MACA - MUSEO DE ARTE CONTEMPORÁNEO ATCHUGARRY INAUGURATED IN URUGUAY

More than 5 thousand people attended the grand opening of MACA, in an event including a concert by Mathías Atchugarry, the ribbon cutting, visits to the exhibitions of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, León Ferrari and the permanent collection of MACA. There was also a great outdoor Toquinho show and a show by the Sodre National Ballet. Pablo Atchugarry, Carlos Ott, the President of the Republic Luis Lacalle Pou and former presidents José Pepe Mujica and Julio María Sanguinetti participated in the ribbon cutting.

The Museum opened with the international retrospective exhibition “Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Uruguay”. It is a set of more than 50 works from the artists’ family heritage and private collections that arrive for the first time in South America. It presents an overview of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work in different formats: photography, drawings, collages and plans

From desert landscapes and rough seas coasts, to man-made cities and parks, each project had its own language that dialogued with the environment in which it was immersed. But the works were not just the installation for as long as it lasted; they were everything that happened around them. The encounters, the people, the drawings, the studies, the engineering, the politics, the assembly and disassembly. Environmental art, as also defined by the artists.

In the building annexed to the museum visitors can enjoy the exhibition "Heliographies" by León Ferrari. The museum also houses the permanent Atchugarry collection, which contains more than one hundred works by Latin American, American and European artists, including Julio Le Parc, Carlos Cruz Diez, Joaquín Torres García, Ernesto Neto and Carmelo Arden Quin.

MACA's cultural extension program will offer film series, conferences, seminars and workshops where different historians and critics from the region and the world will participate, formulating it as a laboratory and center for reflection, debates and educational platform. “We bet on a museum full of artistic, educational and cultural activities for everyone. This great opening positions Uruguay on the map of the great international museums and, at the same time, promotes the development of local artists, both established and emerging. We are convinced that MACA will mark a before and after in the cultural panorama of the region."

The Fundación Pablo Atchugarry is a non-profit institution created in 2007 with the spirit of promoting the visual arts, literature, music, dance and other creative manifestations. This social and cultural project is built constantly and dynamically, consolidating itself through the work and experience of its founder and the entire team of collaborators. Its projection, as a cultural meeting and dissemination center through the knowledge and education of all art disciplines, allows both renowned artists and young people who are starting their careers to exhibit their work and carry out a genuine exchange between different artistic visions. On the other hand, it intends to integrate all sectors of society through culture and arts education. All the activities by the Fundación Pablo Atchugarry are open to the public and free of charge.