Daniel Eduardo Besoytaorube
Conference Report. November 2023.
The privilege to access CIMAM 2023, held at the Museo de Arte Moderno in the City of Buenos Aires, was made possible thanks to the opportunity provided by a CIMAM/ArtHaus Grant, which enabled me to be present from 9-11 November this year at one of the best experiences of my professional life.
The conferences and topics covered – social agency, ethics, and heritage – were addressed for the first time by the organization. The variety and suitability of the presenters broadened my knowledge of the issues the management of different museums are experiencing, as well as some of the potential solutions.
To this end, I recall Nicolás Testoni’s lecture and his presentation of the different particularities of the Museo-taller Ferrowhite of the city of Bahia Blanca.
There was the presentation by Simon Njami, an independent writer and conservator in Paris, asking if, in the case of the Louvre, we should consider closing it and adopting new concepts that are in line with our contemporary needs. It is certainly controversial, and that is what debate as a form of growth is all about.
Luis Camnitzer – who I knew for having placed one of his works outside of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, the institution I directed between 2000 and 2022, but whom I did not know personally – made a presentation that allowed me to confirm and connect its contents with the physical person.
Daina Leyton, an accessibility consultant with the Instituto Moreira Salles of the city of São Paulo, corroborated that Brazil is working on the issues of inclusion and accessibility. These are delicate issues of the times, and she treated them with the seriousness and professionalism they deserve and presented case studies for our own learning.
Indeed, I have a relationship with the city of São Paulo, Brazil, having trained there in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was a time that is dear to me, during which I trained as a cultural manager and artist. In short, from all of the speakers, or at least from the majority, I have accumulated material that I will incorporate into my work going forward.
Then there was the opportunity for exchanges between presenters – moderated discussions – which was interesting, as was the possibility to interact with them in the breaks and as well during the trips in the afternoon to the circuits that we had chosen.
For those of us who work outside of the City of Buenos Aires, it was extremely beneficial to have the opportunity to access different spaces, some of which I already knew, such as the major museums (Bellas Artes, MALBA, Fundación Proa, etc) and others that, for different reasons, I had yet to visit. Being able to access the circuit that took in the more outsider galleries – those active outside of the traditional circuit – was of utmost importance.
Another highlight was the opportunity to spend time with peers from different museums from the interior of the country, such as those from institutions in the provinces of Santa Fe, Córdoba, San Juan, Santa Cruz, and more.
I would also like to make special mention of the opportunity to visit the Teatro Colón and see the opera Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini and the Amalia Amoedo Collection at the Museo Fortabat.
Bio
Daniel Besoytaorube was born in 1959 in the city of Mar del Plata, where he currently lives and works.
From 1983 to 1990 he lived alternatively between San Pablo (Brazil) and Mar del Plata.
Artist, manager, teacher and curator; as a manager he has carried out hundreds of exhibitions, in their different stages: coordination, assembly or curatorship.
In 1988 he took part in the First International Exhibition of Visual Poetry in Sao Paulo (Brazil).
As an artist, he received a grant from the Fundación Antorchas to work in the workshop coordinated by Guillermo Kuitca. Among his most important solo exhibitions are La noche es suficiente at the Museo MAR and Un lugar nunca se mueve, this year at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bahía Blanca.
In 1999, together with Cecilia Gispert and Mario Gemín, he created the International Fund for Contemporary Art in Mar del Plata, which he chaired during its operation. In the course of four years, the Fund awarded 45 grants to artists from the city, the rest of the country, Brazil and France, as well as giving talks, lectures and exhibitions of national and international artists. The artists Jorge Macchi, Claudia Fontes, Tulio de Sagastizábal, Claudia del Río, Pablo Siquier, Ann-Mie Van Kerchkoven (Belgium) and the critics Fabián Lebenglik and Laura Batkis were his tutors.
In 1999 he was part of the team that created the Programme of the Culture Department of the city of La Plata.
In 2000 he joined the Visual Arts Department of the Teatro Auditorium, Centro Provincial de las Artes, where he will be in charge of the curatorship until 2019.
In 2001 he was invited by TRAMA to the Workshop for Artists working in cultural management, Luján, Province of Buenos Aires.
In 2003 he curated the exhibition of the artist Edgardo-Antonio Vigo at the opening of the Espacio de Fundación Telefónica in Buenos Aires. That year he is invited by the TRAMA programme as a tutor for artists working in independent management in Posadas, Misiones, for artists from the NEA (Misiones, Corrientes, Formosa, Chaco and Entre Ríos) and in Salta, for artists from the NOA (Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Catamarca and Santiago del Estero).
He was invited by the Dirección Nacional de Artes Visuales to start the Interfaces programme, of curatorial crossings with Mauro Machado from Rosario (2005-2006), Mar del Plata, Rosario, Buenos Aires.
In 2009, he took part in the Seminar on handling and conservation of contemporary works, organised by the Fundación Typa, Buenos Aires.
In 2015, he was invited by the Fondo Nacional de las Artes and the Centro Cultural Kirchner to coordinate the "Contemporary Art Seminar", organised by the Fundación Typa, Buenos Aires.
In 2017, he was invited to the Escena Pública programme, of the National Ministry of Culture, as a reference in the area of visual arts in the province of Buenos Aires, Universidad Nacional del Centro, Tandil.
In 2020 he was appointed Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Province of Buenos Aires. MAR.
Curator of the exhibition El Orden y el Accidente, 11 artists from Mar del Plata. MAR Museum.
In 2023 he attended the course Dialogues on Curatorship, organised by the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Talks and conferences coordinated and/or moderated by: Guillermo Kuitca and Inés Katzenstein, Mauro Machado, Graciela Hasper and Diana Aisenberg, Sergio Bazán, Pablo Siquier, David Miles (England), Rob Verf (Holland), Jaroslaw Kozlowski (Poland), José Pereyra (South Africa), Pedro Rolha, Laura Belén (Brazil), Agnes Geoffray (France), Ann-Mie Van Kerkchoven (Belgium), Pablo Ziccarello, Matías Duville and Nicolás Robbio.