Tenerife Espacio de Las Artes - a giant exhibition centre in Santa Cruz

Search This Site

El Tenerife Espacio de Las Artes, or "Tenerife Space of the Arts", commonly known as the TEA, is a large building in Santa Cruz dedicated to cultural and artistic activities.

This large edifice, which covers nearly 220,000 square feet, is located on theAvenida San Sebastian, just opposite the Mercado de Nuestra Senora de Africa.

It houses three distinct cultural institutions: El Instituto Óscar Domínguez, a contemporary art museum, La Biblioteca Insular Alejandro Cioranescu, a library and El Centro de Fotografia Isla de Tenerife, a centre for photography.

Other facilities include a restaurant, shop and public plaza.

The whole complex has a public pathway running through it. The Calle de La Huerta begins at the head of the General Serrador Bridge and passes through the building. The path actually goes through the reading room of the library. This reading room is partitioned off with large glass windows - if you're doing some quiet reading, you don't have sundry members of the public tramping past your desk!

The pathway eventually widens out and becomes the central, open-air public plaza, a triangular space that accommodates the TEA restaurant/cafe.

tenerife espacio de las artes

Instituto Óscar Domínguez

Óscar Domínguez was a surrealist painter born in La Laguna in 1906. Dying in 1957, this art museum was set up in his name and a large part of it is given over to his artworks, from various stages of his life. This is part of the upper level, along with two other exhibition rooms.

The first of these is given over to the development of Canarian art through the 20th century, displaying works of various painters.

The second is devoted to more recent artists, from 1975 onwards.

The Santa Cruz town council constantly tries to add to the various collections, using donations, auctions or outright purchases, to make this the most prestigious exhibition.

The lower level of the Institute is given over to any temporary exhibitions that need a home.

Biblioteca Insular Alejandro Cioranescu

Alexandru Cioranescu (whose first name was eventually given a Spanish spelling) was a Romanian scholar who had major associations with the University of La Laguna.

The library which bears his name is also on two levels and spans two different wings of the complex.

The main floor houses the lobby, ticket office, information booth and a children's section. There is the main reading room and lending section and its huge space can accommodate up to 1,000 study places.

The lower level is much smaller, housing an adult area for reading and research. Facilities include a music library and video library.

Centro de Fotografia Isla de Tenerife

Situated on the lower level, the photography centre occupies an area of over 21,500 square feet.

It has a public exhibition area, featuring a lobby, bookstore, library and workshops.

The objectives of the Centre are to preserve the photographic culture and heritage of Tenerife and to promote artistic creation. There is an annual programme of exhibitions, from both veteran photographers to newer, up-and-coming talent.

The Centre also hosts "Fotonoviembre", an international photography festival featuring contributions from around 200 photographers from as many as 25 different countries. It is widely regarded as one of the most important events of its kind in all of Spain.