Mr. Luis Monreal, General Manager of the Aga Khan Foundation, Geneva
Mr. Luis Monreal is General Manager of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Geneva, Switzerland.
He is a conservation specialist, art historian and archaeologist. Throughout his professional career he has held positions in many institutions; he has been Curator of the Frederic Marès Museum in Barcelona (1965-1974) and Secretary General of the International Council of Museums ICOM (1974-1985). He was Director of the Getty Conservation Institute (Los Angeles, 1985-1990) and General Director of ‘La Caixa’ Foundation (Barcelona, 1990-2001). He was also member of various archaeological missions in Nubia, Sudan, Egypt, and Morocco.
He is the author of several books and numerous articles on art and archaeology. He is Board Member of Trustees of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation (Spain), a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Barcelona, Spain), Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) and holds La Gran Cruz de Isabel la Católica (Spain).
Professor Tim D. White, University of California at Berkeley (USA); CENIEH (ES)
Professor Tim White directs the Human Evolution Research Center at Berkeley and co-directs the Middle Awash paleoanthropological research project in Ethiopia. His primary interests involve human evolution in all its dimensions. His research emphasizes fieldwork designed to acquire new data on early hominid skeletal biology, environmental contexts, and behavior. He has worked on hominids spanning the Pliocene and Pleistocene, from phylogenetic, functional, behavioral, and ecological perspectives. He has investigated bone modification in a variety of archaeological and paleontological contexts. His ongoing research includes fieldwork in Ethiopia and Turkey, as well as laboratory studies and development and training in these and other countries. His books include Human Osteology, The Human Bone Manual, and Prehistoric Cannibalism at Mancos. He co-authored the hominid taxa Ardipithecus, Australopithecus afarensis, and Au. garhi. He belongs to the National Academies of Science in Ethiopia, South Africa, and the United States. His awards include the TIME 100 (2010) and the International Prize for Biology (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 2021).
Ms. María de Corral López-Dóriga, Independent curator, art critic and art advisor
Ms. María del Corral is the director of the Asociación Arte Contemporáneo Collection (deposited in the Patio Herreriano Museum in Valladolid) and co-directs Expo Actual, art consultancy and advisory company.
She has been director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (1991-1994), of the advisory committee of the Telefónica Foundation collections (2003-2006), director of Plastic Arts at the “La Caixa” Foundation (1981-1991) and of its contemporary art collection until 2002. Director of the 51st Venice Biennale (2005), of the Pontevedra Biennial (2000 and 2002), senior curator of the Dallas Museum of Art (2005-2008) and president of EUROPAN, European Architecture Competition (1992-1994).
She has curated over a hundred exhibitions in institutions in Spain and abroad. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Museo Reina Sofía and is in the Board of Trustees of several institutions: the Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza, the Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad, the Museo Guerrero in Granada and the Pilar Citoler CIRCA XX Collection. She has been a member of the advisory committees of the Rooseum Center in Malmö, the Fine Arts Museum in Boston, the Wexner Arts Center in Minneapolis, the Museum of Luxembourg and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona (MACBA).
She holds the Gold Medal of Merit for Fine Arts and Chevalier and Officer of the l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France).
Mr. Gregorio Marañón y Bertrán de Lis, Lawyer, businessman and academic
He is the chairman of the board of the listed companies Logista, Universal Music Spain and Air City Madrid Sur. He is also chairman of the Teatro Real and the Ortega-Marañón Foundation. Member of the board of Patrimonio Nacional and El Español.
Mr. Marañon y Bertrán de Lis is Trustee of the National Library and the Army Museum and he is the founder and honorary president of the Royal Foundation of Toledo and honorary trustee of the Norman Foster Foundation as well as member of the advisory board of Cáritas Española.
Furthermore, he is a full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and a member of its administrative committee, a honorary member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Historical Sciences of Toledo, a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Telmo and a full member of the Académie Européenne des Sciences, des Arts et des Lettres.
