CGAC Director Appointment Sparks Resignations and Sector-Wide Protest

Three members of the advisory board of the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea (CGAC) in Santiago de Compostela have resigned following the appointment of Eva López Tarrío as the institution’s next director. The resignations of Cecilia Pereira, Silvia García and Agar Ledo come amid growing criticism of the selection process and protests held outside the museum.

López Tarrío, born in Vigo in 1972, holds a doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Salamanca and has worked as a secondary school drawing teacher since 2000. Her professional experience in the visual arts sector includes several local curatorial and cultural projects in Vigo and the province of Pontevedra.

The appointment was made through a discretionary procedure restricted to career civil servants. The process has been criticised by a number of professional organisations, including the Association of Contemporary Art Directors of Spain (ADACE), which has questioned both the selection procedure and the suitability of the chosen candidate for the leadership of one of Spain’s leading contemporary art institutions.

Criticism intensified on 1 June when ICOM Spain and the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM) issued a joint statement expressing concern over the appointment process. The organisations argued that museum directorships should be entrusted to professionals with demonstrated curatorial, research and institutional management experience, and emphasised that appointments should be made through open and transparent competitions evaluated by independent juries. The statement also warned that departures from these principles risk undermining the credibility and autonomy of public cultural institutions.

Established in 1993, the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea is housed in a building designed by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira in Santiago de Compostela. Administered by the Xunta de Galicia, the museum has played a significant role in the development of contemporary art in Galicia, maintaining a programme that connects regional artistic production with national and international contexts.

The appointment follows the conclusion of Santiago Olmo’s eleven-year tenure as director. As debate continues across the Spanish contemporary art sector, the situation has prompted renewed discussion about transparency, professionalisation and governance standards in publicly funded cultural institutions.

Image credit: MarcosEire / Wikimedia Commons. Galician Contemporary Art Centre (CGAC), Santiago de Compostela, 2025.