Artium Museoa, Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country presents the exhibition Néstor Basterretxea. Archive (Z Gallery, until 22 September 2024). The exhibition brings together a selection of documents – sketches, notes, film, public sculpture, industrial and graphic design projects as well as architectural proposals, among other documents – from the vast personal archive that the Basterretxea Irurzun family donated to Artium Museoa in 2023, on whose cataloguing and conservation the museum has carried out extensive work. The exhibition is curated by Elena Roseras and Beatriz Herráez, in collaboration with Matías Fajn. In order to mark the centenary, Artium Museoa has produced a publication with texts by Elena Roseras and Matías Fajn as well as a biography by the art critic and independent curator Peio Aguirre. The opening will be preceded by a screening of the audiovisual programme Néstor Basterretxea and the Image and a conversation between Peio Aguirre, Juan Pablo Huércanos, deputy director of the Oteiza Museum, and Manuel Asín, director of the Punto de Vista Festival. The website created to mark the centenary of Basterretxea’s birth is also presenting a section dedicated to the artist’s personal archive on the occasion of this opening, from which the documentary collection donated by the family to Artium Museoa can be accessed online.

The origins of this exhibition can be found in a memory research and preservation project in which Artium Museoa, Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country is currently engaged, focusing on documentary archives and collections related to the artistic practices developed in the context of the Basque Country from the mid-20th century until today. The documentary legacy of Néstor Basterretxea (Bermeo, 1924 – Hondarribia, 2014), donated by the Basterretxea Irurzun family, forms a key part of this project, helping to understand and contextualise the artistic practices developed in the Basque Country throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

The archive includes a variety of materials ranging from correspondence, sketches, drawings and press cuttings to notes and writings by the artist himself. Analysing, organising, describing, digitising and contextualising these materials help to preserve and enrich artistic knowledge and shape narratives that situate the artist within his historical and cultural context. The availability and dissemination of this archive are the cornerstones for sharing this valuable documentary legacy with the artistic community and society in general.

In order to establish a dynamic continuity with the museum’s art collection, the archive has been given a complete makeover, making it accessible to the community while respecting its identity, in which works of art and documents form a whole and mutually activate each other to keep this heritage alive. The aim is to display the documents in such a way that visitors can move through their structure so as to reflect this concept of the archive. The exhibition narrative follows the various themes addressed in the documentary collection’s materials, reflecting an engaging and revealing look at the different areas of the artist’s career.

To this end, Néstor Basterretxea. Archive presents a wide selection of documents organised into different sections: sculpture and public works projects, industrial design, graphic design, architectural proposals and volumetrics, unrealised film projects and plans for cultural centres, among others.

This documentary exhibition on Néstor Basterretxea seeks to celebrate his life, work and legacy, while at the same time offering new perspectives and opportunities to further explore his artistic universe.

The website created to mark the centenary of the artist’s birth has now also provided access to the documents in the Néstor Basterretxea Archive at the Artium Museoa Documentation Centre, an extensive personal archive comprising more than 5,000 documents, including documentation on artistic projects, sketches, handwritten and typed texts, correspondence, film scripts, press cuttings, photographs and materials relating to the modern furniture design company Biok, all of which form the working material for the exhibition presented today. Those interested in the documentation on the artist can now consult the complete archive at the following website: www.nestorbasterretxea100.artium.eus