Larisa Zmud

Conference Report. December 2024
Hegemonic European centers receive quotas and assistance, while the Global South does not receive the same support. This results in a homogenized view that overlooks the differences between the countries that make up the South and their situated realities. Instead of recognizing the particularities and challenges of each context, a unified mass is created that obscures the diverse local realities.
Moreover, there is massive support for travel grants from central and northern countries, but there are no specific resources for the Global South. This forces us to compete with profiles from the central countries. I was the only Argentine participant, even though the same CIMAM event was held in Argentina last year.
It's also important to consider the ongoing attacks on cultural work in Argentina and raise awareness about what's happening. These spaces are crucial as cultural refuges, so we need to think about how to ensure their continuity.
To address a topic, it is essential not to limit the discussion to those people or institutions that "are already doing this." Instead, to truly problematize the issue, we must embrace diversity, which could involve considering the lack of resources, time, and the impossibility of thinking through the issue from certain perspectives. In this sense, the concept of sustainability is not merely about changing irrigation systems; it is about utilizing existing systems with recycled water, such as from toilets. The most sustainable approach, in fact, might be to refrain from constructing or doing anything at all—intervening only minimally with what is available and working with what we have.
Relying solely on the input of representatives from large institutions, major cities, or organizations with vast resources does not diversify the conversation. This approach often tends to be celebratory and overly optimistic, assuming that we are all on the same page, without considering the stark differences in our realities.
This brings us to the critical question: What does sustainability really mean? And, more importantly, who gets to speak on this issue? Is it only those who have the luxury of a "green team" or access to abundant resources? These are questions that challenge us to rethink not only the concept of sustainability itself but also the structures and inequalities that shape the conversations around it.
At the same time, there's a crucial distinction between expressing concern and actually taking meaningful action. For many of us in the Global South—particularly in Argentina right now—there is no time to simply reflect or strategize. We are in a situation where survival is the priority, and immediate action is necessary for our very existence. For us, the "end of the world" that is so often feared in the Global North has already happened, again and again, in our world. The crisis, the collapse, the end—it's something we've lived through many times. There's no time left for contemplation; the "end" is already part of our lived experience. This is one of the reasons why conversations after conferences were so rich for me: the feeling that we are a generation or at least a group that are asking questions outside of the very privileged narratives of the centres... and that we are not just asking questions, but that we have a sense of urgency and understand that it is about action.
The reality of the Global South is brutal, and the idea that we can delay action while thinking through idealistic, abstract solutions is no longer a luxury we can afford. What the Global North perceives as a looming catastrophe is something we've already endured and continue to endure. The urgency here is not about planning for a potential future, but about responding to the present, where time is running out, and where survival often depends on immediate, pragmatic action.
Biography
Larisa Zmud (b. 1985) is a curator and critical thinker from Argentina, focusing on gender equality and social justice through food. She holds a BA in Art Curating from the National University of the Arts (2018), and a master’s in politics and Gender Studies at Tres de Febrero University (2022).
From 2011-2018, she ran her own gallery: SlyZmud, where more than 40 exhibitions of young contemporary Argentine artists – like Mercedes Azpilicueta, Jill Mulleady, Jimena Croceri, among others – took place. From 2014-2018, she was board and founder member of MERIDIANO, Argentine Chamber of Contemporary Art Galleries.
During 2017, Zmud created Sin Destino Aparente: reading and critical thinking groups with gender perspective. Since then, through groups – focused on academic, art and activism – Zmud organizes curatorial research projects and weekly group sessions.
Between 2020-2021, she was part of the National Directorate of Cultural Policies for Equality of the Argentinean Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversities.
Larisa is part of the artistic and feminist collective Belleza y Felicidad Fiorito where she conducts cooking classes and coordinates the Comedor Gourmet, an artistic and gastronomic space designed to redefine nutrition as nourishment, a way of thinking about politics of bodies and desire. It's not just about cooking delicious food in a villa in Province of Buenos Aires, but enabling possibilities of choice to, through them, create pleasant spaces that promote the right to decide.
Larisa currently coordinates and curates the Mapa Contemporáneo de Arte Argentino en Construcción, created within the framework of the 55th CIMAM 2023 Annual Conference. She was resident of the 2024 program of KADIST Collection in Paris, which started a project dialogue with Belleza y Felicidad Fiorito.
Through exhibitions, public lectures, curatorial projects, and creation of networks between agents of international art world, she tries to create new methodologies of access to knowledge.
Larisa Zmud, Independent Curator, Member of Belleza y Felicidad Fiorito, and Director of Sin Destino Aparente, Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been awarded by the Getty Foundation, Los Angeles.