ALKAR CONTEMPORARY opens its doors

This June, Bilbao welcomes a new space for contemporary art. ALKAR CONTEMPORARY opens its doors with a project that brings together art, architecture and cultural mediation. As a result, visitors can enjoy a slower and more engaging experience.

The collection is the result of more than twenty years of collecting by ADAKAR. In 2025, ADAKAR received the “A” Award for Collecting from Fundación ARCO. Today, the collection includes more than 550 works by 280 national and international artists.

The new venue is located in a former mechanical workshop in Bilbao’s Ensanche district. It was redesigned by estudioHerreros and now offers 1,300 square metres of exhibition space. In addition, the building includes a library, an archive and an auditorium. The design preserves the industrial character of the site while creating the right setting for the artworks.

A Different Way to Experience Contemporary Art

What makes ALKAR CONTEMPORARY unique is not only its collection. It is also the way visitors experience it.

Access is available through advance booking and guided tours only. This decision is part of the institution’s vision. Each visit is designed as a conversation rather than a self-guided route. Therefore, cultural mediation is not an additional service. It is at the heart of the visitor experience.

On Being Human

The inaugural exhibition, On Being Human, brings together 53 works by artists including Louise Bourgeois, Thomas Schütte, Christian Boltanski, Kader Attia, Wolfgang Tillmans, June Crespo, Miriam Cahn, Georg Baselitz and Tracey Emin. The exhibition maps an emotional landscape around the human condition — identity, memory, vulnerability and repair — without offering definitive answers. Instead, it proposes an experience: moving through different ways of being in the world.

During the opening of ALKAR CONTEMPORARY, the #MagmaTeam welcomed the venue’s first visitors, helping to facilitate an experience aligned with the institution’s vision of the relationship between people and art.

Sharing that initial moment — when a cultural space opens its doors for the very first time — is something that only happens once. We are delighted to have been part of it.

📍 Mazarredo Zumarkalea, 33 · Bilbao