MIAMI, FLA.- The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation and The Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport signed today a Memorandum of Understanding for the creation of an exhibition space to be located in the Tabacalera building in Madrid, Spain.

This agreement includes the donation of works from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection to the Spanish State, whose stewardship will be shared with another international arts institution, which will be announced in the coming months.

The Fontanals-Cisneros collection is one of the most important collections of Latin American art. With more than 3,000 pieces, it has works by prominent artists from around the world, and includes not only pictorial art, but also video and modern photography. Works by Carmen Herrera, Cildo Meireles, Jesus Soto, and photography by the artists Grete Stern, Horacio Coppola, Leo Matiz, Paulo Pires, are all included in the collection.

With this memorandum, signed by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, and by the Honorary President & Founder of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Ella Fontanals-Cisneros, the two parties reaffirm their willingness to promote the research of Latin American culture and artistic heritage, as well as the strategic positioning of Spain as a cultural bridge between Europe and Latin America.

The Government and the Foundation will begin a collaboration aimed at adapting the entire second floor of the Tabacalera building in Madrid to The Contemporary Art Collection of the Americas. Currently, the Ministry is developing a rehabilitation project for this building, which will make over 50,000 square feet of exhibition space available to the public. In the future, institutions such as the Reina Sofia Museum, will operate exhibition space in the building that will coexist along with other areas dedicated to emerging artists’ exhibitions, as well as a dedicated space for works from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection. Tabacalera is intended to become a multifaceted destination for national and international contemporary art.