Presented in collaboration with ESTE ARTE and the Faculty of Arts of the Universidad de la República (UdelaR), the Curatorial Intensive in Montevideo focused on emerging curatorial practices that strengthen cultural infrastructures, foster artistic creation, and bring communities together through shared experiences.
Over eight days, 12 emerging curators came together from Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and the United States to further their curatorial practices during the Curatorial Intensive, which drew from Uruguay’s artistic scene and its relationship to cultural movements across Latin America. This was our sixth Intensive in Latin America since 2012 and was conducted entirely in Spanish, led by independent curator and ICI alum Marina Reyes Franco (Curatorial Intensive alum, Mexico City 2014).
We were generously hosted at the Faculty of Arts of the Universidad de la República (Udelar) for our seminars, discussion sessions, and mentorship meetings. After introductions to participants and their projects, the group traveled to the Pueblo Victoria neighborhood for a seminar from Montevideo-based artist, organizer, and Udelar faculty member Ana Laura López de la Torre at Casa de Mario. The home of the late artist and community organizer Mario Benabbi has become a collectively-built cultural center, and López introduced the participants to her methodology by showing how work with Casa de Mario is engaging her students in thinking about co-creating. We also enjoyed site visits to SUBTE with director Micaela Azumbuja, Funcación Arte Contemporáneo (with an introduction on FAC artists from founder Fernando López Lage), and Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo, where director Guillermo Sierra explained the history of the former jail turned art space and gave a tour of its exhibitions. Later in the week, ESTE ARTE Director Laura Bardier led a trip to Punta del Este, where we were warmly welcomed into numerous galleries and spaces including Casa Sur (the home and studio of the late artist Nicolás Garcia Uriburu), MACA, and Fundación Cervieri Monsuárez.
In our seminars, an international group of faculty members offered perspectives on curating, working in collaboration, and building cultural infrastructures both within and without institutions. Ionit Behar (Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, USA) demonstrated how her curatorial practice connects transcultural perspectives across Montevideo, Chicago, and beyond, fostering shared experiences centered on contemporary issues. Victoria Noorthoorn drew from her experience as Director of Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires in Argentina to reflect on the challenges and transformative potential of public museums in Latin America, and their role in the construction of citizenship, memory, and critical debate. In a moving and broad-ranging discussion, Guatemalan curator and writer Maya Juracán interrogated the idea of “situated” curatorial practice, inviting participants to explore their personal narratives and positioning within their territory—geographic, political, social, personal, and more—to connect curatorial language with community action. And Keyna Eleison (Director, Bienal das Amazônias and Co-curator at Large, 36th Bienal De São Paulo, Brazil) offered a powerful study of collectivity, how collaborative approaches can meaningfully intervene in institutional frameworks, and how curating acts as a process of archival invention and memory construction.
The program concluded with a public symposium hosted at the Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales (MNAV), where participants presented the exhibition and project proposals that they developed throughout the Intensive. Through this process, the participants forged a close group of regional peers, connected to embark on future collaborations, and now join ICI’s unparalleled network of Curatorial Intensive Alumni. We’re extremely grateful to our partners, our faculty members, and to all those who hosted us!
