Recently arrived from New York, Bernardo Pajares Duro (Villagarcia de Arosa, 1983) is a jolly man. Together with Javier Sainz, they have managed to bring the Prado Museum closer to all audiences with content on TikTok that has encouraged young people to take an interest in the culture and break the stigma of elitism.
With videos in digital tools having a casual and informative tone, his work has crystallized in the Webby Award, in recognition of his work in performing arts. In December, he also won the TikTok Award for Best Initiative in the World of Art and Culture. An identity that reinforces their work.
-How does a man from the villager end up in the Prado Museum?
– I was giving theater classes to children and teenagers in schools and at the same time I was taking training in English Philology. I had a partner in extracurricular activities who told me that the Prado Museum needed guards and that they were opening a call to protest. I applied, I passed the exam, but I didn’t get a permanent position, because I didn’t have any points for not working in the museum. One afternoon he called me there to enter as a general service assistant in an exhibition for the opening of the museum. I accepted to stay for those six months and I stayed for nine years. I got a permanent position and since I had training in communication and a master’s degree in radio, they asked me to help in social networks and so far.
– What have you learned from your life in Bamio after all these years?
– They are my roots, my whole family and my grandmother’s memories. That’s all I learned as a kid. My father was a mechanic and my mother was a shellfish farmer, they are very humble. He taught me to work hard and put in a job to get what I want in life. She always used to tell me that if I want to study then I should and if not then I should go to the garden as there is always work there. I grew up under a culture of striving and respecting others, doing nothing one does and this is something I see every day at the museum. The content we create is not just Javier (my partner) or I holding a mobile phone to record or voice over a written script. If we do not have curators or restorers studying the works of the museum in depth, it will be useless.
– You recently managed to win the award for Best Initiative in the World of Art and Culture at the “Webby Awards” for your content on TikTok, what does this mean for your work?
-very happy. It is the identity of the day-to-day work in the background. The work of the entire team of the Prado Museum is appreciated in a very humble way (which can be within the reach of anyone). Finding ways to make tasks count in a simpler way is also rewarded. We are not making anything up, we are just telling it in such a way that everyone can understand it and have fun learning; understanding, for example, that the Meninas are two and not three, because the protagonist of the painting is the Infanta Margarita.
– Do you feel pressured to carry the audiovisual material of such an important museum?
It’s true that coming this far there’s always a little pressure on you, we’re close to half a million followers and we have some pressure. We are finding out what interests people the most and when they give us an award like the Webby or the TikTok award that we won in December, it puts extra pressure on you in the eyes of many. We’re going to continue with our genre, which is to tell stories about the museum. There is always someone who has something to tell inwardly.
Is it complicated to adapt cultural content to a platform like TikTok?
At first I thought so. When Javier called me to create a Tik Tok account, I was taken aback. They told me that we were not going to dance, we were going to be the Prado Museum and would be adapted to all audiences, focused on young people. We begin to attribute Goya’s brushstrokes, the vase of Las Meninas, to the golden minute of the social network. Some publications have been viewed over a million times. All the colleagues have contributed and we are happy. The atmosphere that exists transcends the veil,
– One of these successes has been to bring the Museo del Prado closer to all audiences and break with the label of elite.
– We might have come a little too far from that. My parents came to visit me and asked if they would understand. With him I also learned how to tell people about it. In general, this is the desire of the museum to contact the entire public.
“We have a real commitment to art history”
– She combines her work with Juanra Sanz at the Museo del Prado with her podcast program “Arte Compacto”. Is it Complicated to Connect Youth to Culture?
-I do not think so. I think the youth act like our generation, if you tell them something with passion and commitment, they appreciate it. We have a true commitment to the history of art and the stories we identify with most. We are talking about Velazquez, Goya or Andy Warhol. During the pandemic we received many messages from gay couples who heard us from their point of view and who congratulated us, as it had previously been told in a more harsh way. The hard part is finding the free time.
– Is it necessary at this time to keep yourself away from serious content and take more support of infotainment or casual content?
-If you count, for example, Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People” and you count only the technical characteristics, then very well. If you mention Rigoberta Bandini and talk about what “Ay Mama” has to do with drama and on top of that you can put lyrics and be yourself without anyone guiding you, so much the better .
– What future awaits podcasts after so many changes?
-In Spain it has taken us a long time to arrive. Over the years there have been many powerful betting platforms and media and they have all come to Spain. It’s a time when everyone has a podcast. I don’t think it will happen, it’s new radio. I listen to a lot of audio, be it on WhatsApp, radio or podcasts, it is my favorite medium and I believe that word of mouth is the core of storytelling. Telling them out loud is how feelings arise, you can pause, shout, set a more intimate tone… I don’t think it’s going to die, maybe it’ll be recycled.
