#ArgentinaPlataformaARCO

Argentina disembarks in ARCOmadrid 2017 to present one of the most active artistic contexts of the continent. A profound and intense curatorial project, put together by Inés Katzenstein and Sonia Becce, will aid the discovery of this presence so meticulously organised for the occasion. ‘Argentina Plataforma ARCO’, a section enjoying the collaboration of the Argentine Ministry for Culture together with arteBA, will constitute one of the main draws of the next Fair edition, organised by IFEMA, from 22 to 26 February.  

A total of 12 Argentine galleries have been selected by Inés Katzenstein (independent curator and director of the art department of the UTDT) to take part in the ‘Argentina Plataforma ARCO’ programme. In addition to these galleries, the Argentine participation will be completed with exhibitions in Madrid which, under the curatorship of the independent curator Sonia Becce, will spread the country’s contemporary artistic scene to different spaces in the city. All of this will enable an analysis of its excellent artists while providing a vision of galleries, collecting, curatorship and criticism in this country.   

Of the 12 participating galleries in Argentina Plataforma ARCO, all from Buenos Aires, two will attend the Fair for the first time: COSMOCOSA and ISLA FLOTANTE. These will be joined by others that already took part last year, including BARRO; DEL INFINITO; HENRIQUE FARIA BUENOS AIRES; IGNACIO LIPRANDI; JORGE MARA LA RUCHE; NORA FISCH; RUTH BENZACAR and SLYZMUD; and another two returning galleries: MITE and VASARI.  

Continuing with ARCOmadrid’s focus on the presentation of artists individually or in dialogue, the galleries of Argentina Plataforma ARCO will also present the work of either one or two artists, again selected by Inés Katzenstein. This programme, bringing together a total of 23 artists from the country, along with a representation of Argentine creators in other sections of the Fair, will bring collectors, professionals and the general public closer to the contemporary art production of this active market.  

The curator’s selection will present internationally renowned artists such as Alberto Greco; Eduardo Stupia and Mirtha Dermisache, along with others yet to be discovered by the public such as Diego Bianchi, Pablo Accinelli or Sol Pipkin, thus consolidating  ARCOmadrid as a space for getting to know and discovering creators. Along with these, a number of the other Fair programmes will also host conceptual Argentine artists such as David Lamelas; Edgardo Antonio Vigo and Victor Grippo, as well as Adriana Minoliti; Aimée Zito Lema; Jorge Macchi; Leandro Erlich and Miguel Rothschild.  

Cultural dialogue and exchange  

The country’s art scene is also reflected at ARCOmadrid in the Forum and Professional Encounters, that constitute the reflection and exchange platform between the guests and the galleries. Outstanding curators and prestigious critics from Argentina, or residents in the country, will take centre stage on next edition’s calendar, including Victoria Noorthoorn and the Spaniard Agustín Pérez Rubio, art director of the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano, among others. They will be joined by active collectors and special guests who will travel from Argentina to attend ARCOmadrid, to exchange ideas and forge ties with the participating galleries.  

Madrid aligns itself with Argentine Art  

Argentina Plataforma ARCO will spread throughout the entire city with exhibitions in different spaces of the capital, offering an unprecedented sample of contemporary Argentine art under the curatorship of Sonia Becce in Spain.  

Among other exhibitions, the Colección Costantini, at the Real Academia de San Fernando; Diego Bianchi and Luis Garay at Matadero; Nicolás Robbio, at La Casa Encendida; Leandro Erlich, at Espacio Fundación Telefónica; Jorge Macchi, at CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, to be joined by other shows at Caixa Forum, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, among others.  

One of the central themes will be the group exhibition En el ejercicio de las cosas, curated by Sonia Becce and Mariano Mayer, comprising over 50 artists from different generations in 8 locations throughout the city: Casa Museo Lope De Vega; Casa de Vacas; Conde Duque; Tabacalera; Museo del Romanticismo; Casa de América; Biblioteca Nacional, and Alimentación30.  

To complete its Madrid proposal, apart from screen projections in Plaza de Callao and residency programmes in El Ranchito, Casa Velázquez, Media Lab Prado and Educathyssen, the programme will also include a theatre, cinema and literature cycle, organised by Alejandro Tantanian and Marcelo Panozzo. 

ARGENTINE CURATORS AT ARCO  

Inés Katzenstein is founding director of the Art Department of the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires since 2008, where she is responsible for developing the Programme of Artists and a Cycle of Exhibitions. She was formerly a curator of the Argentine pavilion at the 52nd  Venice Biennale and co-curator of the exhibition Zona Franca in the Mercosur Biennial 2007. From 2004 to 2008, she worked as a curator for the Malba-Fundación Constantini [Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires], where she put together a programme of exhibitions and a collection of contemporary Argentine art. She has also curated exhibitions for other institutions such as: Liliana Porter: Fotografía y ficción at the Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, in 2003; David Lamelas, Extranjero, Foreigner, Ètranger, Ausländer at the Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, in 2005 and Marcelo Pombo, Un artista del Pueblo, Colección Fortabat, in 2015;  co-curator of  Televisión, El Di Tella y un episodio en la vida de la TV argentina, at the Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Buenos Aires, in  2010, and Aquella mañana…, in the Parque de la Memoria in Buenos Aires, in 2014. Katzenstein has written extensively on contemporary art and has been the editor of  Listen, Here, Now! Argentine Art of the 1960s: Writings of the Avant-Garde (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2004).  
  
At present, she forms part of the Scientific-Artistic Committee of Malba-Colección Costantini and the Advisory Board of the magazine Otra Parte de Artes y Letras, Buenos Aires.  
  
Sonia Becce is an independent curator, based in Buenos Aires. She has worked on various exhibitions with international institutions such as the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid and MALBA in Buenos Aires. She was one of the curators of the Solo Projects in ARCOmadrid 2012. Becce has also been a key figure in her collaboration with the artist Guillermo Kuitca since 1987, working with him on projects that include numerous publications and exhibitions in both museums and galleries.  
 
In 2015, she formed part of the international jury of the Faena Arts Prize, Buenos Aires, as well as the Premio Beca Flora-arteBA, alongside José Roca; and of the interdisciplinary Visual Arts and Dance scholarship awarded by the Fundación Cazadores de Arte, Buenos Aires. She was President of the arteBA Gallery Selection Committee and curator of Alejandra Seeber: Autoamerican, Galería Barro, Buenos Aires and of Rosell Meseguer: Proyecto OVNI Archive in Document Art, Buenos Aires.  

  
In 2014 she was President of the Gallery Selection Committee and member of the advisory board of Cabinet, for arteBA.