If in front of the last name Thyssen is the name of Francesca a direct association with art, collecting and, although perhaps less known, environmental activism from the TBA21 Foundation, created and chaired by it. With 14 years claiming the power of contemporary art as a catalyst to rethink the future of the oceans, the Foundation and the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum have collaborated in the preparation of the Terrafilia exhibition. Beyond the human in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collections. A sample of how part of the art collections of the same family serve as a link to different ways of interpreting nature and living the planet.
What are the people who come to see this exhibition see?
I think something unexpected. It is a very imaginative, creative, even surreal exhibition. On the one hand, it is a challenge that we decided to face: show the amplitude of the Thyssen collections creating a narrative about climate change and our relationship with nature. A relationship that always, for centuries, the artists have kept in mind. And, on the other, the exhibition tells that nature is not something abstract or oblivious to man, but that the human being is a part of nature.
In addition, a very small element.
That’s right, we are a minority. And, in addition, a very destructive element is being seen. But the exhibition is not an intellectual proposal, in which solutions are placed. Yes, he hopes that he contributes to the public to change his perspective of nature a bit, a reflection on the way we perceive it and interact with it. It is about igniting that curiosity in the general public when contemplating how artists have been investigating nature for centuries. In that sense, it is very accessible. And I believe that anyone who visits it will have a completely different experience from that of others. It is an invitation to get carried away by curiosity.
The foundation created by you, the TBA21, develops very diverse activities, all related to the oceans. Why the oceans?
Because the ocean is not a microcosm. It is life itself. They are something that connects us with the climate system, with resources, with food, minerals, etc. For example, the species that inhabit the seas, which many of them have not even been discovered yet, but that already open a huge scientific research field and also a field for artists to use their imagination. Talking about all the oceanic systems that participate in our daily lives is much more than we think.
Why do your relationship with environmental issues through art and foundation?
We come from a family of miners. That was three generations, we talked about after the industrial revolution, when the exploitation of these resources was considered great progress. But my father began to change that trend. The mines were sold, we left the steel sector and decided to invest more in technology for the future and in art. And, if you connect, in the way we connect, with contemporary artists in a very compromised way, you will want to connect with something that affects us as fundamental as nature does. Art creates the context and meaning that helps people relate to the information that the other side gives us, science.
And your personal involvement?
Seeing the changes that the planet has suffered, and because of the relationship with my children, when I try to teach them our relationship with the planet, the truth is that as I have been fulfilling years I have involved much more and more increasingly.
And, from there, the entire action of the foundation, right?
That’s how it is. We have developed, together with the Museum, an agency with which we want to contribute to the civil society of Spain, the residents, not only to tourists.