Ch.ACO's 10-year Anniversary Recap - A True Celebration of the Visual Arts

This year, from November 22nd through the 26th, Ch.ACO Art Fair will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Like the last three editions, since it began itinerating in 2016, the fair will be held in a currently under-construction building in Santiago’s Vitacura area, thus giving way to a new identity that combines Santiago’s proliferous real estate market with the latest proposals in contemporary art. This anniversary edition will present over 65 exhibitors from all over the world, including Marion Gallery (Panamá), Carmen Araujo (Venezuela), Revolver (Lima) and Bendana Pinel Art Contemporain (Paris), as well as Chile’s best representatives.

Several unprecedented events will take place in order to celebrate this anniversary. By converging with associated institutions and organizations, Ch.ACO suggests that the entire month of November be dedicated to the visual arts. In order to do this, work is being undertaken to generate a circuit of art interventions in key public places throughout Santiago, so that everyone, including those who cannot attend the fair, can feel part of this celebration.

Below is a recount of the events that will set the tone for our tenth anniversary.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

This year, for the first time, the Fair’s Main section will have an advisory committee consisting of connoted professionals from the art world. This committee’s main functions are to analyze the exhibitors’ proposals, elaborate a general curatorship, and generate partnerships with international institutions and cultural agents.

Patricia Ready (Chile) One of the most experienced gallery owners in Chile, Patricia promotes the work of local and international contemporary artists. Through critical projects with solid conceptual bases, her artists reflect current day society. Her gallery strives, among other things, to increase the public’s interest in contemporary art, and in doing so, to contribute to the country’s cultural development.

Giancarlo Scaglia (Peru) This artist’s work seeks to re-interpret a series of events related to the armed conflicts that took place in Peru during the 80s and 90s. Since 2008, he has directed Revolver in Lima, a platform for the production and exhibition of contemporary art projects.

Juan Carlos Bendana Pinel (France) This art collector and diplomat opened a gallery in Le Marais, Paris, in 2008. His objective: to bring together artistic creation in all of its manifestations, and make way for a program of international artists. His space has participated in connoted art fairs, such as Arco (Madrid), Paris Photo (Paris), Loop (Barcelona) and Artissima (Turin).

Bernardita Mandiola (Chile) Independent curator, since 2013, she has worked as curator of Fundación AMA (which is also celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2018), an initiative by Chilean art collector Juan Yarur, a member of the Latin American Acquisition Board for the Tate Modern Gallery in London.  Ignacio Szmulewicz (Chile) Historian, curator, and art critic, he has published the following books: Fuera del cubo blanco: lecturas sobre arte público contemporáneo (Metales Pesados, 2012); Arte, ciudad y esfera pública en Chile (Metales Pesados, 2015); and El acantilado de la libertad. He is an art critic for La Panera, and a coordinator for the Centro de Documentación de las Artes Visuales.

CURATED SECTIONS

Since it began itinerating in 2016, Ch.ACO Art Fair has included three curated sections. This year, these sections will be curated by connoted professionals from the art world: British-Venezuelan curator Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, who will be in charge of Focus; art historian Carolina Castro Jorquera and curator Matías Allende, who shall lead Planta; and editor Camila Opazo, who will direct Nave de Ediciones.

Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Art historian and curator, she was Head Curator at the Latin American Art Museum in Long Beach, California, and recently curated Radical Women: Latin American Art 1960-1985, an itinerant exhibition that brings together pieces by female Latin American artists, as well as female artists of Chicano and Latin American descent in the United States.

Carolina Castro Jorquera, PhD in Art History from the Universidad Autónoma, this curator and investigator participated in the 4th International Curators Course at the Gwangju Biennial (GBICC) in South Korea (2012). She is currently a professor at Universidad Finis Terrae, Santiago de Chile.

Matías Allende, Bachelor’s Degree in Art from Universidad de Chile and an associate investigator at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC). He is one of the main editors of Catálogo Razonado, Colección MAC, and a member of the International Council of Museums.

Camila Opazo, Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts. In 2015, she founded Tonic, an online platform and printed magazine about the art market and Latin American art collecting. She has worked at Color Animal and as commercial director of AFA gallery. Currently, she is also directing Galería OMA.

INTERNATIONAL GUESTS

For this 10-year anniversary, we have invited professionals and academics from the art world to take part in our conversation forums -whose focus this year has to do with public art, as well as in other activities conducted at the fair. These guests include the curator of the UBS MAP Global Art Initiative for Latin America at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Pablo León de la Barra, who is returning this year as curator of the FAVA Foundation’s acquisition plan; Christian Viveros Fauné, curator and collaborator at ArtNet, Frieze, The Art Newspaper and New York Press, amongst others, who will be presenting his new book at the Fair, entitled A Short History of Political Art, published by David Zwirner Books; Cher Knight, a scholar from Emerson College, art historian and public art specialist; and the director of Bogota’s Museo de Arte Moderno, Claudia Hakim.

OPEN CONTESTS

As part of the celebration events, this year Ch.ACO presents two contests that are open to the general public, with the purpose of expanding the audience and making the celebration into a collective one.

The first contest, in association with Ograma, a printing company, is aimed towards giving an editorial from any part of the world the possibility of printing and publishing an art editorial project. After one month of open calls, during which over 80 applications came in, the jury –which consisted of Camila Opazo, director of Tonic magazine and curator of the Nave de Ediciones section; Paula Escobar, editor of El Mercurio’s supplements; Irene Abujatum, director of the FAVA Foundation; Gonzalo Oyarzun, sub-director of the DIBAM’s National Public Libraries System; and Andres Urrutia, director of virtual advertising in representation of Ograma— selected the following winner: the book Blue Pieces, by Jerry B. Martin, presented by Andres Marroquin’s Peruvial editorial house, Meier Ramirez Books. The book gathers the work that the artist made with his typewriter during the year 2001.

The second contest held during this year was organized in collaboration with the Corporación Cultural de Vitacura and Color Animal, an art supplies store. The contest was aimed towards girls and boys who are turning or have turned 10 years old during 2018. Through an open call, the children were asked to send in a drawing that answered the following question: “What is art to you?” Out of the 150 drawings that came in, 10 finalists were selected, which were then put to popular vote through Ch.ACO’s social media platforms. The winner was Luisa Molina (Santiago, 10 years old), whose drawing will serve as inspiration for Ch.ACO 2018’s graphic campaign.

Ch.ACO en la calle

For the second year in a row, the Fair will present Ch.ACO en la calle, an initiative that seeks to activate different cultural and commercial agents in Santiago’s Vitacura area. With the purpose of giving way to a broad arts program for the community, various Chilean artists will intervene commercial premises surrounding the intersection of Alonso de Córdova and Nueva Costanera, in addition to other art-related activities that will be open to the general public, set to take place during the entire month of November.