Museo de Bellas Artes Lola Mora (MBALM)
Since 2020, the MBALM has incorporated two exhibitions into its annual programmes that seek to stage artistic practices that have been made invisible in the past: those made by women artists and by the native communities of the territory of Salta.
This project arises from two dichotomies that run through Argentine history and affect its artistic processes. On the one hand, the male/female dichotomy and access to consecrated art spaces. In 2018, the Permanent Assembly of Women Art Workers concluded that only 20% of art collections in Argentina are made up of the work of women artists. On the other hand, the centre/periphery dichotomy that reproduces within each province the gap between the capital (the city of Buenos Aires) and the rest of the provinces. The native communities that inhabit Salta connect us with supranational regions that exceed the current Argentinean territory, such as the Andean on the borders with Chile and Bolivia, and the Guaraní, Wichí, Qom, Chané and Chorote cultures on the border with Paraguay. These communities are bearers of worldviews that are different from European ones, and in them survive diverse techniques of textile production, pottery and other languages that invite us to rethink another system of art that is collective and where the figure of the author does not exist.
The project takes place at two different times of the year: an exhibition in March (on International Women's Day) dedicated to a local female artist. In August, when the Andeans celebrate the Pachamama (Mother Earth), an exhibition is organized for the production of native artists. The exhibitions are accompanied by guided tours, talks and meetings between the public and the artists. These actions are intended to give new meaning to the museum's collection and bring in new works of art to diversify its heritage.
Explain in one sentence why you think the project you nominate is outstanding and could serve as an example for the entire community of modern and contemporary art museums.
To carry out concrete actions that can bring about a real and positive change in communities (women, native cultures) historically excluded from the History of Art, which we are trying to rewrite with this project, in order to achieve equity.
Explain why this practice or program is relevant and sustainable in creating meaningful and lasting connections with people, communities, and the museum context with a medium to long-term vision.
Focusing on the absences of the MBALM collection was a trigger for thinking about our past practices and reversing them. The variety and heterogeneity of the artistic manifestations that happen in the territory of Salta are a sample of the richness of the cultures that inhabit us, of their artistic and cultural productions and their processes. To show them is to make them known and to give them value in order to understand this other art system.
Opening up the museum, allowing other points of view, offering other routes, listening to other artists, all of this generates significant connections with the general public, and not only the specialized public. Our project aims at social sustainability, strengthening the cohesion of our society by dignifying the work of the original communities and offering them the same conditions to achieve the longed-for equity.
https://bellasartesdesalta.gob.ar/
https://nosotrasproponemos.org/nosotras/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gN5gfypnXg
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/483077-una-muestra-de-arte-visibiliza-la-recuperacion-del-cultivo-d
https://www.infobae.com/cultura/2021/07/11/bienalsur-una-memoria-colectiva-que-grita-resistencia/
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/598194-artes-de-la-tierra-nueva-categoria-del-salon-de-artes-visual
https://www.bellasartes.gob.ar/exhibiciones/premio-nacional-a-la-trayectoria-artistica-202021/
https://palaisdeglace.cultura.gob.ar/noticia/seleccionadxs-salon-nacional-de-artes-visuales-202021/