History of the MAC

In 1984 and as an initiative of the League of Art Students of San Juan, a call was launched to explore the possibility of creating a Museum of Contemporary Art in Puerto Rico with the massive support of artists and art enthusiasts.

MAC's first board of directors:
Antonio Martorell, Rosita Hauessler, Maud Duquella, Dennis Simonpietri, Delta Picó, Noemí Ruiz, Pedro Quiles Mariani, and María E. Somoza.

During the first four years, without permanent headquarters, the MAC carries out a series of activities in different public spaces in order to publicize the museum and raise funds. Innovative aesthetic proposals were presented to integrate different expressions of art.

With the works exhibited in the first two art festivals in Plaza Las Américas, the museum's collection began forming, incorporating works by artists from Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the Caribbean from the 1960s to present.

The MAC's first permanent space was located in the Magdalena Sofía Barat Building at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazon in Santurce. It was inaugurated on October 1988 with an exhibition of its collection and another show of works by Julio Rosado del Valle.

Julio Rosado del Valle's work was selected for this inaugural exhibition as it was considered one of the most innovative expressions within contemporary Puerto Rican painting.

Signing of the agreement that granted space to the MAC in the Magdalena Sofía Barat Building at the Universidad Sagrado Corazón.

Left to right: Lic. Dennis Simonpietri (Vicepresident, MAC), Dr. María Emilia Somoza (President, MAC), and Lic. José A. Morales (President, USC)

From then on, the museum has directed its collection and exhibition practice towards displaying, studying and collecting artworks with new aesthetic visions.

Proposals arose among artists to integrate various expressions of art and technology, including performance art.

The MAC organized creative workshops, and retrospectives of known and emerging artists among the young generations of the time, as well as anthological exhibitions. Throughout the 1990s, the MAC received several AICA Awards in recognition of the exhibitions' excellence.

Charcoal drawing workshop with artist Nelson Sambolín and students from Santiago Torres de las Piedras School.

In 2002, the MAC moved its operations to the facilities of the former Escuela Labra located at Parada 18, Santurce. Designed by the architect Adrian Finlayson and built in 1918, it was restored by architect Otto Reyes Casanova to be the permanent headquarters of the Museum.

Signing of the usufruct agreement for the Rafael M. Labra School building. From left to right: Dr. César Rey (Secy. of Education), John T. Belk, Dr. María M. Somoza, Sila María Calderón (Gov. of Puerto Rico), Ferdinand Mercado (Secy. of State), and José M. Izquierdo (Secy. of Transportation and Public Works)

To celebrate the opening of the new headquarters, two inaugural exhibitions were organized: Libertad y riesgo (2003) and El papel sin fronteras (2004), both  featuring works from the Permanent Collection. Still in its formative stage, it was the most extensive and representative collection of the time gathered in Puerto Rico until then.

These included paintings, sculptures, objects, videos, installations and works on paper. Its curators were: Jaime Romano, Oscar Mestey, Margarita Fernández Zavala and Marianne Ramírez Aponte.

The move to the new headquarters provided the opportunity to expand the institution's programmatic services and accelerate the growth of the collection. From then on, a new vision and work plan for the development of projects is established.

In the new proposal, the MAC would have to be developed as a hybrid institution that, in addition to serving as an exhibition hall, would be a research center for contemporary culture.

Important collective and solo exhibitions were produced, such as Azul (2009) by Arnaldo Roche Rabell, Intoxications (2009) by Leopoldo Maler, Passions (2010) and Careos/Relevos: 25 years of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (2010), among others.

In 2009, the museum took part of the X International Cuenca Biennial as curator of the Puerto Rican delegation, which implied a recognition of the institution as a privileged observatory for the study of emerging aesthetics and its ability to encourage new visual practices.

This permeates through the creation of the programs like Taller Vivo (Live Workshop), a commissions program aimed at supporting ongoing projects with an emphasis on audience interaction.

Parallel to that, the program MAC en el Barrio has sought to broaden and deepen creative placemaking and civic cross-sector collaboration upon its creation in 2014 by Executive Director and Chief Curator Marianne Ramírez Aponte.

MAC en el Barrio commissions artworks in and outside the Museum, organizes cultural events and offers educational workshops to the community, to bring them closer to the cultural and artistic experience.

Javier Cardona, Hasta el cuello (2016) - El Gandul

In 2017 it expanded its scope to Río Piedras, another neighborhood in the capital city. A year later it expanded its services to the municipality of Cataño. As of 2022, the program has served over 29 communities in 7 municipalities in the metropolitan area, south and west of Puerto Rico, and commissioned over 65 artworks and cultural projects.

Nathan Budoff McKibben, Entre tierra firme y mar (2019) - Cataño