WHO IS THE CURATOR OF THE 25TH PAIZ ART BIENNIAL?

Cuauhtémoc Medina (Mexico City, Mexico, 1965), art critic, curator, and historian, has been selected as curator of the 25th Paiz Art Biennial, one of the most significant cultural events in Guatemala. Since its founding in the late twentieth century, the biennial has been recognized as the second-longest-running in the Americas and the sixth in the world.

Medina holds a PhD in History and Theory of Art from the University of Essex and a degree in History from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He was the first associate curator of Latin American art collections at Tate Modern and served as chief curator of the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo at UNAM.

"For half a century, the Paiz Art Biennial has been a benchmark for art in the Central American region and, above all, has served the Guatemalan public as a vehicle for contemporary thought and sensibility. It is a great honor, but also a challenge, to be entrusted with the curatorship of the Paiz Art Biennial on this very special occasion. I hope that, with the support of the Biennial's team and the artists, we can produce something worth remembering," the Mexican curator said.

In 2012 he curated Manifesta 9, and in 2018 he served as chief curator of the 12th Shanghai Biennale. He received the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement, presented by the Menil Collection in Houston, in recognition of his innovation and curatorial career. He has been a researcher at UNAM's Institute for Aesthetic Research since 1993.

Throughout his career, he has developed exhibitions and projects with artists including Francis Alÿs, Andrea Fraser, Carlos Amorales, Harun Farocki, Jill Magid, Jeremy Deller, Ai Weiwei, Beatriz González, Kader Attia, Magali Lara, and Raqs Media Collective, among many others.