Museos, universidades y cafeterías: [entre] espacios de investigación artística

Museos, universidades y cafeterías: [entre] espacios de investigación artística is a collective publication, edited by Claudia Desile and Irene Campos Pérez, which emerged from a seminar organized jointly by the Department of Art History (Faculty of Geography and History) and the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Contributors to the book include Aida Sánchez de Serdio, Selina Blasco and Lila Insúa, Miguel Ángel Vargas, Enrique “Res” Peña Sillero, Irene Campos Pérez, Pablo Martínez, and Claudia Desile. The latter two will present the publication at Es Baluard Museu.

Initially conceived as a space to share personal experiences situated at the intersection of the museum and the university, the seminar gave rise to various conversations regarding the possibility—and the (im)possibility—of collaboration between these two institutions, both of which are shaped by the logics of neoliberalism and academic capitalism. What forms of knowledge do the university and the museum contribute as spaces for artistic training and research? How can they act in concert, and what limitations do they face? Furthermore, how have debates surrounding art and education evolved?

The publication, produced in a limited print run, was funded by the research group SU+MA [University+Museum] at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. and will be available on the day of the presentation at Es Baluard Museu.

Claudia Desile is a predoctoral researcher in the Department of Art History at the Complutense University of Madrid, supported by an INPhINIT fellowship from the ”la Caixa” Foundation. Her doctoral thesis explores the role of independent study programs in the relationship between museums and universities as sites for the production of critical knowledge. A graduate in Art History from the University of the Balearic Islands, she also holds a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art History and Visual Culture from the Museo Reina Sofía. She has worked as an assistant for art projects and exhibitions at Es Baluard Museu, and as an art project coordinator at the Fundació Alttra—both located in Palma (Mallorca). She has developed workshops and curatorial projects for various cultural institutions and is a regular contributor to contemporary art magazines such as Exit Media and Galope. She has also undertaken research residencies at the Centre d’Estudis i Documentació of MACBA, the University of Southampton, and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York.

Pablo Martínez is a professor and researcher in the History of Contemporary Art at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). His institutional work has sought to challenge the boundaries of the museum in order to envision an “eco-social” form of institutionalism. He served as Director of Programs at MACBA (2016–2021), where he co-curated the new arrangement of the museum’s collection and oversaw the Independent Studies Program (PEI), the library and archive, as well as educational and public programming. From 2009 to 2016, he was the Head of Education and Public Activities at CA2M. He currently edits the academic journal Re-visiones and is a member of the collective Paisanaje, which uses art to explore potential alternatives for building a more just and less violent ecological transition. His recent publications include En busca del pueblo. Cultura material y museos (Akal, 2025)—co-authored with Aurora Fernández Polanco—and Atlas Cultural de la Energía (Catarata, 2025), which he co-edited with Emilio Santiago Muiño and Jaime Vindel.