Independent Curators International (ICI) supports the work of curators to help create stronger art communities through experimentation, collaboration, and international engagement. Curators are arts community leaders and organizers who champion artistic practice; build essential infrastructures and institutions; and generate public engagement with art. Our collaborative programs connect curators across generations, and across social, political and cultural borders. They form an international framework for sharing knowledge and resources — promoting cultural exchange, access to art, and public awareness for the curator’s role.
Esteban King Álvarez

Esteban King Álvarez (México City, 1986) is researcher, art historian and curator. He holds a BA in History and a MA in Art History from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). His work focuses on modern and contemporary art and its relationships with music and literature. He has developed projects that interwove sound, archive and writing from the perspective of art history and contemporary art. He has written several articles in books and art catalogues, among others: “Strindentism and Urban Imaginaries” for the catalogue Avant-garde in Mexico, 1915-1940 (National Museum of Art, 2013); “New narrative strategies: the works of Salvador Elizondo” for the catalogue Defying stability: artistic processes in Mexico, 1952-1967 (MUAC, 2014) and “Sonorama. Art and technology from hi-fi to MP3” for the catalogue Sonorama (Museo Universitario del Chopo, 2014). He is curator of the collective exhibitions Transcripciones (Museo Universitario del Chopo, 2014), Una red de líneas que se intersecan (ESPAC, 2016) and La nueva onda del silencio (El cuarto de máquinas, 2017), among many others. From 2012 to 2015 he was curator and chief researcher at the Museo Universitario del Chopo, and from 2015 to 2019 curator and editor at ESPAC, Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo. He’s currently studying a PHD on Art History at UNAM, is part of the curatorial team of the XIV Bienal FEMSA Inestimable Azar, and works as a freelance writer.
involved in:
Notes for Tomorrow
Notes for Tomorrow is a new exhibition conceived by ICI, featuring artworks selected by alumni of the Curatorial Intensive from around the world to reflect on a new global reality ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic.
read more »Visual Writings. Reading the Unreadable.
Visual Writings. Reading the Unreadable shows a selection of ways in which contemporary artists have approached writing.
read more »2018 Curatorial Intensive in New Orleans: Public Symposium
The Curatorial Intensive participants of the 2018 New Orleans program will each present their project proposals that they have been developing over the course of the program.
read more »Curatorial Intensive in New Orleans
In collaboration with the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, ICI presents the fourth Curatorial Intensive in New Orleans.
read more »