Coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the ARCOmadrid fair, the ARCO Foundation's "A" Awards for Collecting celebrates its 20th edition. On this exceptional occasion, the Foundation has given six awards in recognition of collectors and institutions, the value of their funds, and their support to contemporary art. The award ceremony was held on February 23rd at the Thyssen Museum.
The ARCO Foundation's "A" awards went this year to the H. E. Sheikh Hassan Bin Mohammed Bin Ali Al Thani Collection (Qatar Museums); the Jorge M. Pérez Collection (PAMM Museum Miami); the Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo); the António Cachola Collection; the Inelcom Collection; and the Banco Sabadell Collection in the category of Corporate Collecting. Also, Radio Televisión Española (RTVE) received the Special "A" Award for its efforts in cultural communication.
In this way, ARCO Foundation recognizes the work of collectors, both Spanish and international, in consonance with its mission of promoting collecting, established since the Foundation's launch in 1987. That year, ARCO Foundation began a collection of works acquired in the Fair with the purpose of contributing to the development and the promotion of national and international contemporary art, and to serve as an example to other institutions in supporting and providing stimulus for collecting.
To that end, the ARCO Foundation Collection, now holding some 300 works of art, has engaged the advice and assistance of art professionals from around the world, such as Edy de Wilde; Gloria Moure; Jan Debbaut; Dan Cameron; Iwona Blazwick; María de Corral; Chus Martínez; and Sabine Brietwiesser, among others. In ARCOmadrid 2016 edition, the Foundation's advisers are Miguel von Hafe, independent curator, and Manuel Segade, Director of CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Móstoles, Madrid.