Gabriela Urtiaga, appointed chief curator of The Museum of Latin American Art

LONG BEACH, CA – Dr. Lourdes I. Ramos-Rivas, President and CEO of the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), announced today that the Museum has selected Gabriela Urtiaga (Buenos Aires, Argentina), to serve in the position of Chief Curator.

Following an international search, Ms. Urtiaga was selected based on her extensive curatorial expertise specializing in Contemporary Latino and Latin American art. She will amplify the international perspective that MOLAA has cultivated through partnerships, major international institutions, and alliances using her professional curatorial trajectory in the museum field. Her tenure at MOLAA will commence on September 3, 2019.

“MOLAA is developing innovative exhibitions and projects based on collaboration and contextualization of cultural programs of excellence. With this in mind, Ms. Urtiaga’s arrival to MOLAA as Chief Curator of the Museum provides an added value to the existing extraordinary group of professionals who firmly carry out the creation of projects that promote greater knowledge and new perspectives on Latin American and Latino art, both locally and internationally. We are honored with the arrival of Ms. Urtiaga and wish her success in this new stage of her professional career,” said Dr. Lourdes Ramos, MOLAA President and CEO.

In speaking of her new appointment, Ms. Urtiaga stated, “It is an enormous challenge that I receive with gratitude and enthusiasm. MOLAA is a pioneer institution of Latin American and Latino art in the U.S. As a professional, it is a great responsibility to be able to contribute to and expand upon MOLAA’s artistic legacy and vision. I believe in a curatorial perspective that is always looking forward and where the permanent collection dialogues with contemporary expressions. MOLAA is an institution with a strong identity, while at the same time, flexible with its context. As an institution it achieves access to Latino and Latin American culture for a wide audience, while always encouraging the participative response of the public and contextualizing research and knowledge creation.”

Gabriela Urtiaga comes to MOLAA directly from the Kirchner Cultural Centre (CCK), in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is recognized as one of the most important public cultural centers of South America, and where she has served as the Chief Curator. At CCK, Gabriela Urtiaga oversaw the development of innovative exhibitions that contributed to greeting the Centre’s two million annual visitors and filled the fifty exhibition halls. She also developed exhibition and artistic projects in collaboration with international institutions such as the Recoleta Cultural Center and Museo Sívori (Argentina); the Foundation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, La Maison Rouge, the Museum of the National Library (France); el CentroCentro (Spain); the MACRO Museum (Italy); and the Gabriela Mistral Center (Chile), among others.

Throughout her professional career she has worked with Latin American and internationally renowned artists such Marta Minujín, Julio Le Parc, Guillermo Kuitca, Tomás Saraceno, Delia Cancela, Rimer Cardillo, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jean Michel Othoniel, Marie Orensanz, Marco Godinho, between other young and well-known art masters.

Prior to her tenure at CCK, Gabriela Urtiaga was the Projects Curator and the Secretary of Culture for the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In this capacity she coordinated contemporary artistic projects and curated international exchange. She also facilitated curator dialogues between Buenos Aires and other international cities.

Gabriela Urtiaga completed her degree in Art History with a specialization in Visual Arts at the University of Buenos Aires. She also holds an associate degree in Cultural Journalism from the Instituto Grafotécnico in Argentina. Ms. Urtiaga participated in a curatorial residency in the city of Los Angeles and was selected and distinguished by the Institut Francais in Paris and the Ministry of International Relations of France to be a part of the international curators’ program “Focus”. She was a consultant, speaker, and jury member for the leading Latin American art fairs such as Art Basel Cities, Arteba in Argentina, and ArtParis in France. In 2019, she was selected as curator at Curitiba Biennial, Brazil. She is a member of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM) and of Asociación Argentina de Críticos de Arte (AACA).

She has edited, written and published several books such "Happenings and performances of Marta Minujín”; "Borges and Xul Solar”; "Borges: Fictions of an Infinite Time”; “200 years”; "Les Visitants, an outlook of the collection of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain by Guillermo Kuitca”; “Democracy Under Construction”; and "Art Circuit of Florida Street.

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About the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA)

The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) was founded in 1996 in Long Beach, California and serves the greater Los Angeles area. MOLAA is the pioneering museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American art. Since its inception, MOLAA has doubled in size and continues to expand its permanent collection of Latino and Latino American artist. As MOLAA continues to evolve into a 21st century Museum, its focus is on strengthening its position as a multidisciplinary institution providing cross-cultural dialogue.

Museum of Latin American Art, 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, Calif. 90802 Hours: Sun., Wed., Thurs. and Sat., 11:00am – 5:00 pm, Friday, 11:00 am - 9:00 pm Admission: $10.00 General/ $7.00 Students (w/ID) and seniors (65+) Members and children under the age of 12 are Free Free Admission every Sunday Free Admission every fourth Thursday of every month between 5:00 – 9:00 pm Info: (562) 437-1689 or molaa.org