The new director of the Mercat de les Flors asks for help before closing for renovations.

BarcelonaThe presentation of the new director of the Mercat de les Flors, Chilean historian María José Cifuentes (Santiago, 1980), was one of the strangest in recent history. Firstly, because she was not accompanied by any representative of the two institutions that form part of the consortium, neither Barcelona City Council nor the Generalitat (Catalan government). And secondly, because Cifuentes announced the main lines of a program without knowing where it will be deployed. The center for which she was chosen director will ultimately close for two years—not just one as initially planned—in 2027 and 2028, with the aim of reopening in 2029, when the centenary of the 1929 Expo on Montjuïc will be celebrated (the reason this building was built as the Palau de Barcelona). The Mercat will be under renovation throughout the current season, planned by Àngels Margarit, and open to the public until December 2026.

Cifuentes affirms that "not having the venue" is "an opportunity" to think about dance differently, not as a spectacle but as a way of "inhabiting the world" and "bringing people together to build a community through the body." Inevitably, this will mean taking the Market's dance "to other spaces, in the metropolitan area and throughout Catalonia." Right now, she is open to programming in unusual places, from museums to public spaces, to "invite citizens to dance and not just watch" the dance. "The main challenge is not to disappear, to have continuous programming. We must make noise or we disappear," the director stated.

She calls for "solidarity"

Despite the situation, Cifuentes does not want to give up on producing her own productions—following the legacy of the Célula creation program—artist residencies—taking advantage of the Graner—international co-productions that allow Catalan artists to explore their respective spaces and maintain their leadership role in the dance creation, distribution, and exhibition ecosystem. That's why the director will need and expect the "solidarity of national venues," namely the Teatre Lliure and the Teatre Nacional. "We don't have specific agreements. We can't say we'll move the programming to these venues," she admitted this Wednesday, having barely begun talks with their respective directors. Where she has found "a yes" is in the municipal performing arts venues of major cities. In fact, she announced that by 2027, the coordination of the Dansa Metropolitana festival will be under the jurisdiction of the Mercat de les Flors. She has also asked Barcelona City Council what alternative spaces in the city they can offer her. "It's not easy," she admitted.

The Mercat de les Flors is a national and international benchmark for contemporary dance, with an annual budget exceeding 7 million euros (from the City Council, the Generalitat (Catalan government), and support from the Ministry of Culture) and an estimated cost of more than 15 million euros for the renovation work, but the company is aware of this. "It's a national challenge. It's not about a theater closing: the largest dance facility in the country and an important one in the state is closing. A difficult time is coming for the Market to sustain itself. We appeal to not be alone, to do it together. We need the institutions and the artistic community," Cifuentes urged calmly. The budget for next season is not finalized either, but she is confident that if the theater must travel abroad, with the costs involved, the budget "will be maintained or increased." "What's coming is complex; we have to work in Catalonia; we are fighting for dance to have a more important place. I hope this is the commitment," she affirms.

Although she began her career in the academic world, she moved from research to the conservation of artistic and cultural assets and also to space management. Cifuentes says she's used to putting on a construction helmet. In 2013, she participated in the design of NAVE, the benchmark dance space in Latin America, which she directed until 2022. She then moved on to the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center, the largest theater, music, and visual arts space in Santiago, with five venues for programming, one of which has nearly 1,800 seats. "The Mercat has always been a dream for me," said the director, who had already worked with the venue and has seen "three or four generations of Catalan artists grow."

The four programming lines will be support for creation—with artist residencies, associated creators, thought cycles, a commitment to multidisciplinarity and internationalization; the strengthening of the educational and mediation program, addressing diversity; the commitment to putting the public at the center "and making them feel part of the Market without actually being there," and the redefinition of the project. After Peter Brook officiated the transformation of the Palacio de la Agricultura into a performance space, led by Maria Aurèlia Capmany and Pasqual Maragall, the Mercat de les Flors is in the midst of a midlife crisis and needs to rethink itself. "If we were a person, what would we be like? What character should the Market of the Future have?" asks Cifuentes. Many challenges for an essential space in the cultural ecosystem.