Enrique Juncosa was born on July 12th 1961 in Palma de Mallorca. He graduated with a degree in English Philology from the University of Barcelona in 1985. He started working in the art world in 1989 at the Pomeroy Purdy Gallery in London as art advisor and exhibition organiser.
In 1992 he joined the Board of the Joan y Pilar Miró Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, and that same year he began collaborating in national newspapers as an art critic.
In October 1998 he was appointed deputy director at IVAM (Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno) where he took over responsibilities for acquisitions for the museum’s collection as well as organising exhibitions as head of the art dept.
Two years later, he was appointed deputy director of MNCARS (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía) in Madrid, where he curated works by artists such as Panamarenko, Bhupen Khakar, Olafur Eliasson and Francis Alys and group shows including “Big Sur”, an exhibition of Spanish artists from the 1990s, and “Warhol-Basquiat-Clemente”. As a freelance curator he has worked with Barry Flanagan, Malcolm Morley and Miquel Barceló.
He remained in this post until 2003, when he was chosen as director of IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) in Dublin where he has curated shows by artists such as Francesco Clemente, Dorothy Cross and Howard Hodgkin, among others. This same year, he was appointed advisor to the collection of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg and for the cultural programmes at the Athens art fair, which he has combined with his work as director of IMMA, a post in which he was recently renewed.
Juncosa writer
Enrique Juncosa is also a recognised poet, “more than a curator” as he puts it himself. His first book “Amanecer zulú” (published by Calle Mayor) from 1986 was followed by “Las frutas” (published by Pomeroy Purdy Gallery in London) in 1990, “Libro del océano” (Dador) in 1991 with illustrations by Miquel Barceló, who also collaborated with Juncosa in “Poemas africanos” in 1997 for Museum of Modern Art in Oostende (Belgium). His latest book of poems “Bahía de las banderas” (Pre-textos) was released in 2007. Juncosa has also written many essays, including “Miquel Barceló, o el sentimiento del tiempo” (Síntesis) and “Las adicciones: ensayos sobre el arte contemporáneo” (Síntesis), 2005.
Collaborations with Barceló
In 1991 Barceló made the illustrations for Juncosa’s “Libro del océano”. Two years later, together with Agustín Villaronga, he travelled to Mali to speak with Barceló about making a film. In 1994 he was commissioned to curate a major retrospective of Barceló’s work for the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London which then travelled to IVAM in Valencia the following year. They both coincided again in 1997 in the book “Poemas africanos”. His last collaboration with Barceló was the exhibition “African Work”, on view last year at IMMA in Dublin before touring to CAC in Malaga.
Currently
Enrique Juncosa was recently appointed curator of the Barceló exhibition representing Spain at the 53rd Venice Biennale opening this coming June 7th.