Argentine by origin, the curator and former Director of the Visual Arts Department of the Artists in Berlin Program (DAAD) — a residency that connects creatives from around the world with Germany's cultural scene — has spent years building bridges between Latin American art scenes and the major centers of Western art.

The eighth edition of Video Project, curated by Irene Gelfman, invites us to immerse in the concept of territory through the moving image. In video art we find a sense of curiosity and exploration that challenges our ideas of materiality and expands to embrace the most intimate. In six selected works, the notion of territory addresses bodies, landscapes and symbols, questioning the stability of physical and conceptual limits. The territory becomes a fluctuating space, as critical as the viewer's place.

The 2024 Venice Biennale has taken a profound interest on cyclical themes, with water emerging as a dominant motif across exhibitions. In resonance to Pedrosa’s title for this year ‘Stranieri Ovunque’, we see water as a dominant locus for the subjects of travel, shared heritage and fluctuation. On itself, water is seen (as both a vital resource and a destructive force) at the heart of the pavilions representing Greece, France, and in Otero Torres’ Arsenale installation, Aguacero. These exhibitions delve into water’s duality: as a life-giver and a potential destroyer, as a symbol of both division and connection.

Why highlight stories that often remain on the periphery of artistic discourse? Adriano Pedrosa justifies his curatorial decision with works by 331 artists -mostly from the global south- that open the way to powerful narratives. Finally, we see the axis being twisted. It is difficult to escape the white gaze, more so to move authentically through a Eurocentric space. Given this, the communicative reach of figuration serves to challenge the symbolic order of domination and destabilize the colonial project. The stories that are made explicit and the narratives of magic and everyday life help to recognize without revictimizing. 

The title of the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia, "Stranieri Ovunque", refers, in part, to foreignness as the inherent nature of the subject. Understood in this way, the national pavilions of Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom exhibit artistic proposals that develop the theme of colonialism and reconstruct histories, remedy ties between identity and territory, and explore the dramatic plurality of this potent historical axis. That said, this review does not intend to unveil or unpack the most unjust transcendental truths, but merely to reflect on the musings of others.

La Chola Poblete, Argentine artist and LGBTQ+ rights activist, draws confrontation between historical stereotypes and contemporary visual languages. Her colourful works in diverse media disrupt prevailing power structures and celebrate the rich culture of South American Indigenous peoples. Titled after her hometown, Guaymallén is La Chola’s solo exhibition at PalaisPopulaire, curated by Britta Färber, head of Deutsche Bank’s international art and culture program.

The NEXT section of Pinta PArC 2024 is set as a window to the Latin American emerging art scene, tracing a profound dialogue between diverse artistic systems and a dynamic collaboration with six galleries: Vigil Gonzales (Cusco and Buenos Aires), Salón Comunal (Bogotá), Enhorabuena Espacio (Madrid), Remota (Salta), Constitución (Buenos Aires) and Paseolab / Galería del Paseo (Lima and Punta del Este).

MIAMI

ROSAS Ek Balam gallery, based in Buenos Aires, presents works by Vicente Grondona and Max Gómez Canle in the RADAR section of Pinta Miami. Entitled Épica del paisaje (Epic of Landscape), this exhibition invokes the fragmentation of reality.

Born in Venezuela, Antonio Briceño is a photographer and biologist. His series Dioses de América. Panteón natural (Gods of America. Natural Pantheon) participates in the Special Project Amazonia of Pinta Miami 2023. He has been working for more than 20 years on this series, whose purpose is to make visible the indigenous mythologies that have survived Christianity and colonialism, but are still in danger of extinction.

MIAMI

Amazonia is a Pinta Miami project curated by Félix Suazo that proposes a visual expedition through the Amazon, crossing countries, cultures and ecological identities. As a Special Project, Amazonia emphasizes Pinta's commitment as an international platform for Latin American art.

Based on futuristic tales, Guadaloup Vilar created an entire universe where life and art are supported by death. Completely functional to organic and cohesive development, Guadaloup’s artworks and installations reshape the notion of expiration.

María A. Iovino Moscarella has developed a recognized work in Colombian and Latin American art as a teacher, researcher, curator and advisor on cultural projects. In the 2023 edition of Pinta BAphoto, she is participating as curator of Special Project: Sources by Andrés Ramírez Gaviria. 

Since 2012 as an artists' space and 2018 as a gallery, CRUDO manages exhibition spaces, participates in fairs and also manages and collaborates with residency programs, collectionism and artists' workshops. In an interview with Arte al Día, director and artist Yuyo Gardiol, talks about the origin and trajectory of the space. 

With the curatorship of Félix Suazo, Pinta Miami 2021 becomes a scenario for immersive and thought provoking installations. The aim of Pinta’s section Special Projects is to accentuate the individuality and artistry of contemporary artists who, through their works and installations, bring to life the concerns and possibilities of the near future.

With its new location and wider horizons, Pinta introduces architect and curator Daniel Fischer to its production team.

Gonzalo Maggi, in his photography, provides entity to a space that, although occupied, emanates a certain feeling of emptiness. By introducing a subject, an individual but metonymic form of existence, he gives architecture a meaning that exceeds its own ontology.

In the interest of paying tribute to one of the photographers who contributed in building Argentina's visual identity, Francisco Medail dedicated the Artista Homenaje section in BAphoto to Lucrecia Plat. Working with an extensive archive of portraits, conceptual photographs and the collaboration of Clara Nerone, Medail highlights the important role of archives in the conception and appreciation of contemporary art.

Fabiana Barreda's work, exhibited at BAphoto 2021 at the OdA Arte stand, amalgamates different cases and concepts within the idea of ​​space and the politics of feminism. With references to the great architectures, and to the female body as habitable and inhabiting, subjectivities are called into question and once again photography plays a catalytic role of simultaneous approach and estrangement.

Exhibited at La Galería Rebelde (Guatemala City – Los Ángeles), Distensiones is a story, a metaphor of life, of technology versus nature, of the symbiosis and juxtaposition of the evolution of the human being. Within this series there is also a personal narrative of travels, experiences and connections with past generations and personal visions.

The exhibitions, by the artists Alexandra Colmenares and Rocío Gomez, are held online and include works in audio, video, digital art, photography and painting. Creating a stage that enfolds the viewer, the screen that separates them ceases to be a window and becomes a connecting channel.

The personal legacy of Pritzker Prize winning Mexican architect Luis Barragán (1902–1988) is mostly in Mexico, while his professional legacy is owned by a Swiss corporation. Magin’s endeavor flirts with copyright, exclusivity and heritage to question these very notions. Seven are the works within her investigative project that are now part of Centre Pompidou’s permanent collection. These include sculpture, installation, photography and drawing.   

Last week, the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan received an instruction manual valued between $120,000 and $150,000. The manual itself is not an artwork, but 14 pages of detailed layouts on where, how, and how often the banana must be replaced. Yes, it is "Comedian", the conceptual artwork that went viral last year at Art Basel Miami Beach.

On Saturday February 8^th, during the Mexican art fair ZONA MACO, the Tequila 1800 Collection awards ceremony took place and the first prize was won by Gina Arizpe for her work ‘Names and Coordinates’.