TBA21 kicks off its 20th anniversary celebrations with an intense programme ahead of ARCOmadrid

The programme to celebrate 20 years of TBA21 (Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary) kicks off with two exceptional exhibitions in Madrid featuring artists with whom the foundation has had a long relationship: Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller and Ragnar Kjartansson. They have been instrumental in bringing to life the advocacy and commitment to art as an agent of transformation and social change.

Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: 'The Murder of Crows'. Commissioned by TBA21. Matadero, Madrid. 17 February - 31 July 2022

This iconic sound installation co-organised with Matadero and TBA21, and presented for the first time in Spain, is part of Cardiff & Miller's exploration of the sculptural and physical attributes of sound. It is conceived as a film or a play, whose images and narrative structures are created by sound. The piece is inspired by Francisco de Goya's 'The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters' (Caprichos, 1799) and sounds and noises roam the exhibition space like the owls and bats that hover around the sleeper in Goya's engraving.

Ragnar Kjartansson's 'Emotional Landscapes'. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

22 February - 26 June 2022

Co-organised by TBA21 and the MNTB and curated by Soledad Gutiérrez, 'Emotional Landscapes' captures Kjartansson's fascination with North America, its landscapes and its music, with works set on a farm by the Hudson River or in the Rocky Mountains, accompanied by blues or jazz, and takes advantage of the museum's new installation dedicated to American art in the Thyssen collection to establish dialogues with paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries.

It includes four video installations from the TBA21 collection, shown together for the first time: 'The Visitors' (2012), 'The Man' (2010), 'The End' (2009) and 'God' (2007, co-commissioned by TBA21 and 'The Living Art Museum' in Reykjavik), and a series of watercolours, 'From the Valley of World-Weariness' in British Columbia (2011).

ARCOmadrid Agenda

Janet Cardiff in conversation with Estrella de Diego, professor at the Universidad Complutense, presented by Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, founder and president of TBA21.

19 February, 12:30h. 'TBA21 commissions: a conversation'. La Hoja, Matadero Madrid

Janet Cardiff, Ragnar Kjartansson, Daniela Zyman, artistic director of TBA21, and Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza.

21 February, 17.00h. Auditorium, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ragnar Kjartansson in conversation with Soledad Gutiérrez, chief curator of TBA21 and curator of 'Emotional Landscapes'. Presented by Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza

24 February, 17:30h. Presentation of 'Abundant Futures'. ARCOmadrid venue

The macro exhibition 'Abundant Futures', curated by Daniela Zyman, opens in April at the C3A (Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía) in Córdoba.