The recent history of the country in the MACBA Collection 9 June, International Archives Day

The MACBA Collection’s documentation fonds constitutes an invaluable research source for the study of the recent history of our country. Much of it has come to the Museum through the acquisition or donation of artworks. One such case is the Rafael Tous Fonds, donated to MACBA in 2020. Besides a substantial body of works, the fonds features a documentation archive on Conceptual practices in Catalonia. Other examples are the fonds of collectives such as Grup de Treball, formed by artists who from 1973 to 1975 found themselves at the crossroads between Conceptualism and Marxism; and Video-Nou, a group created in Barcelona in 1977 to explore the social, artistic and educational use of the new medium of video. They were both witnesses to the late years of the Franco regime and the years of the Transition. Also of great importance for the study of the social history of Barcelona during the second half of the twentieth century are the fonds of Xavier Miserachs, featuring over 80,000 negatives, slides, transparencies, contact sheets, monographs and publications collected by this photographer throughout his life; and Joan Brossa’s personal archive and library, containing over 64,000 documents, visual poems and publications.