ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair

Solo Projects: Focus Latin America
Madrid, Spain

February 15 – 19, 2012

Six curators have selected the projects and acted as radar on the current Latin American scene: Cauê Alves (Brazil), Sonia Becce (Argentina), Patrick Charpenel (Mexico), Alexia Dumani (Costa Rica), Manuela Moscoso (Colombia / Ecuador) and José Ignacio Roca (Colombia).

As a result of their efforts a total of 22 projects by Latin American artists have been selected and will be presented at the fair by their respective galleries. From Argentina will come the artistic projects of four women: the multidisciplinary creator Adriana Bustos, presented by IGNACIO LIPRANDI ARTE CONTEMPORÁNEO gallery; Karina Peisajovich, present by the VASARI gallery; the young artist Luciana Lamothe, presented by RUTH BENZACAR; and the Buenos Aires-born Rosana Schoijett, presented by ZABALETA LAB.

Brazilian creation will be represented by four artists and a collective: Ester Grinspum, presented by the young gallery, TRANSVERSAL, of São Paulo; the photographer Rochelle Costi, presented by the LUCIANA BRITO gallery; the young creator Lia Chaia, by the VERMELHO gallery; the duo Dias & Riedweg and Laercio Redondo, taking part through the gallery FILOMENA SOARES and SILVIA CINTRA + BOX4 respectively.

Another of the best-represented countries in Solo Projects is Chile. Three emerging artists will reflect its arts scene at ARCOmadrid. Two of them are settled in New York, namely Felipe Mújica, who will take part with the Swiss gallery CHRISTINGER DE MAYO and Cristóbal Lehyt, with the American VOGT GALLERY. The third is Voluspa Jarpa, who works with the ISABEL ANINAT gallery in Santiago de Chile.

The curators have selected two projects from Colombia, one presented by the NUEVEOCHENTA gallery, with Jaime Tarazona, and the other by the Houston-based SICARDI GALLERY, who will be presenting a project by the conceptual artist Miguel Ángel Rojas.

The Mexican selection comprises Edgar Cobián, represented by PLATAFORMA ARTE CONTEMPORANEO and Marcela Armas, taking part with the ARRÓNIZ gallery, whose work deals with immigration and frontiers.

Others taking part in the Latin American programme include the Costa Rican Cinthya Soto, whose photographs will be displayed on the DES PACIO gallery stand; the Ecuadorian Jonathan Harker, now settled in Panama, who will be represented by the Panamanian gallery DIABLOROSSO; Daniel Jacoby, from Peru, who is working with the Catalan TONI TAPIÈS, Adán Vallecillo, from Honduras, who is being represented by the gallery 80M2, and Gamaliel Rodríguez-Ayala, from Puerto Rico, who is taking part through ESPACIO MÍNIMO. Completing the Solo Projects: Focus Latin America selection will be the project of the Cuban conceptual artist Diango Hernández, now settled in Italy, whose graphic work will be represented by the Madrid gallery BENVENISTE.

This section comes under ARCOmadrid’s vocation to act as a gateway to Europe for Latin American art. That means other activities will be launched, in addition to the exhibition, to achieve this aim. So, it will feature I Meeting of European and Latin American Museums, directed by Agustín Pérez-Rubio (the director of MUSAC, León) and Marcelo Mattos Araujo (the executive director of the Pinacoteca in São Paulo), which will be a meeting point for some 20 professionals from both sides of the Atlantic.

Likewise, to mark these ARCOmadrid’s relations with Latin America as well as its 10th anniversary, the Cisneros Fontanals Foundation is going to offer a stand to present its activities and the prestigious Cifo Museum & Curator Network Database.

The Solo Projects space, with a new, broader arrangement than last year’s, will be playing host to part of the Solo Objects event, where there will be a presentation of works by the Latin American artists proposed by the galleries taking part in ARCOmadrid, and selected by their curators. These works will help to create an art and meeting space with proposals from the continent’s most active artists.

