What used to be the Helga de Alvear Visual Arts Center, inaugurated in 2010 and whose headquarters were limited to a renovated modernist building, has been transformed and expanded and renamed the Helga de Alvear Museum of Contemporary Art.

The new building, designed by the architecture studio of Emilio Tuñón, has been awarded various international awards and is nominated for the 2022 Mies Van der Rohe Award.

One of the most anticipated and significant museums at an international level this year, it will house a cultural institution that allows to fulfill the dream of its promoter: to bring contemporary art closer to current society and future generations. The creation of this museum has been possible thanks to the support of the Junta de Extremadura and other Extremadura public administrations.
“To think that this has been achieved gives me a joy that I cannot describe. I want Cáceres and Spain to be able to enjoy this museum. I am happy”, declared in Cáceres the gallery owner and collector Helga de Alvear. From the Museum that bears her name, she has expressed her gratitude to all the actors involved in the project who have made it possible.

“I am delighted that this Museum is finally finished. We have been exhibiting works from my collection in Cáceres for ten years, but now many of these works will be seen for the first time. It is a collection that comes from many years of traveling, which has been made little by little”, she explained.
 
Helga de Alvear. Photograph by Luis Asín.

Through video conference, Emilio Tuñón has described the new building as "a magic box", congratulating himself that the project has finally come to fruition. Tuñon has described the project as an example of discreet architecture,
 
"that thinks that the important thing is not to attract attention, but to carefully welcome the pieces it has inside, in this case the very beautiful, very important Helga de Alvear Collection, but also to the people who will be able to visit it”.

For the opening exhibition, José María Viñuela, curator of the Collection and general curator of the opening acts, has had the challenge of selecting some 200 works: approximately 5% of the total Collection that Helga de Alvear will donate to the institution.

“The first problem was to solve the question of capacity: what fits and what has to fit. I have been introducing and defining specific spaces that also revolve around video rooms and large-scale works. What is inside the museum has never been seen in Cáceres”, said the curator.

During this year the Museum will offer free access, guided tours, accessible activities and other proposals to bring contemporary art to all audiences with hygiene measures that guarantee a safe culture.

More information

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Helga de Alvear Foundation Visual Arts Center. C/ Pizarro,8. Cáceres - 10003. Spain.
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Opening
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February, 26th of 2021.
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T.- +34 927 62 64 14
e.- general@fundacionhelgadealvear.es
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Emilio Tuñón Álvarez (1959) is an architect by ETSAM since 1981, PhD in Architecture since 2000 and Professor of Architectural Projects of the School of Architecture of Madrid since 2016. In 2014 he has been awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts by The Mies van der Rohe Prize 2007, the European Union 2007 Contemporary Architecture Prize, the Spanish National Architecture Prize 2003 and the FAD Awards 2001, 2007 and 2011.

Currently, Emilio Tuñón is Professor of the Department of Architectural Projects of the School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM) and has worked as a guest professor at numerous universities: Jean Labatout Professor at the Princeton University School of Architecture, Eliot Noyes Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture Design by Harvard, visiting professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and the Städelschule in Frankfurt.

Since 2007 Emilio Tuñón is the patron of the Arquia Foundation, awarded the gold medal of CSCAE in 2015.

Tuñón Arquitectos has been a winner in various public architectural competitions: First prize in the contest for the Masterplan of Kalaja and Turres Port, Albania (2014). First prize in the Down Town District Residental Tower contest in Dubai (2013). First prize in the contest for the Neubau Gastro-pavillon at the ETH in Zürich (2013). First prize in the competition for the Wine Dome in Valbuena de Duero (2012). First prize in the contest for the Museum Territorio de Migraciones in Algeciras (2008). First prize in the contest for the Museum of Visigothic Art in the Vega Baja de Toledo (2010). First prize in the competition for the Energy Summit in the City of the Environment of Soria (2008). First prize in the competition for the International Congress Center of the City of Madrid (2007). First prize in the contest for the Helga de Alvear Foundation in Cáceres (2005). First prize in the competition for the new building for the City Council of Lalín (2004). First prize in the competition for the remodeling of the Valbuena area in Logroño (2003). First prize in the competition for the Museum of Royal Collections (2002). First prize in the competition for the Museum of Cantabria (2002). First prize in the contest for Architectural Set dedicated to the Sanfermines (2001). First prize in the contest for the Center of Contemporary Art of Brescia (2000). First prize in the competition for the Museum of Fine Arts in Castellón (1997). First prize in the competition for the Auditorium of the city of León (1996). First prize in the contest for the Cultural Center of the Community of Madrid in the old factory "El Aguila" (1995).

Its projects and articles have been published by numerous national and international indexed journals, and his work is collected in numerous monographs, among which should be highlighted those published by AV Projects 65 in 2014 and the magazine El Croquis 161 in 2012, Mansilla + Tuñón Architects published by Edil Stampa in 2012, AV Monographs 144 in 2011, Mansilla + Tuñón published by Electa in 2007, Sketch 115-116 (II) in 2003, magazine 2G 27 in 2003.

In 1993, Emilio Tuñón founded together with Luis Moreno Mansilla and Luis Rojo the cooperative of minds CIRCO, creating a publication of the same name, which has been awarded with the prize of the III Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Engineering, the COAM prize and the Special prize of the critic FAD 2007. 
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