Annual Report 2022

The Foundation launched this art creation, dissemination and research programme in 2018 to support the work of mid-career creators influenced by scientific theories.

For the fifth edition, the artist Laura F. Gibellini made an engraving entitled Mayáutica en azul by overlaying three images: a drawing of her daughter Maya, the imprint of sand on a copper plate and a diagram of the Pleiades star cluster. As the accompanying text by the writer, publisher, artist and teacher Thyrza Nichols Goodeve explains, the work expresses our connection to the cosmos.  

Mayáutica en azul was exhibited, along with the other works created by artists selected in this programme, at the Estampa fair held in Madrid from 13 to 16 October.

In collaboration with Open Studio, the Foundation awards this prize every year to young emerging artists.  The winner receives a stipend to produce work and undertake a three-month residency in an art studio in Madrid.

In its tenth edition, the jury decided unanimously to award the prize to Andrea Aguilera, whose works examines the relationship of the body with different rigid materials, mainly through the media of photography and performance. The artist will work at the Espositivo studio from 13 March to 13 June 2023. At the end of the residency, the result will be presented to professionals from the world of art and culture.

The winner of the previous edition, Irati Inoriza, presented the installation she made during her residency, entitled Un salar verde salitre sueña con on 30 June 2022 at the studio 35.000 Jóvenes.

The Fundación Banco Santander and the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) organise this initiative in which a contemporary artist draws inspiration from a scientist’s research work. All profits from the sale are used to fund cancer research at the CNIO.

The artist and scientist chosen for the fifth edition were the sculptor Susana Solano and the doctor and epidemiologist Pedro Alonso. The work, entitled El mundo de las cosas [The World of Things], emerged out of the artist’s experience at the hospital and biomedical research centre that Alonso funded in Manhiça (Mozambique) to fight the most common diseases in the region.

El mundo de las cosas was exhibited at the CNIO from 16 February to 31 March and at the contemporary art fair ARCOmadrid. The sculpture was accompanied by the drawings made by six girls from the Centro de Acolhimento Menino Jesus, based on their daily experience of malaria, and a video by the curator Amparo Garrido documenting the artist’s stay in Manhiça.

Fundación Banco Santander has been sponsoring the First Collector programme at the contemporary art fair ARCOmadrid since 2011. Managed by the consulting firm Arte Global, it offers free advice to prospective art collectors. Through this service, first-time buyers can find pieces suited to their tastes and budgets assisted by a team with expert knowledge of the works available at the galleries present at the fair.

The Foundation is one of the sponsors of the Estampa contemporary art fair and some of the activities of its Colecciona programme.

From 27 January to 4 June we collaborated in the ninth edition of this seminar organised at various museums, art venues and historical spaces with the aim of disseminating the work of the main private art collectors and sponsors in Spain.

Additionally, from 13 to 16 October we supported Estampa’s “De la mano de un coleccionista” programme in collaboration with the 9915 Association, whereby a member of the association offers visitors a guided tour of selected galleries, explaining the reason for their choice.

As in the previous edition, the Foundation had its own space at the fair and mounted an exhibition of all the works made by the artists who took part in the Derivada programme.

The Foundation sponsored the ninth Collecting, Contemporary Art and Society seminar at the Menéndez Pelayo International University, organised by the 9915 Association and the Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo (IAC) at the Magdalena Palace in Santander.

From 18 to 20 July, a group of art and cultural management experts discussed the initiatives undertaken by museums to promote contemporary art. The course examined the role that these institutions play, not only in exhibiting and preserving their collections but in generating research projects and educational programmes, and in mediating between artists and society.

In 2022 the Foundation launched the first edition of these research grants to promote a wider knowledge of the Banco Santander Collection from an innovative, cross-cutting perspective. The programme is aimed at individual researchers as well as collectives and not-for-profit organisations.

Candidates may address the study of the works in the collection from any discipline and adopt multiple formats (article, dossier, audiovisual, curatorial project, etc.) according to the content.

A committee made up of independent experts and representatives of Fundación Banco Santander selected the two winning proposals: Iconografías de los retos de futuro en las colecciones históricas del Banco Santander. Identidad de género, by María López Fernández; and Arte, lujo y magnificencia: la tapicería en la Colección Banco Santander, by Jesús Félix Pascual Molina and Miguel Ángel Zalama Rodríguez.

The winners received a grant to carry out their research project, which must be completed by May 2023.

The Foundation promoted this gender-sensitive publishing marathon to create new content on Wikipedia and mitigate the dearth of articles related to Cantabrian female artists.

The “edit-a-thon” took place on 26 November at the Work Café in Santander and brought together eleven volunteers from the cultural field. In collaboration with Wikiesfera, an information session was organised to highlight the importance of editors willing to help give more visibility to collectives with only a minimal presence on the free encyclopaedia site. This was followed by a practical workshop where participants learned how to use the tool. No previous knowledge was required and by the end of the day biographies had been written about the painter Luz de Alvear, the visual artist Vicky Uslé, the illustrator Paula Vallar, the film editor Sara Ontañón and the photographer María Gorbeña.

Fundación Banco Santander sponsors the Francisco Calvo Serraller lecture series organised by the Foundation of Friends of the Prado Museum to offer an overview of universal figures in the history of art.

In 2022 a group of experts analysed the life and work of Rubens in the historical, social and cultural context of the 16^th century and his influence on Spanish painting.

Fundación Banco Santander is one of the corporate friends of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. Together with other companies and institutions, it contributes to the conservation and dissemination of the museum’s artistic heritage and the development of its broad programme of activities (courses, lectures, workshops, guided tours, etc.).

The Foundation is one of the corporate sponsors that support Artium’s collection (crucial for understanding 20^th-century artistic creation in the Basque Country) and the various initiatives the museum organises to publicise its contents.

The Foundation supports this independent association of art professionals whose mission is to assist the art community by enhancing the institutional network of contemporary creation and implementing best practices in the sector.

Fundación Banco Santander is an institutional member of this association created to defend the interests of private contemporary art collectors. The partnership facilitates the sharing of experiences, ideas and opinions with other members, as well as the organisation and dissemination of related activities.