He holds the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic, the Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise, the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts, the Gold Medal of the Community of Madrid, the Gold Medal of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha and the Gold Medal of the City of Madrid. He is a Commander of the French Legion of Honour and a Commander of the Order of the Stella of the Italian Republic. He is an Adoptive Son of the City of Toledo.
He holds a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Castilla-La Mancha and has been awarded the Mariano de Cavia National Journalism Award 2017.
Dr. Margarita Orfila, Professor of archaeology
Dr. Margarita Orfila Pons is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Granada. She has taught at the University of Valencia and the University of the Balearic Islands. She is currently President of the Ateneu de Maó (Menorca).
She has been honored with the Ciutat de Palma Award for Research 1988, the University of Granada Award for Scientific Dissemination, 2010 – 2011, the Civic Action Award Lluís Carulla Foundation, 2013 and is Numerary Academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Granada since 2002.
She has directed, among other excavations, those of the Roman city of Pollentia (Alcudia, Mallorca), as well as those of Florentia Iliberritana (present-day Granada), or those of the sanctuary of Calescoves la Cova dels Jurats (Alaior, Menorca), as well as the Paleochristian complex of Son Fadrinet, Campos, Mallorca.
Among her publications we would like to highlight the following: The necropolis of Sa Carrotja and the Romanization of the South of the island of Mallorca, British Archaeological Reports, 397, Oxford, 1988. Florentia Iliberritana. The city of Granada in Roman times, University of Granada, 2011 or The orientation of the new orthogonal structures in Roman times. Varatio and its variations, Granada.
Mr. Pepe Serra, Director of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC)
Mr. Pepe Serra is a Graduate in Art History (specialising in contemporary art) from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is the Director of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya since January 2012. Previously he was the Director of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona (2006-2012), Deputy General Manager of Museums and Promotion of Cultural Heritage at the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2005 and 2006), Head of Programmes at the Caixa Catalunya-La Pedrera Foundation (2001-2005) and Coordinator of Travelling Exhibitions at MACBA (1996-2000).
Prior to this he was the Director and Lecturer of the Postgraduate Course on Museums at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona (2010-2015) and Director of the two editions of the seminar held in Barcelona regarding Museums in Changing Times organised by Johns Hopkins University as part of the Master of Museum Studies (2012 and 2016). He is also a guest lecturer on various masters and postgraduate university courses such as the Master in Cultural Heritage Management and Museology at the University of Barcelona (UB), the Master in Analysis and Management of Artistic Heritage at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) or the Postgraduate in Humanities, Health and Arts in Health Projects at the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF).
Mr. Jesús García Calero, Director of ABC Cultural
Mr. Jesús García Calero is an experienced cultural journalist with a degree from the Complutense University. Director of ABC Cultural, he is co-author of the book “Don Juan contra Franco” (Plaza y Janés, 2018), an investigation focused on Franco’s espionage reports against the monarchists in 1948. He has also published the poetry collection “Lecciones de tiniebla” (Visor).
His areas of expertise include information on heritage and cultural policy. He is a reference in Spanish journalism on underwater archaeology for his investigations on the ‘Odyssey case’ and the San José galleon, of which he organised three international symposia in Madrid. As a guest of honour he has participated in several archaeological missions, in Spain and France, and has published essays on these subjects: “Instrucciones para encontrar un tesoro” (Antropología, INAH bulletin, Mexico). “El expolio no cotiza en Bolsa” (Economía Exterior) and “The impact of mass media in the discrimination of Hispanic sunken heritage and the implementation of the UNESCO 2001 Convention”, (APCONF, Honolulu).
He has contributed in collective works such as the homage to Don Quixote by the Instituto Castellano y Leonés de la Lengua and in the monographic book on Julián Gállego by the Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, with an essay on the role of cultural criticism and journalism in the Spanish Transition.