HIGHLIGHTS OF PINTA ASUNCIÓN IN ITS FAREWELL

Pinta Asunción —formerly Pinta Sud— was born with the intention of showcasing local talent and building bridges with the international scene. This 2025, from September 10 to 13, it will celebrate its final edition, curated by Irene Gelfman and Adriana Almada, closing a cycle of cultural activation that left a strong mark on the region.

The first edition, in August 2022, introduced the Gallery Visits, tours of local artistic circuits that included national galleries and guest spaces from Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Montevideo, and Miami. These visits expanded the visibility of local artists and opened a space for dialogue with international figures. That same year, the Media Point program offered talks, interviews, and the Live Talks series, where curators, collectors, artists, and cultural managers reflected on the mechanisms of the art system, possible narratives, and the role of collecting, the market, and institutions in the Latin American context.

In 2023, the second edition stood out for Joaquín Sánchez’s site-specific installation at Casa M, curated by Adriana Almada, which transformed a building under construction into a space of creative experimentation, bringing freshness and contemporaneity to the program. That same year, the Mendonca Collection inaugurated the exhibition El país de las mujeres (The Country of Women) at the Centro Cultural de España Juan de Salazar, based on Barbara Potthast’s book, which placed the social condition of women in Paraguay at the forefront through works in various artistic languages.  The collection also presented key pieces of contemporary Paraguayan art linked to the Guaraní myth of the Tierra sin Mal (Land Without Evil), receiving praise for its critical and poetic approach. In addition, special guests such as Pablo León de la Barra and Aimé Iglesias Lukin participated in the Art Week, contributing to the diversification of perspectives on artistic production and placing social and gender issues at the center of cultural debate.

The third edition, in 2024, introduced the Young Curators Program under the coordination of Adriana Almada. The selected participants, Majo Fiorio and Luis Ocampos Pompa, highlighted the experience as a platform for new perspectives and learning in management, production, exhibition design, and communication. That same edition paid tribute to artist Yuyo Noé, and FORO —a space for reflection on Latin American curatorial practices— featured leading international guests, including Inés Katzenstein (MoMA), Raphael Fonseca (Bienal do Mercosur), Isabella Lenzi, and Ticio Escobar, among others. With this, Pinta Asunción reaffirmed its role as a training ground for new generations and as a bridge between local production and regional curatorial dynamics.

The fourth and final edition, to be held in September 2025, will open with the inauguration of Casa Ardissone, which will open its doors to the public for the first time. There, the exhibitions The Name of the World is Forest, by Fernando Allen, and Paraguay Contemporary Art, both curated by Adriana Almada, will be presented. Over four days, visitors will enjoy exhibitions, tours of galleries and museums across the city, as well as a new FORO in which international specialists will engage in dialogue with local figures, at venues such as CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean and the Casa de la Integración. This final edition seeks to consolidate the connections created in previous years and leave a platform in place for future artistic encounters in the city.