Library

The Library contains an extensive collection of magazines that have been chosen for their quality, interest and potential to provide an overview of artistic activity across various geographical and thematic areas. The issues they deal with and their respective formats are extremely diverse: artistic research, photography, performance, restoration, gender, history of exhibitions, sound art, literary fiction, etc. Of the approximately 1,900 titles it has available, more than 200 correspond to magazines and fanzines with active subscription published by universities, museums, publishing houses, collectives and independent artists. The remainder of its Historical Holdings is also constantly increasing thanks to donations from individuals and acquisitions from the MACBA Research and Documentation Centre that aim to incorporate the most relevant titles.

The MACBA Research and Documentation Centre has a highly active publications exchange programme that includes independent institutions and entities from throughout the world. In addition to a large number of institutions specialising in contemporary artistic practices, these include many self-managed centres run by artists and other groups promoting artistic research, whose publications tend to circulate outside the most common commercial channels.

The Library welcomes the donation of books and other materials on its specialty, provided they are not duplicated items in its holdings. Please write to biblioteca@macba.cat specifying the purpose of your donation if you would like to make one or obtain more information.

General public access to the Library is free for anyone interested in contemporary art and culture. Nontheless, it is recommended that you read the rules and regulations governing access to and use of the spaces that make up the MACBA Research and Documentation Centre.  You do not need to make a prior appointment. When you visit the Library for the first time, you will have to present your ID card or passport at the desk on the ground floor of the Research and Documentation Centre and you will be able to obtain your Library card free of charge in the Reading Room. Friends of MACBA cardholders can also access the Library.

As a general rule, you may copy (by means of black-and-white or colour photocopying, scanning or digital photography) portions of materials in the Library that are in a good state of preservation, provided that this copying process does not affect the condition of this material and the copies obtained are for research and academic study purposes, in accordance with the provisions of current legislation on intellectual property. A self-service photocopier is available that works with coins, but it does not return any change. You will find a machine that exchanges banknotes for coins in the photocopying room. You cannot photocopy any documents contained in the Library’s reserved section or those in its Archive. You can use digital photography as a means of reproduction in these cases. The Library also offers a document retrieval service from other libraries.

Educational institutions and professional groups can request a group visit to the Library to learn more about its space and services by writing to biblioteca@macba.cat.

The Research and Documentation Centre has a Wi-Fi connection. You will need its user name and password in order to access the network and these can be requested at the Library counter.