Abstract
In 2019, a new director was appointed to the Palacio Nacional de las Artes (Palais de Glace), an institution in charge of, among other things, the organization of the National Salon of Arts, the most prestigious award event for artists in Argentina. Feda Baeza, who was undergoing a gender transition at the time, led a team of young professionals into a new era of the Salon Nacional, bringing forth a politically engaged program of exhibitions and public events. This paper analyzes the nature of the changes introduced at the Palais de Glace, and the National Salon, which describes a process of inclusion and community engagement in, at least, three dimensions: the transdisciplinary nature of art, the expansion of selection committees and artists to underrepresented regions of the country, and the visibility of dissident identities. These transformations are part of a broader process of institutional reconsideration in most Latin American countries. For example, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Chile) has incorporated a strong feminist gaze to their collections and shows. The Museo Nacional de Artes (Mexico) has organized exhibitions and activities around topics of native culture (arts, food, etc.) to re-think the concept of modernity in Mexican institutions. Utilizing a transdisciplinary method that includes concepts from Art History, Sociology and Museum Studies, this paper will focus on how the changes made to the Palacio Nacional in Argentina participate in the configuration of social imaginaries that counterbalance dominant narratives, introducing other histories, different perspectives to an otherwise centered perspective.
Presenters
Jonathan FeldmanResearcher/Professor, Arts and Culture, Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF), Capital federal, Argentina
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Museum Transformations: Pathways to Community Engagement
KEYWORDS
PALAIS DE GLACE, TRANSFORMATION, COMMUNITY, REPRESENTATION
