No one has officially closed the doors, but everyone assumes that Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza’s TBA-21 Foundation will not continue at the Center for Contemporary Creation of Córdoba (C3A) once the agreement is signed with the Junta de Andalucía and Córdoba City Hall expires in March next year. In fact, next week, the last part of the exhibition catalogue will be inaugurated with his collections that he has been exhibiting since his arrival in the city in 2022.
The mayor of Cordoba, José María Bellidowho already in an interview with ABC last June assumed that he would not continue and that this trip had an expiration date, launched this message again yesterday in plenary at the request of the PSOE, although he warned that “If there is a possibility that there is something left in Cordoba in terms of training talentwe will be delighted, and if it depends on us, there will be no problem.
The one who has given the most signs so far that this continuity is coming to an end is the new director of the C3A, Jimena Blázquez, who also pointed out in an interview with this newspaper the same month that “TBA21 owns almost the entire museum and what is left to the management of the C3A itself is much more limited. Her arrival will coincide with another step to give content to the Miraflores center, a commitment to Andalusian creation, what happens is that her words were not definitive because of the agreement in force and because this agreement was forged with her predecessor; but it is undoubtedly not a line to follow.
“I think that the curatorial line of the CAAC and the C3A must be linked to the issues of the times in which we live. I believe in contemporary art as a driving force for generating ideas, as a way of talking about our society. With this fundamental premise, our idea is to give you a lot visibility to Andalusian artists” he expressed then.
The technical orientation of TBA-21 has changed in recent years, and it is not the same one that certified the commitment in Cordoba on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the foundation that sponsors the private collection of Francesca Thissen. In recent days, however, there has been some surprise in the foundation regarding the insinuations that this will not continue, even though, as Bellido repeated yesterday, “no one has yet contacted the City Hall to tell us that this will not continue.” “It will continue.”
Blázquez herself expanded on this phrase in the interview with ABC. “Now what we have to do is sit down and analyze the impact that this program has had in its three years of existence. The discussions are ongoing, but it is clear that this is a new stage because the people who signed this agreement are no longer here.
Guadalquivir Piano Festival
Faced with this nebulous panorama, which suggests the closure of the presence of TBA-21 in Cordoba – the data on visits to the C3A have not experienced a drastic change either, but rather a significant increase – the mayor clarified yesterday that “We will continue to work to find cultural offers which are similar to this one, and we will evaluate them carefully as they usually have a high cost.
On the other hand, the plenary session also addressed some aspects of the past during the question and answer session. Guadalquivir International Piano FestivalOn the one hand, the deputy mayor of the Presidency, Miguel Ángel Torrico, confirmed that the payment of 100,000 euros in aid to his organization was released despite some technical objections, and on the other, the PSOE asked the Cultural Delegate, Isabel Albasdata about your Stay and expenses in Mexico the time when the FIP shared a location with the Aztec country. The stay, as Albas detailed yesterday, lasted a week.
