2005 © Oficina Virtual de Turismo
Open since 1993, and holding a stable programme since 1995, the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea is located in the limits of the Old Town in Santiago de Compostela, within a space considered magic by Galician people. There lie as well the cloister of San Domingos de Bonaval, home of the Panteón de Galegos Ilustres, and an ethnographic souvenir of our history, known as the Museo do Pobo Galego, which is a metaphor and a bridge between our origin and the present. All these surrounded by an amazing garden, which used to be a cemetery before architect Álvaro Siza (assisted by Isabel Aguirre) undertook its restoration. Its metaphysical air is implemented by the overwhelming presence of water - characteristic of the Galician landscape - and by a number of planes and sizes, in a stimulating dialogue with those found in the Center itself.
The first asset of CGAC is its architecture. The building was designed by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza and finds a careful balance between the outer and innerspace. Showing great respect for its surroundings, while at the same time conveying a quasi-mystical sense with intense contrasts between the neat planes and the effects of indirect light. The resulting spaces are so beautiful from an architectural point of view as they are difficult when it comes to find exhibition solutions, which calls for an on-going (intimate or tense) dialogue between artists and architect. The viewer always profits from this dialogue, so characteristic of contemporary art, as he is allowed to witness the last stage of the encounter and thus feel those points and moments of true creative tension.
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