Reina Sofía's Radical Programming Under Borja-Villel and Fernandes

Manuel Borja-Villel, director of the Reina Sofía in Madrid, and his deputy João Fernandes pursue a radical institutional agenda, resisting blockbuster exhibitions. In 2018, they presented a William Kentridge survey focusing on his stage work. Borja-Villel has warned that capitalism threatens to turn audiences into 'consuming and obedient automata.' The museum's 21,000-piece collection includes Pablo Picasso's Guernica, aligning with its insurrectionary rhetoric. Their eclectic program features artists not commonly seen in national museums. Historical surveys this year covered early-twentieth-century American cartoonist George Herriman, known for Krazy Kat (1913–44), Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, Spanish kinetic art pioneer Eusebio Sempere, and Russian Dada. Contemporary solo exhibitions showcased conceptualist Dora García, formalist Nairy Baghramian, and activist Artur Barrio. Fernandes, a former high-profile communist activist, contributes to this vision.