Ignacio Gómez de Liaño

At the heart of this exhibition, organised by the Museo Reina Sofía Collections Department, is the personal archive of writer, poet and philosopher Gómez de Liaño (Madrid, 1946) donated to the Museo. This major ensemble is made up of artworks by Spanish and international artists, for instance Alain Arias-Misson, Elena Asins, Carlo Belloli, Felipe Boso, Henri Chopin, Herminio Molero, Julio Plaza, Manolo Quejido, Paul de Vree and Gómez de Liaño, and features a section of documentation comprising numerous letters, writings and other materials from poetry, philosophy and academic spheres. The main body of this archive, spanning from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, has not been displayed publicly since the days of its inception.

Gómez de Liaño is key to understanding the experimental poetry scene in Spain. As a poet, he started out alongside Julio Campal in the avant-garde group Problemática 63, before moving in a different direction, setting up his own initiative with the Cooperativa de Producción Artística y Artesana, with Herminio Molero and Manolo Quejido, among others. Gómez de Liaño’s work focused on theoretical development, via manifestos, and organising events and collective exhibitions around experimental poetry, granting visibility to a number of overseas artists in the Spanish scene. Furthermore, he played a pivotal role in the cultural activity that emerged at the time in the major centres of artistic production, such as the German Institute in Madrid, the Computing Centre at the University of Madrid and the 1972 Pamplona Encounters. Therefore, Ignacio Gómez de Liaño. Forsaking Writing sets forth this context, situating Gómez de Liaño as a catalyst for artists and a pre-eminent figure in the practice of public poetry and action.