Ana Maria Garzón

Conference Report. November 2023

This is the second time that I have had the opportunity to attend CIMAM’s Annual Conference thanks to the support of CIMAM Travel Grants. The first time I attended CIMAM 2019 in Sydney, it has had a profound impact on my career. After that experience, I co-edited an edition of the academic journal post(s) focused on ideas about indigeneity and contemporary art. I am now working on my PhD dissertation, which is related to exhibition histories of modern Latin American art, so I decided to apply for a second Travel Grant to attend CIMAM 2023 in Buenos Aires, considering the importance of the proposed topic and the opportunity to visit the city, which was a fundamental scenario for the development of artistic transformations during the twentieth century, and in the present boasts a powerful art scene, full of complexities, respected institutions, and groundbreaking artists.

The political context in which the conference took place, marked by the presidential elections in Argentina and the invasion of Gaza, highlighted a special concern about the role of museums and cultural institutions in our times. The traditional tasks of conservation, collection, and exhibition are surpassed by the demands of the present, which require an active position towards the preservation of democracy and a commitment to the rights of both humans and nature. As social actors, museums and cultural institutions face the challenge not only of containing critical perspectives in their artworks and public programs but of accountability within their communities. I strongly believe that patronage (public or private) cannot be a tool for censorship and blackmail, and as a professional community, we must operate on ethical grounds.

I’m writing these words after learning that Wanda Nanibush, who was a speaker at CIMAM 2019, has departed (or maybe she was fired) from her position as curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and also after reading the news of several resignations at Documenta 16. I am deeply worried, and I have in mind echoes from the conferences presented by Elvira Espejo Ayca (Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore, Bolivia), Marian Pastor Roces (TAO INC, Philippines), Luma Hamdan (Darat al Funun – The Khalid Shomar Foundation, Jordan) Claudia Zaldívar (Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Chile), María Belén Correa, (Archivo de la Memoria Trans, Argentina), and Sidhi Vhisatya (Queer Indonesia Archive). Working in our field is more challenging than ever, and the experiences shared by the speakers were deeply moving, because they all acknowledge that working in the field requires accountability and both political and ethical commitments.

Apart from the conferences, the organization of the conference was impeccable, all the members of the organization, from logistics to content, were deeply generous and helped to create a joyful experience. The hospitality of the team of the Museo de Arte Moderno was overwhelming. It was impressive to see the ten exhibitions organized in the museum, all excellent displays of Argentinean art. It was also profoundly interesting to have so many routes and options to visit during the afternoons. Not only because of what we, as guests were able to see, but because it showed how important it was for the organizers to include the local art scene in the conference and take advantage of every opportunity to promote the art of Argentina. That was a generous gesture.

I am deeply grateful to the CIMAM Executive Team, the Travel Grant Selection Committee, and the CIMAM Board for considering my application to attend. Being part of this community of professionals always brings light and nourishes my own professional practice.

Bio

Since 2013, I work as research professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. I am a PhD candidate in Art History and Theory program at the University of Essex, in the School of Philosophy and Art History. I specialize in modern and contemporary Latin American and Latinx art, with focus on exhibition histories and curating.
I am based in Ecuador, and my academic work is a fundamentally collaborative activity. My professional practice divided in three intersected areas: curator, professor, and researcher. I am the director of post(s), an academic journal focused on art, visual studies and new media, published yearly since 2015. Also, I am a founder of Arte + Activismos (A+A), a research network that works in the intersection of art and human rights. Since 2018, A+A has presented yearly workshops with activists and art practitioners from Latin America, with topics around migration, gender-based violence, climate change, creative methodologies for the future, amongst others.
As professor, for two consecutive years, 2019 and 2020, I received the Universidad San Francisco de Quito Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at both the College of New Media and Contemporary Arts and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2022, I was invited to participate in the program Future Professoriate: Lessons from the Pandemic, Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Virginia).
As researcher, I have investigated the transit from modern to contemporary art in Ecuador (1970 - 1990), with a series of projects that explored artistic careers and groundbreaking exhibitions. Also considering the migratory history of the country, I research artists who are children of Ecuadorian immigrants based in the US, that led me to a profound proximity with the Latinx artistic community in New York. These projects have been developed as exhibitions and presented at international academic conferences, such as the Association for Latin American Art Triennial (México City, 2023), Working Disobedience International Encounter, organized by Latin Elephant and Tate Exchange (London, 2022), ASAP/12 Reciprocity, Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (2021). Fourth Annual Symposium of Latin American Art. Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (New York City, 2019). Also, I am part of the research group Forjando una historia del arte modern de los Andes, created by Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and University of Chicago (USA).
Also, amongst my most important projects in the past 5 years are Reprogramar las materias (2019), an exhibition of site specifics developed for the 150 anniversary of the Escuela Politecnica Nacional del Ecuador with four Ecuadorian artists that work in the intersection of art and technology. Chaquiñan (2020), an educational platform for curatorial practice and critical pedagogy developed for the Center of Contemporary Arts in Quito, during the pandemic.
My latest publications are “Lo curatorial o la indisciplina sistemática: formas de volver fértil un terreno árido”, article published in the book Curar desde el Sur (Bogotá: IDartes, 2023), edited by Ximena Gama and Carolina Cerón; “La memoria inventada: pistas para construirse desde la ficción”, published in the journal Vistas: Critical Approaches to Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art (NYC: Institute for Studies on Latin American Art, 2020); and, finally, my latest editorial project is Estado Fósil: 50 years of oil exploitation and the rise of modern art in Ecuador, which is a collaborative endeavor was awarded with the National Prize for the Arts ‘Mariano Aguilera’. Estado Fósil book and webpage will be presented in June 2023.