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The URIBITARTE40 Gallery is hosting the exhibition ‘BA Collection: Artists in Residence 2025/26 – New Acquisitions’ from 19 June to 6 September.
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The studios at the Urazurrutia 32 site will be open to the public and art professionals from Monday 22nd to Wednesday 24th of this month. On Tuesday 23rd, the most social and entertaining part of the event will take place, with an Open Day and music in the magnolia courtyard.
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Bilbao City Council’s arts production centre will also announce the artists selected for the 2026–27 Production Grants, as well as the winning project from the 3rd Call for Curatorial Proposals for the BA Bilduma Collection.
(Bilbao, 12 June 2026). – Fundación BilbaoArte Fundazioa is organising two of its most notable initiatives this June, marking the end of the academic year. Firstly, the group exhibition by its resident artists, which will be hosted at the URIBITARTE40 Gallery from Friday 19 June until 6 September.
In addition, the Urazurrutia 32 venue will open its doors from Monday 22nd until Wednesday 24th. Over these three days, both art professionals and the general public will be able to visit the studios of the resident artists and exchange views on the work produced during this academic year.
Furthermore, Bilbao City Council’s arts production centre has announced the recipients of the 2026/27 Production Grants, who will be hosted in residence at its Old Town venue; and it will shortly present the winning project from the 3rd Call for Curatorial Proposals for the BA Bilduma Collection, which will be exhibited at the Abandoibarra exhibition hall next year.
EXHIBITION
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE 2025/26: NEW ACQUISITIONS is a group exhibition showcasing the work of the latest generation of artists in residence at the BilbaoArte Foundation. This project features the works produced by the twelve artists who received the Production Grant in 2025/26. In total, around thirty works are now part of the BA Collection. The URIBITARTE 40 Gallery is hosting this exhibition from Friday 19 June until Sunday 6 September.
This group, comprising people of different ages and backgrounds, represents a selection of the latest trends, styles and working methods in contemporary art practice. Shapes and colours floating, supported by the edge of a wall; seemingly naïve comic strips in which a sharp social critique lies beneath the surface; memory and latent senses in the image of the family home; geometric forms that move from paper and the world of ideas to the physicality of ceramics; the repeated bodily gesture across different media and through various techniques; colourful geometry that seeks to challenge the practice of painting; physical and psychological limits, or the ‘border’ in its broadest sense, analysed through the connection between image and sculpture; three-dimensional photographic narrative or the search for contemporary definitions of the photobook through installation; space and the domestic sphere used to reveal narratives and hidden details; our roots and the branches or roots from which we come and thanks to which we exist, through a pure material that refers to that from which we flourish; the resulting drawing—never imagined—of absorbed graphic experiences and compositions of elements that give rise to something new; the force exerted by pressure on the sculptural form, revealing the reaction of that material. These are some of the themes we can see in the exhibition, which features the BA Collection’s new acquisitions.
The artists who have developed their work at the Foundation during 2025 and 2026 speak to us of these and many other issues, through which they invite us to think beyond the obvious. Many questions are laid bare, in search of as many answers as there are new doubts.
Furthermore, in this exhibition we can see the artist’s books that the twelve residents have produced during their stay, through which we can explore another mode of expression—in some cases closely linked to their usual working methods, and in others quite distinct from them—broadening our perspective and expanding the horizons of creativity.
PUBLIC PROGRAMMES
OPENING PROGRAMME
Public presentation: Friday 19 June, 6.00 pm
Opening: Friday 19 June, 7.00 pm – 9.00 pm
GUIDED TOURS
Guided tours in both Spanish Sign Language (LSE) and spoken Spanish
Wednesday 8 July and 5 August (Basque), 7.00 pm
Wednesday 22 July and 2 September (Spanish), 7.00 pm
Admission to all activities is free
OPEN DAYS 2026 (URAZURRUTIA, 32)
The studios of this year’s artist-in-residence programme participants will be open to the public from Monday 22nd to Wednesday 24th June, giving the artistic community and the general public the opportunity to see first-hand the works produced during their months-long stay at BilbaoArte.
Visitors will be able to discuss their impressions of the works with the artists and receive feedback from them. These works constitute a representative sample of the latest trends, approaches and working processes in contemporary art.
The galleries of the municipal art centre, situated at 32 Urazurrutia Street, will be hosting works by contemporary artists of various ages and backgrounds over the coming days: M. Benito Píriz (‘Panda’), Manu Blázquez, Blanca Castro Ponce, Fátima Conesa, Juana García-Pozuelo, Auritz Iñurrieta Orbezua, Fermín Moreno Martín, Antoine Nessi, Gareth Phillips, Laurita Siles, Amaya Suberviola and Fernando Villena.
‘Puertas Abiertas’ is presented as a day of celebration and showcase for the projects created by the resident artists and recipients of production grants during their residency at BilbaoArte. After ten months of intense work in the studios and workshops, the artists are transforming their studios and workspaces into exhibition spaces, opening up the opportunity for dialogue and interaction with anyone interested in their practice.
This event is structured around a three-day programme and combines opening the studios to the public during extended opening hours, private visits by professionals (gallery owners, cultural managers, etc.), and a more light-hearted afternoon, where music creates a space for sharing and getting to know one another in a celebratory atmosphere.
Stepping out of the studio and presenting oneself to the world stands as an exercise in Hegelian alterity, in which one can not only get to know, but also recognise the ‘other’, and establish new dynamics of relationship between both parties. This public presentation also enables BilbaoArte to showcase the work that has taken place throughout the year. Techniques, processes, and technical and human resources are translated into tangible productions in the form of installations and works of art. But they also take the form of experiences lived by the artists who have held residencies at BilbaoArte, who have been users and/or who have taken part in the specialised courses and programmed activities.
PUBLIC PROGRAMME AND OPEN DAY
22 JUNE
5.00 pm – 9.00 pm. Free access to studios)
23 JUNE
11.00 am – 2.00 pm. Open Day (free access to the studios)
5.00 pm – 9.00 pm. Open House Party, free access to the studios + live music + beer in the courtyard
24 JUNE
11.00 am – 2.00 pm. Open House (free access to studios)
5.00 pm – 9.00 pm. Open House (free access to studios)
BILBAOARTE: RESULTS OF CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS
To mark the end of the academic year, BilbaoArte has announced the results of the 2026–27 Production Grants call for applications for the realisation of artistic projects involving the provision of studio space at BilbaoArte. An external jury of professionals and artists, comprising Alain Urrutia, Sahatsa Jauregiy and Tania Pardo, has selected the 11 final artists. Jon Ibala, Estanis Comella, Karlos M. Bordoy, Celia Viada, Alazne Zubizarreta, Leire Lacunza, Javier Ozcoidi, Javier Lozano, Izar Ocariz, Ismael Iglesias and Itxaso Fernández will undertake an 11-month residency commencing in September 2026.
In addition, the results of the 2nd Curatorial Call for Proposals will also be announced. This initiative, launched once again this year by BilbaoArte, aims to promote the BA Collection, the artists and works it comprises; to develop an exhibition project and associated public programmes; and to create a support scheme for professionals in the arts and culture sector to help them develop curatorial projects.
The selected project, comprising works exclusively from the BA Collection, will be exhibited at the URIBITARTE40 Gallery between November 2026 and February 2027.
