PINTA PANAMA ART WEEK 2026 REAFFIRMS THE COUNTRY AS A HUB FOR REGIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART

From March 18 to 22, 2026, the second edition of Pinta Panama Art Week 2026 will take place. Following its first edition in 2025, which attracted more than 2,200 visitors and brought together over 30 events across the city—with more than 20 participating galleries, institutions, and art spaces, as well as four FORO talks featuring international guests—the Art Week returns with an expanded and specially curated agenda. Under the artistic direction of Irene Gelfman, the event deepens its conceptual axis: Panama as a territory of connection, a space where Central American artistic practices converge and where bridges between the north and the south of the continent are articulated.

With the support of EFG Private Wealth as Global Sponsor and the backing of the Ministry of Culture, the event will activate, over five consecutive days, a public and free program including exhibitions, tours, talks, film screenings, music, and cultural and touristic experiences.

“The growth of the event responds to a long-term vision aimed at strengthening local scenes, generating international networks, and supporting the sustainable development of the region’s artistic ecosystem,” said Diego Costa Peuser, Global Director of Pinta. According to María Eugenia Herrera, Minister of Culture: “Pinta Panama Art Week strengthens the country brand and places us within a cycle of international exhibitions, positioning us as a cultural and artistic meeting point for the region.”

Central Exhibition and Curatorial Program

One of the highlights of the 2026 edition will be the central exhibition at Ciudad de las Artes. Conceived as a space of convergence between artists from different latitudes and the Panamanian scene, it will be curated by Gelfman and will bring together textile works and a video art section, in addition to performance actions by various artists during the opening, which will take place on Wednesday, March 18, officially launching Pinta Panama Art Week.

The curatorial agenda expands into a circuit of galleries, museums, and institutions, with openings and exhibitions reflecting the diversity of the local artistic ecosystem. Participating galleries include ArteConsult, Diablo Rosso, NG Art Gallery, Yaco Art, and Mateo Sariel, among others; as well as institutions such as Fundación Los Carbonell, Museo del Canal, MAC Panamá (Museum of Contemporary Art of Panama), Museo de la Mola, and Casa Santa Ana, among others.

FORO Pinta Panama Art Week

FORO occupies a central place as a space for reflection and thought. With the support of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean – and open to the public, it will bring together prominent international guests, including Patricio Majano, Salvadoran curator and currently Curator and Director of Programming at Y.ES Contemporary; Manuel Segade, Director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid); and Mario Cáder-Frech, cultural manager and collector, founder of the Cáder Institute of Central American Art (ICAC) at the Museo Reina Sofía; as well as Karon Sabrina Corrales, independent curator and researcher and co-founder of the platform LLProyectos together with artist Leonardo González (Honduras), alongside local figures. Through panel discussions, FORO expands the Art Week experience and proposes a critical dialogue on contemporary artistic practices in the region.

Tours, City, and Experiences

For five days, Pinta Panama Art Week proposes a program of diverse cultural circuits across the city, tours through artistic spaces, and encounters with artists, inviting the public to discover Panama through art and its urban life.

The program also expands into gastronomic, musical, and touristic experiences. As a special event, “Universo Alterno” will be presented—an experience inspired by the surreal universe of Trixie Briceño; a collective celebration organized by MAC Panamá within the framework of Pinta Panama Art Week.

A guided tour will take place on Saturday, March 21, along Calle C – Distrito Creativo, an open-air gallery in Santa Ana, Panama. This project of urban and cultural revitalization recovers public spaces and strengthens the neighborhood’s identity and community through art.

A new partnership with IFF Panama will include the free screening of Free Color (2020), a documentary directed by Alberto Arvelo based on the life and artistic legacy of Carlos Cruz-Diez. The film explores his story and documents the search that ran through his work: to free color from form. Additionally, the participation of RE_TRES 2026, organized by ESSE Estudio Creativo, a platform for contemporary art and design in Panama, bringing together projects at MANSA Furniture.

Pinta is the leading platform for the promotion of Latin American art, known for bringing together artists, galleries, curators, collectors, and art enthusiasts through its three most prominent fairs: Pinta Miami, Pinta BAphoto, and Pinta Lima. Since 2022, it has also developed Art Weeks—formats adapted to each local visual arts ecosystem, aimed at giving visibility to and strengthening emerging scenes with high cultural potential—including three editions of Pinta Asunción Art Week and two editions of Pinta Panama Art Week, with Pinta Medellín and Pinta Santo Domingo set to launch in the second half of the year.