This conversation between artists Janet Cardiff and Ragnar Kjartansson, the Artistic Director of TBA21 Daniela Zyman, and the Founder and Chairwoman of TBA21 Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza explores twenty years of commissioning practice by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary. 

It delves deep into key questions as a means to give life to, preserve, and share the commissioned artworks in an engaged and responsible manner. These include collaboration, trust, and friendship in the context of TBA21’s long-established commissioning experience, as well as the research and the production behind the artists’ practices. With additional interventions by the director of Castello di Rivoli Carolyn Christov Bakargiev, the Director of TBA21–Academy Markus Reymann, and the Director of TBA21 Carlos Urroz, further topics are discussed such as the upcoming changes that need to be implemented when commissioning works, how to attend to their environmental impact, as well as the inclusion of indigenous and feminist discourses.

This conversation took place at Matadero Madrid, on February 19 2022. It also established a dialogue between two exhibitions presented by TBA21 as part of the Foundation’s twenty-year celebrations: Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s The Murder of Crows at Matadero Madrid (February 17- July 24) and Ragnar Kjartansson’s Emotional Landscapes at the Museo Nacional Thyssen Bornemisza (February 22 – June 26, 2022), both curated by Soledad Gutiérrez.

Access the audio file HERE