The Persistence of Geometry explores the use of geometry in art over the last four decades through a selection of works from the collections of Fundación "la Caixa" and the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA).

Geometry gained a new lease on life in the simple, elementary forms of Minimalist sculpture and the performative practices of the 1960s. The artists involved purged geometric forms of any symbolic content and took them down off the idealist pedestal where the geometric abstraction of modernism had placed them. The use of geometry was extended to other practices—installation, film, video and photography—which were used to explore other aspects of artworks, such as their performative nature, the properties of light, and the temporal character of perception. Form was given an element of staging, and interaction with viewers opened up new avenues for relating to the artwork. Since then, geometry has been used in a new way that appeals to the senses as well as inviting reflection on issues of cultural, social and political significance.

The exhibition, curated by Nimfa Bisbe, covers various themes that address tensions between the formalist strategies of Minimal and Conceptual art, as well as taking a look at later works that revisited geometry as a means of generating new content.