

In 2004 the EU subsidised a new project within “Cultura 2000” coordinated by our foundation entitled “Sculpture parks in nature – a bridge between modern art teaching and nature.” It is the foundation´s most recent venture, based on the desire to bring together nature, art and young people. The four partners in this are: Spain (Fundación NMAC); England (Yorkshire Sculpture Park), Italy (Asociación Arte in Erba) and Lituania (Europosparkas). They will give young artists the opportunity to share the installations with school children. Every partner will have to contact four schools in its region and maintain an artist for a maximum of one month. During this period partners and schools will organize meetings and workshops in the sculpture parks.

The individual characteristics of every park will assist in improving the relationship between artists and children, the created atmosphere being the working material for the group. Observation of nature, trees and the places selected by other artists for their sculptures will act as an incentive for the project which the artist carries out with the children. Finally, the artist should work with the elements of the park and the experience gained by the schoolchildren. The projects and materials will be part of exhibitions shown in the four countries.



This way the artist will act like a bridge between partners and schools by carrying out the research in the park and using the experience gained by the school. It will be a new way to see how the various parts can work together. This experience is, on one hand, an incentive for the students and on the other, a new way for teachers to come into contact with art. Also the partners should benefit from this experience, learning new ways to teach modern art allowing the partners, museums and schools to cooperate. Thanks to this experience (learning from each other and above all, sharing resources) it will be possible to achieve a real approach between children and modern art.

There is another project developed with Aleksandra Mir named “Love story”... every one can contact the web page of our foundation and tell his love story. The artist together with the foundation will select 1000 stories and will cut the first letters of the names of their writers into the trees surrounding the foundation. They will stay until time makes them disappear. A book with the stories and photos will be edited... everyone is invited to tell his love story with one word, a sentence or a text as long as he or she wishes. The creation of a library specializing in open air modern art is one of our priorities this season along with centering our winter activities on the organization of guided tours and school workshops.

With these different activities the NMAC foundation of modern art wants to transform itself into an art centre of cultural reference in southern Spain and into a modern art project that pushes the dialogue between art and nature.

So if you want a change of atmosphere and to see works of art by qualified performers… you only need to travel a short distance to Vejer de la Frontera and if you have children you can bring them to our handwork studio or to our narrator and go for a walk through a marvellous nature park enriched with art.

More infos: www.fundacionnmac.com