Ch.ACO 11 - THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR OF CHILE

The invitation is to see, learn and buy art. “We want people to approach from their different points of interest. This is an opportunity to understand the current codes of contemporary art and also to acquire works. We can all be collectors,” says Elodie Fulton, project director.

There will be 12 national and 20 international galleries that, together, will exhibit more than 500 works of art from more than 100 contemporary artists from around the world. There are 16 countries that will participate with stands and exhibitions: Canada, USA, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Sweden, Ecuador, Spain, Italy, China and Japan, as well as Chile. They are joined by 50 international guests who will take part in different activities.

The tour will be organized around three sections: MAIN, where local and foreign galleries will be present; PLANT, dedicated to Latin American galleries that bring emerging experimental artists; and a space specially designed for national and international publishers that publish material on contemporary art.

Added to this is an interesting program of conversations that aim to address the issue of public and private, the importance of heritage and how collecting is the construction of our future heritage. With a broad vision of the subject, international and national guests such as the Cuban curator Omar López-Chahoud, the artistic director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Canada November Paynter, the undersecretary of Heritage Emilio de la Cerda and the director of the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) Fernando Pérez, among others, will address these issues considering the current situation of the country and looking to the future with the objective of safeguarding and building our heritage. Do not forget that contemporary art is the heritage of tomorrow.

“You don't have to be an expert to enjoy the fair and we have looked for very different proposals and available to different types of buyers. We can all be collectors and the idea of ​​Ch.ACO is to promote local art, train the public and stage an event that invites reflection, surprise and also, why not, have a good time.” Explains Elodie Fulton.

In addition, this year’s special emphasis was placed on interior space and gastronomy. The national designer Rodrigo Alonso, together with the company Comberplast will intervene different spaces of the fair with recycled material, which will have the potential to be reused after the event.

International artists

International galleries will also exhibit Chilean artists: Gachi Prieto, from Argentina, will come with Samy Benmayor; Pablo Rodríguez Blanco and José Benmayor, from Revolver, Peru, will have Alejandra Prieto and Cosima Zu Knyphausen; Spain's Polígrafa Obra Gráfica will present unpublished works by Iván Navarro and Ricardo Maffei, and Proyecto N.A.S.A. (L) from Peru / Ecuador, will show the work of Jessica Briceño Cisneros.

Among the international highlights of Ch.ACO -11, the presence of Swedish visual artist and musician Jay Jay Johanson, who visits the country for the first time, stands out. He will present his work "Empty beds", a series of 36 black and white photographs that record the beds he was leaving undone, after sleeping in them, during the world tour of his third album, "Poison" in 2000. The artist will also offer A concert inside the fairgrounds.

Also, for the first time in Chile, the work of the renowned Austro-American photographer Lisl Steiner will be exhibited, who worked in the 50s and 70s for Life and Time magazines and achieved worldwide fame with her portraits to personalities of the time. On this occasion, it will show part of the series “Los Niños de las Américas” (The children from the Americas), a collection of photographs taken at the end of the 50s in 21 countries of the continent in order to portray the harsh reality of children in the region. The exhibition and the visit of the author, 92, who will participate in a conversation and receive recognition, will be possible thanks to an alliance of Ch.ACO -11 with the DORCAM museum in Miami.

Another international attraction is provided by China, through Nothing Gallery, which will exhibit the installation “You are the center of your world”, a great golden throne of the artist Stevens Vaughn. The piece was exhibited with great success at the Curitiba Biennial in 2017 and during Ch.ACO -11 visitors will have the opportunity not only to look at the throne, but also to sit on it, because the artist's invitation is for everyone to take awareness of our "personal power."

National content

Among the outstanding national guests, it is worth mentioning the Proyecto Pregunta (Question Project) of the MilM2 collective, which will be installed at the entrance of the fair every day so that all attendees can participate in this intervention that seeks to generate collective questions. The project consists of a citizen participation device focused on the collective generation of civic and political debates in the public space, and will be present in Ch.ACO -11 thanks to the Associated Visual Arts Foundation (FAVA).

The exhibition Agorafilia, curated by Carol Illanes, is another interesting content of the fair. This is a sample of 17 works by Chilean female artists, from both public and private collections, under the slogan Women Creators. Among others, you can see the work of Paz Errázuriz, Roser Bru, Julia Toro and Voluspa Jarpa. This exhibition was carried out in collaboration with the FAVA Foundation and thanks to the support of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity and the Women's Community.

On this occasion, the nine national galleries present will contribute works by renowned Chilean artists. Factoría Santa Rosa will come with works by Julia Toro, Guillermo Nuñez, Gonzalo Cienfuegos, among others; Patricia Ready will exhibit works by Rodrigo Valenzuela and Patricia Domínguez, among others; Prima Galería will present works by Matilde Pérez and Roberto Matta; La Sala gallery will show works by Juan Luis Dörr, Pikti, among others; In addition to other galleries that will exhibit in this edition.

Especially looking for some content that dialogues with the theme of the social outbreak, the organizers invited the creators of the Tarot of the Unit to participate, a deck of divination cards with iconography and symbolism alluding to the theme. In a stand inside the fair, the psychologist Rocío de la Noe and the illustrator Rafael Cuevas, will teach attendees how to use the deck, which can also be purchased with some posters in limited edition.

Along the same lines, the Ceramikos collective, made up of five national potters, will show its installation “Los ojos de Octubre” (October eyes), two hundred eyes sculpted in stoneware, which are presented as an offering and reflection from the sad cases of injuries eyepieces registered in the country during protests. Attendees can interact with the work and acquire, for a very affordable price, individual pieces.