TEA - Tenerife Arts Space

TEA (Tenerife Espacio de las Artes) is Santa Cruz's centre for contemporary art and an architectural masterpiece by the Swiss duo Herzog & de Meuron (creators of Tate Modern in London, CaixaForum in Madrid and the Bird's Nest in Beijing) in collaboration with local architect Virgilio Gutiérrez. 20,622 m² of concrete pierced by 1,200 glass blocks in 720 different sizes. Opened in October 2008, after a project initiated in 1999. The dark grey, raw concrete of the facade was inspired by the island's volcanic landscape.

The building has no traditional facades: access is possible from all sides. A public diagonal path cuts through the entire complex, connecting the Puente Serrador bridge with the bank of the Barranco de Santos. Along the way it literally passes through the library reading room, where glass screens allow views inside and outside simultaneously. This diagonal widens into a semi-covered triangular plaza, freely accessible around the clock.

TEA integrates three institutions under one roof. The Instituto Óscar Domínguez houses a permanent collection of over 2,000 works in upper galleries lit by skylights. The Centro de Fotografía Isla de Tenerife holds the Ordóñez Falcón Collection (COFF): nearly 600 works, considered one of the most important private photography collections in Europe. The Island Library on the lower level is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

At the heart of the permanent collection is the work of Óscar Domínguez (La Laguna 1906, Paris 1957), considered the third most important Spanish surrealist alongside Dalí and Miró. He was a friend of Breton, Picasso and Éluard in Paris, inventor of decalcomania (the surrealist transfer technique), and his tragic death on New Year's Eve 1957 closed one of the most unconventional lives in the history of Canarian art. His Monument to the Cat stands in Parque García Sanabria. Major temporary exhibitions have featured works by Warhol, Dalí, Picasso, Penrose, Patti Smith and Tàpies.

Since 2023 the sculpture 'Carla' by Jaume Plensa stands before the entrance: a 7-metre head of a young woman with closed eyes, cast in iron (7.8 tonnes), acquired by the Cabildo to mark the 50th anniversary of the first International Street Sculpture Exhibition (1973). Since 2024 TEA hosts the Bienal Contemporánea (every two years). In 2023 it received 177,271 visitors.