Reducing contemporary art on Ibiza to the group Ibiza 59 would be too bold, just as it would be inaccurate to downplay its central role as a catalyst. For this reason, a visit to El Corsario is a must, an old manor home from the 17th century, now a hotel-restaurant which opened as an art gallery in 1954 and five years later hosted the first exhibition of the group Ibiza 59. El Corsario is located between Ponent and Santa Maria streets in the upper part of the old city.
El Corsario was followed by other contemporary art galleries, like Ivan Spencer’s and especially Carl van der Voort’s. The latter was housed in a historic location on Plaça de Vila that was part of the ancient wall, and its interiors were designed by Erwin Bechtold (Cologne, 1925), a member of Ibiza 59 who kept creating on the island. The venue is now used for other purposes.
Right in the midst of the Franco regime, the embers of the artistic avant-garde started with Ibiza 59 kindled the opening of the Museo d’Art Contemporari (Contemporary Art Museum, abbreviated MAC) of Ibiza, one of the leading museums of its kind in Spain, which entails a strange symbiosis between the avant-garde and Falangism. The MAC of Ibiza has a heterogeneous collection that is fed by the biennales that have been held since 1964, and it occupies a magnificent 18th century building – the former weapons and cavalry hall – built into the Renaissance walls. This museum is currently being expanded and remodelled. While construction lasts, the MAC is holding temporary exhibitions in the former chapterhouse, used in recent years as the city’s plenary meeting hall.
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