The Latin American presence will be equally high profile in the Experts Forum, where professionals will be taking part in the Forum’s round tables and Professional Meetings.

A year on, and the illycaffè will be taking part in ARCOmadrid with the Illy Prize, an award that gives formal recognition to the young artists who are displaying their works in the Solo Projects section: Focus Latin America So, illycaffè is confirming yet again its commitment to and participation in the Fair, through this initiative, which comes under a broad support project for young, up-and-coming talent in contemporary art and design, first launched by the firm more than 15 years ago.

The curators of Solo Projects: Focus Latin America
The six curators of the Solo Projects programme are well versed in the new artistic panorama of Latin America and have a lot of curating experience. Just like that Cauê Alves, Professor of Fine Arts at the Catholic University of São Paulo, is one of the curators for two important cultural events: the 32nd Panorama of Brazilian Art at the Museu de Arte Moderna in São Paulo, and the 8th Mercosul Biennial, both taking place in 2011.

For her part Argentinian Sonia Becce coordinates the grants programme for young artists directed by Guillermo Kuitca, and co-directs the Premio Petrobras 2011, ArteBA, Buenos Aires. She has also curated projects in Miami, México D.F. and Argentina.

Mexican Patrick Charpenel has done a lot of work as a curator and a collector to highlight the paradoxes and ambiguities of the contemporary art world. He has also taken part in a number of important exhibitions and is on the Centre Pompidou Council for Latin America. He also happens to be the director of the JUMEX collection.

Alexia Dumani is a freelance curator for museums and both private and public collections in Central America. She works with various museums and institutions, among others the Museo de Arte Costarricense, the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, British Tobacco and the Fundación Ortiz-Gurdián in Nicaragua.

Manuela Moscoso is a freelance curator and researcher from Colombia. A professional with a Masters in Curatorial Studies from Bard College, New York and an honours graduate in Fine Art from the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, in London. She was also the joint curator of an exhibition entitled “Antes que todo”, given at the CA2M de Móstoles in 2010 and is the co-director of the curatorial office RIVET, in New York.

Finally, the Colombian José Ignacio Roca was the artistic director of Philagrafika 2010, the contemporary graphic triennial in Philadelphia, and the co-curator of the 1st Poli/gráfica Triennial in San Juan, 2004; the 27th São Paulo Biennial, 2006; the Encuentro de Medellín, MDE07, 2007, as well as numerous exhibitions in Latin America, the United States, Europe and Asia. He is currently a curator of the 8th Mercosul Biennial.

Thanks to their selection work, together with a member of the Organising Committee, Solo Projects will enhance ARCOmadrid 2012 as a venue for an exchange between Latin America and the international art market.

A LIST OF GALLERIES TAKING PART IN SOLO PROJECTS
80 m2 – LIMA
ARRÓNIZ – MEXICO DF
BENVENISTE CONTEMPORARY – MADRID
CHRISTINGER DE MAYO – ZURICH
DES PACIO – SAN JOSE
DIABLOROSSO – PANAMA
ESPACIO MÍNIMO – MADRID
FILOMENA SOARES – LISBON
IGNACIO LIPRANDI – BUENOS AIRES
ISABEL ANINAT – SANTIAGO DE CHILE
LUCIANA BRITO – SAO PAULO
MIRTA DEMARE – ROTTERDAM
NUEVEOCHENTA – BOGOTA
PLATAFORMA ARTE CONTEMPORANEO – GUADALAJARA
RUTH BENZACAR – BUENOS AIRES
SICARDI – HOUSTON
SILVIA CINTRA + BOX4 – SAO PAULO
TONI TÀPIES – BARCELONA
TRANSVERSAL – SAO PAULO
VASARI – BUENOS AIRES
VERMELHO – SAO PAULO
VOGT GALLERY – NEW YORK
ZAVALETA LAB – BUENOS AIRES