All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of Black Dog Publishing limited. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the necessary arrangements will be made at the first opportunity. Black Dog Publishing Limited, London, UK, is an environmentally responsible company. Contemporary Art in Latin America: Artworld is printed on 170 gsm Garda Matt and 120 gsm Dito woodfree offset, both papers are FSC certified. Cover image: Helio Oiticica, Grande NUcleo (Grand Nucleus), 1960-1966, oil and resin on wood fibreboard (detail). Courtesy Cesar and Claudio Oiticica Collection, Rio de Janeiro.

This book examines the contemporary art world in Latin America from an anthropological perspective and recognises the recent reconfiguration of Lima's art scene. Giuliana Borea traces the practices of artists, curators, collectors, art dealers and museums, identifying three key moments in this reconfiguration of contemporary art in Lima: artistic explorations and new curatorial narratives; museum reinforcement and the strengthening of Latin American art networks; and of the rise of the art market. In so doing, Borea highlights the different actors that come into play in activating and de-activating directions and imaginations. The book exposes the practices of the local, the global, indigeneity and politics in the arts, and reveals that the strengthening of the Lima art scene has fostered the expansion of dominant art views and formats mobilised by transnational elite actors. Featuring analytical chapters interspersed with personal stories, Borea's book presents an in-depth analysis of a specific art scene to open up a new way of understanding contemporary art practices in relation to globalisation, neoliberalism and the city.

In-depth scholarship on the central artists, movements, and themes of Latin American art, from the Mexican revolution to the present A Companion to Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latinx Art consists of over 30 never-before-published essays on the crucial historical and theoretical issues that have framed our understanding of art in Latin America. This book has a uniquely inclusive focus that includes both Spanish-speaking Caribbean and contemporary Latinx art in the United States. Influential critics of the 20th century are also covered, with an emphasis on their effect on the development of artistic movements. By providing in-depth explorations of central artists and issues, alongside cross-references to illustrations in major textbooks, this volume provides an excellent complement to wider surveys of Latin American and Latinx art. Readers will engage with the latest scholarship on each of five distinct historical periods, plus broader theoretical and historical trends that continue to influence how we understand Latinx, Indigenous, and Latin American art today. The book’s areas of focus include: The development of avant-garde art in the urban centers of Latin America from 1910-1945 The rise of abstraction during the Cold War and the internationalization of Latin American art from 1945-1959 The influence of the political upheavals of the 1960s on art and art theory in Latin America The rise of conceptual art as a response to dictatorship and social violence in the 1970s and 1980s The contemporary era of neoliberalism and globalization in Latin American and Latino Art, 1990-2010 With its comprehensive approach and informative structure, A Companion to Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latinx Art is an excellent resource for advanced students in Latin American culture and art. It is also a valuable reference for aspiring scholars in the field.

This authoritative and beautiful book presents the first continuous narrative history of Latin American art from the years of the Independence movements in the 1820s up to the present day. Exploring both the indigenous roots and the colonial and post-colonial experiences of the various countries, the book investigates fascinating though little-known aspects of nineteenth and twentieth-century art and also provides a context for the contemporary art of the continent.

Contemporary Art in Latin America continues the ARTWORLD series, bringing to light innovative contemporary art from across the globe. Delving into the artistic work from specific major geographical regions, the series continues to showcase both established and unknown artists whose work connects with their roots. New in paperback, Contemporary Art in Latin America celebrates this intriguing region and its creative outputs, setting the vibrant artistic tradition within its historical and cultural contexts. The volume opens with a text section, including essays by valued figures in the contemporary art world, looking firstly at the historical origins of Latin American art and moving on to focus extensively on contemporary work being produced by artists from this region. This section of the book will also be supported by an artist interview, offering the reader a personal insight into the relationship between Latin America’s art and its cultural past, present and future. The second half of the book comprises a plate section showcasing a broad variety of the art and themes discussed elsewhere in the book. Contemporary Art in Latin America encourages readers to reflect upon the art in this region and by these artists in relation to its historical and geographical context and encompasses a wide spectrum of critical debates, including politics and curatorial practice. The artists featured include those considered the most influential to emerge from the region during the last 50 years, such as Brazilian conceptual artist Cildo Meireles, whose work is currently being exhibited at Tate Modern, London and Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark, who along with Ivan Serpa, founded the Neo-Concretist art movement. Doris Salcedo is also included, who caused a stir with her piece Shibboleth — creating a subterranean chasm that stretched the length of the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern. The work of new and emerging talents is also featured, such as Miguel Calderon, labelled the “enfant terrible of contemporary art” and who has been described as having “a knack for pushing crass stereotypes and clichés to absurd and provocative extremes”. Encompassing the political and personal, Contemporary Art in Latin America is highly unique in its approach to exploring the artistic movements of this region, giving those with a genuine interest in art and culture an insight that is rich, engaging, shocking and inspiring.

Projects that bring the ‘hard’ sciences into art are increasingly being exhibited in galleries and museums across the world. In a surge of publications on the subject, few focus on regions beyond Europe and the Anglophone world. Decolonizing Science in Latin American Art assembles a new corpus of art-science projects by Latin American artists, ranging from big-budget collaborations with NASA and MIT to homegrown experiments in artists’ kitchens. While they draw on recent scientific research, these art projects also ‘decolonize’ science. If increasing knowledge of the natural world has often gone hand-in-hand with our objectification and exploitation of it, the artists studied here emphasize the subjectivity and intelligence of other species, staging new forms of collaboration and co-creativity beyond the human. They design technologies that work with organic processes to promote the health of ecosystems, and seek alternatives to the logics of extractivism and monoculture farming that have caused extensive ecological damage in Latin America. They develop do-it-yourself, open-source, commons-based practices for sharing creative and intellectual property. They establish critical dialogues between Western science and indigenous thought, reconnecting a disembedded, abstracted form of knowledge with the cultural, social, spiritual, and ethical spheres of experience from which it has often been excluded. Decolonizing Science in Latin American Art interrogates how artistic practices may communicate, extend, supplement, and challenge scientific ideas. At the same time, it explores broader questions in the field of art, including the relationship between knowledge, care, and curation; nonhuman agency; art and utility; and changing approaches to participation. It also highlights important contributions by Latin American thinkers to themes of global significance, including the Anthropocene, climate change and environmental justice.

Since the late nineteenth century, art museums have played crucial social, political, and economic roles throughout Latin America because of the ways that they structure representation. By means of their architecture, collections, exhibitions, and curatorial practices, Latin American art museums have crafted representations of communities, including nation states, and promoted particular group ideologies. This collection of essays, arranged in thematic sections, will examine the varying and complex functions of art museums in Latin America: as nation-building institutions and instruments of state cultural politics; as foci for the promotion of Latin American modernities and modernisms; as sites of mediation between local and international, private and public interests; as organizations that negotiate cultural construction within the Latin American diaspora and shape constructs of Latin America and its nations; and as venues for the contestation of elitist and Eurocentric notions of culture and the realization of cultural diversity rooted in multiethnic environments.