02 June 2025
Bilbao Campus
The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, in collaboration with the University of Deusto and Iberdrola, presented the sixth Summer Course on 2 June. The course will take place on 25, 26 and 27 June in the auditorium of the Iberdrola Tower (Plaza Euskadi 5, Bilbao). Under the title “La (de)mostración. Exposiciones sobre artistas e ideas del arte”, the course will explore the role of exhibitions as a key format for both presenting and interpreting art, from 18th-century salons to contemporary biennials.
The programme will bring together a distinguished group of speakers—artists, critics, historians, and curators—who will examine current exhibition practices and their relevance, sparking a debate on the need to renew the formats and programmes of art institutions.
Notable speakers include Miguel Falomir, Director of the Prado Museum, and Anna Maria Guasch, Emeritus Professor at the University of Barcelona. The course will conclude with a conversation between Miguel Zugaza, Director of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, and Juan Ignacio Vidarte, Emeritus Director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
Keynote speakers include Miguel Falomir, Director of the Prado Museum, and Anna Maria Guasch, Emeritus Professor at the University of Barcelona. The course will end with a conversation between Miguel Zugaza, director of the Museo de Bellas Artes, and Juan Ignacio Vidarte, director emeritus of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
The course can be attended either in person or via livestream, and the University of Deusto will issue an academic certificate worth 2 ECTS credits. For more information and registration: www.bilbaomuseoa.eus and cursodeverano@bilbaomuseoa.eus
Since 2018, five editions of this summer course have been held under the direction of Miguel Zugaza and in collaboration with the University of Deusto, bringing together 71 speakers and 620 participants (562 in person and 58 online).
View the full programme here.
Signing of a new collaboration agreement
As part of the course presentation, the Museum signed a new collaboration agreement with the Gondra Barandiarán Foundation for the period 2025–2028. The agreement, signed by Elixabete Etxanobe, General Deputy of Biscay and Chair of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, and Guillermo Barandiarán, President of the Foundation, includes a total contribution of €400,000, ensuring the continuation of both the Summer Course and the annual Training Grants programme.
Since 2014, a total of 84 young people have benefited from these grants, whose financial support has been increased in the new edition: €750 gross per month for nine months, extendable to ten.
Full information about the grants available here.
New Exhibition Space: Gabinete
As its principal new feature, the agreement includes the creation of Gabinete, a gallery dedicated to hosting a programme focused on drawing, printmaking, and photography. Based on the museum’s valuable collection of works on paper, the programme will also include loans from other national and international collections and museums.
This new 200 m² space, housed within the refurbished 1970s building, will include a tribute at its entrance recognising the patronage of the Gondra Barandiarán Foundation. The space is scheduled to open to the public in 2026 with an inaugural exhibition dedicated to the drawings of Rafael Balerdi (San Sebastian, 1934 – Altea, 1992), curated by Mikel Lertxundi from the museum’s Archive and Documentation Department.
