“Like a Dance of Starlings” exhibition. MACBA collection: Thirty Years and Infinite Ways of Being

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They fly in groups. Hundreds of thousands of birds move together across the winter sky. As part of a precise choreography, they stretch and contract, glide and rise, forming large clouds; this is what is known as the "dance of the starlings". No one can predict what their next movement will be, in fact not even they themselves know where they will fly in the seconds to come. In a true aerial ballet, these birds display, like very few others, a perfect synchrony of flight. It is through these aerial dances that we approach the MACBA Collection in a doubly and directly manner, celebrating its thirtieth anniversary and reflecting on the processes of contemporary subjectivation. Just like the synchronous and choral movement of starlings, known as "murmuration", evoking the murmur that accompanies their flight, comprise volatile and changing images, so too the works in the collection adjust and regroup in their different presentations, forming knots or maps of meaning. 

The celebration of the museum's 30th birthday invites us to take a moment to reflect, to pause to look at the past on which the present of MACBA has been built, and to revisit its history. A kind of homage, but also a critical review of the different threads that have woven the museum’s present. Since its origins, the MACBA Collection has been gradually constructed, embracing the challenges of its contemporaneity and assuming the risks required for it to serve as the loudspeaker for bold and politically committed practices. This collection is organised like a murmur that grows each year, a constellation of voices that emerges from the past in a polyphonic echo that is intended to be infinite, limitless and diverse.

Although this presentation forms part of our 30th birthday celebrations, it is not a commemorative exhibition, but one that has its own identity. Thus, the murmur of the collection takes on the form of a choreography performed by the contemporary subject. Rather than a chronological exhibition, the exhibition is formed by connecting nodes where concepts are worked on this subject as a malleable entity, not constructed in isolation but like an orchestra, in dialogue with collective experiences, social struggles and intercultural contexts. These existences are intertwined and in constant transformation, the focus of many works in the MACBA Collection, offering a plural, flexible and dynamic approach. 

As a result, we will explore the concept of the hybrid subject, which challenges identities fixed by categories, such as gender, race, nationality or class. A hybridisation that arises from the continuous interaction between different worlds and that, like birds in their collective flight, allow the presentation of works that evoke an organically constructed self, from the perspective of community and nature, without neglecting the sacred relationship with the spiritual worlds, which will play an essential role. The experience of dreams, play and ritual will be key elements to demonstrate a being that connects with invisible and transcendental dimensions of existence, with delirium as a nourishing force. 

The exhibition is complemented by three relocated works, displayed at three of the city’s public educational centres. These works, by Alán Carrasco, Dora García and Tanit Plana, form part of the new edition of "Fora de reserves", a temporary reception programme of works from the MACBA contemporary art collection at schools and institutes in collaboration with the Barcelona City Council.  

Schedule

PeriodDaysHoursPreus
Del 28 November al 23 June
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
from 11 am to 7.30 pm
General admission: €12

(allows access to all exhibitions currently open and

the show featuring the Collection as many times as

you want for one month after the purchase date)


Online tickets: €10.80



Reduced-price tickets: €9.60

- Students

- Over 65s without the Targeta Rosa

- Groups (> 15 people)

Reduced-price tickets: €6

‘Carnet Jove’ youth cardholders

- Municipal Libraries’ Network Card

- Ateneu Barcelonès

Free admission:

- Children under the age of 14

- Targeta Rosa

- Over 65s with the Targeta Rosa

- Saturdays from 4 to 8 pm

- Friends of the MACBA

- AAVC members

- ICOM members

- Unemployed people

- Large-family or single-parent card

- 12 February (Santa Eulàlia)

- 18 May (International Museum Day)

- 24 September (La Mercè)


Tickets at off-hours: €10.20

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 1.30 to 3 pm

Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 11 am.


MACBA Friend Card: €18

Unlimited free admission for one year.


Articket: €38

Saturday
from 10 am to 8 pm

Sunday and public holidays

Closed 25 December and 1 January
from 10 am to 3 pm
Del 24 June al 28 September
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and public holidays
from 10 am to 8 pm
Sunday
from 10 am to 3 pm

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona

Address:
Plaça dels Àngels, 1
District:
Ciutat Vella
Neighborhood:
el Raval
City:
Barcelona
Where
Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona
When
From 28/11/2025 to 28/09/2026

Phone number

Tel.:
934813368
Tel.:
934120810
Tel.:
934121270
Tel.:
934121413

Website

Web:
https://www.macba.cat/ca/exposicions/com-una-dansa-destornells-colleccio-macba-trenta-anys-i-infinites-formes-de-ser/

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