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Cristina Cabrera, director of the ICO Foundation, has presented the programming prepared by the institution for 2018, the year of its 25th anniversary. She outlined the program's main direction across the Foundation's three areas of activity: Art, Economy, and International.
In the field of Art, she presented the three temporary exhibitions at the Museo ICO focusing on architecture and the promotion of highly relevant but underrecognized figures in the discipline: Joaquín Vaquero Palacios, Carlos Cánovas, and Diébédo Francis Kéré.
‘Joaquín Vaquero Palacios. The Beauty of the Colossal. Asturias, 1954-1980’
February 15 - May 6, 2018
This exhibition focuses on the work of Joaquín Vaquero Palacios, which, the fruit of a thirty-year collaboration with Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico, materialized in five Asturian hydroelectric power plants conceived as total works of art.
At the Salime (1945-1955), Miranda (1956-62), Proaza (1964-68), Aboño (1969-1980), and Tanes (1980) plants, he created murals, sculptures, furniture, and industrial design—either individually or in collaboration with his son, Joaquín Vaquero Turcios—and, in some cases, even the architecture itself. Although highly compelling, this body of work has received little exposure and remains largely unknown to the general public.
The exhibition is curated by architect Joaquín Vaquero Ibáñez, produced by the ICO Foundation, and accompanied by a catalog published in collaboration with TSU Libros.
‘In Time. Carlos Cánovas’
May 30 to September 9
The exhibition is part of the PhotoESPAÑA 2018 festival. It will showcase 128 photographs by Carlos Cánovas, grouped into six series: ‘Tapias’ (1980), ‘Extramuros’ (1983-1990), ‘Vallès Oriental’ (1990), ‘Paisaje sin retorno’ (1993-1994), ‘Paisaje anónimo’ (1992-2005), and ‘Séptimo Cielo’ (2007-2017).
Alongside Manolo Laguillo (Museo ICO, 2013) and Gabriele Basilico (Museo ICO, 2017), Carlos Cánovas (b. 1951) is one of the photographers who has most effectively captured the Spanish urban landscape, making it the central subject of his images.
Curated by Carlos Cánovas and produced in collaboration with the Museo Universidad de Navarra—which also supports the publication of the catalog—this exhibition marks the culmination of an exhibition cycle.
‘Diébédo Francis Kéré’
October 3, 2018, to January 20, 2019
This exhibition will focus on the built work and philosophy of the Burkina Faso-born architect, who is based in Berlin. As one of the most prominent and internationally acclaimed living architects, he has received some of the field's most prestigious awards (such as the Aga Khan Award) and is a strong contender for the Pritzker Prize. Furthermore, he was selected to design the previous year's Serpentine Pavilion. Kéré practices socially responsible architecture, reinvesting the profits from his work into the development of his home village, Gando.
The exhibition will be curated by Luis Fernández-Galiano, Professor of Architectural Design at the ETSAM, and produced by the ICO Foundation. The catalog will be published by the ICO Foundation in collaboration with Arquitectura Viva.
Since 2012, the Museo ICO has focused on promoting architecture as an artistic discipline, becoming a leading institution dedicated to architectural research and dissemination in terms of both programming and budget.
Its temporary exhibitions center on three thematic axes: the role of architecture in addressing major societal challenges; architecture and urban planning through the lens of photography; and the great figures, schools, or movements of contemporary architecture. Alongside these temporary exhibitions, the Museo ICO organizes educational activities for children and young people, as well as guided tours for adults, aiming to complement and deepen the narrative of each exhibition.
For more information, please visit the official website of the ICO Foundation.
This article was written by Javier García Librero. The translation is powered by AI.
