BARCELONA.- The Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona announced the donation of eighteen video artworks from the Barcelona-based Han Nefkens Foundation (HNF). This significant gift, announced on Friday, also marks the beginning of a permanent collaboration between both institutions, reinforcing their shared commitment to supporting contemporary video art and emerging artists.

The donation, presented by MACBA Director Elvira Dyangani Ose and Han Nefkens, Founder of the HNF, reflects a long-standing dedication to video as an artistic medium. The works, acquired by the Foundation between 2009 and 2022, represent the culmination of grant and commission programs supporting artists from around the world, with each piece previously showcased in exhibitions organized in collaboration with HNF partner institutions.

“With each artwork, I remember the institutions, conversations, and collaborations that went into their creation. These artworks are not only about the final piece—they embody a vast network of experience, commitment, and shared passion,” said Han Nefkens.

“The Foundation may be small, but it’s a powerful example of what can be achieved over time with focus and dedication. Now, as we transition to a new phase centered on commissioning and production, I want to gift this work to the city that has given me so much. Barcelona is more than a home—it’s a community, and MACBA is at its beating heart.”

The donated works not only enhance MACBA’s holdings of video art and moving image but also align with its curatorial priorities, particularly in highlighting postcolonial perspectives and artists from the Global South.

“The collection included in this donation reflects rigorous engagement with processes rooted in highly specific contexts. It provides a significant contribution to the understanding of social and geopolitical issues, articulated through different experiences of the world. The incorporation of these works into the MACBA collection will mean the expansion between existing and new work in key areas of the museum's curatorial framework: experimental artistic practices; history, power and memory; ecological and multispecies theory; decolonial, postcolonial, and anticolonial approaches, among others”, said Elvira Dyangani Ose.

The partnership also has a deeper commitment. Together, MACBA and the Han Nefkens Foundation co-organize initiatives like the Moving Image Commission, a biannual ambitious Commission supporting the production of new video artworks, with MUAC, UNAM, in Mexico City and The Bass Museum of Art in Miami. In 2024, artist Minia Biabiany received a $100,000 grant through this program to develop a screen-based video project.

This donation reflects the Han Nefkens Foundation’s philosophy of devoting all its energy to the creation of new works, guided by a clear and intentional choice not to build its own collection, in close collaboration with artists and institutions.

Each donated piece stems from HNF’s artist development programs, which are tailored to support creatives from the early stages of production to the final public presentation. This model fosters deep engagement between artists and professionals, offering international exposure and opportunities to present work in varied cultural, social, and political contexts.

As part of LOOP Barcelona, on November 17 at 19.00 hours MACBA will host a presentation of the book The Joy of Sharing, edited by the Han Nefkens Foundation to mark twenty-five years of mr. Nefkens’ patronage. The publication gathers texts by international writers and poets inspired by the audiovisual works produced by the Nefkens Foundation, highlighting the dialogue between literature and contemporary art.

The event will open with a screening of Endless, Sightless (2018) by Vietnamese artist Nguyen Phuong Linh, followed by a conversation between Han Nefkens and writer Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, who will discuss her story The Clinic, written in dialogue with Phuong Linh’s work.