Visible Architects: NEW CHILEAN ART AT A GLOBAL CROSSROADS
WASHINGTON D.C Francisca BenĂtez Ernesto Burgos Pablo Jansana
Cristobal Lehyt Rodrigo Lobos Andrea Wolf
Visible Architects: NEW CHILEAN ART AT A GLOBAL CROSSROADS
Washington, DC December 2012 – March 2013
Visible Architects
Cultural Department Embassy of Chile to the United States Cultural Attaché: Nicolás Bär Armstrong Assistant: Álvaro Bustamante Abatte This project was supported by the Cultural Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DIRAC)
Curator: Christian Viveros-Fauné Management: Pablo Jansana Design and art direction: Werner Fett + Sergio Córdova Estudio Animal | www.estudioanimal.cl
In this new exciting art project at the Exhibition Gallery of this Diplomatic Mission, we present the work of six important and young Chilean artists -all of them in their 30s- who reside and work in New York. It is our last event of the year, giving closure to a successful calendar of events during 2012. This avant-garde exhibit showcases contemporary conceptual dialogues through a variety of art platforms, including drawing, painting, sculpture, video and installation. There is a rich diversity in this project that enhances the individual work, and at the same time it has a multiplying effect in showing the best of our art. By doing this we intend to fulfill our mission, understanding that promoting a country’s culture and assets has proved to be an effective tool in modern diplomacy. The artists who participate in this exhibit -having been already well recognized in Chile- decided to widen their professional horizons by settling down in New York City, one of the most vibrant art scenes in the world. Since then, they have become well known among art collectors, galleries, museums, and have also participated in the most famous international art fairs. The fact that some of the artworks will be donated to the Embassy’s Collection, enables us to exhibit permanently our national talents in the United States. Felipe Bulnes Ambassador of Chile to the United States
Visible Architects
NEW CHILEAN ART AT A GLOBAL CROSSROADS
Dateline, Brooklyn, October, 2012. The exhibition “Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect” opened at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in February of this year—a fitting signpost for this more modest exhibition. The first North American retrospective of this pioneering Chilean artist’s work, the eclectic assemblage of drawings, videos and performative installations from the 1970s to the 1990s on view at the museum served not only to encourage critical reflection on the mechanics of perception and the self—Downey’s particular phenomenological and multicultural strength—but also to mark a specific watershed for Chilean contemporary art. No doubt, this event constitutes a present-day art historical BC and AD for Chilean artists living in Chile and abroad. Drawing on technological advances in video and audio recording and Downey’s ongoing interest in the rituals of various Latin American native cultures, the late artist (he died of cancer in 1993) devised a concept that he came to call “invisible architectures.” A flexible, mystagogical idea with which he reconsidered connections between society, history, geography and information, Downey’s freewheeling, techie-hippie aesthetics undoubtedly finger something of a raw nerve today. If, as one particularly astute New York Times arts writer suggested recently, the artistic radicalism of the ’60s and early ’70s has been largely sanitized from global art history, it also follows that emerging artists young and old will look beyond the conventional canon for inspiration during times of crisis. This is the case of the six willingly displaced Chilean artists in this exhibition. As supremely global migrant artists working in New York in the second decade of the 21st century, there are few cultural producers better prepared to take up the challenge of making visible the previously invisible connections between global art, their respective societies and the increasingly fragile and contentious world at large. Working at the juncture of a developing
society with as yet unarticulated ambitions with respect to visual culture (their native Chile) and a more powerful visual culture in a period of clear decline (their adoptive U.S.), these artists and others like them represent the immanent possibilities of art to make actually physical the stubborn, sometimes elusive, but resolutely expressive spirit of the age. The artists Francisca Benitez, Ernesto Burgos, Pablo Jansana, Cristobal Lehyt, Rodrigo Lobos and Andrea Wolf each exemplify the experimental approaches taken by Downey in their own highly individual ways. Unorthodox figures committed to a non-instrumentalized, actively innovative vision of art, they all display approaches to art making and its exhibition that expand the usual conventional studio and gallery practices. Their youthful examples significantly grow the field and relevance of art making today. Lehyt, for example, creates “Drama Projections” or drawings, while in an “in-between” or “trancelike state” and transfers these often large-scale communications directly onto the walls of exhibition spaces (this artist’s work most follows in the direct lineage of Downey). Rodrigo Lobos makes horizontal works that superficially resemble Art Brut or informel paintings, yet hide a complex set of natural practices that involve the creation of actual crystals and, cumulatively speaking, topographies on found surfaces (which, in turn, begs the question: are these waste-lands metaphors for an embattled age-old practice?). Francisca Benitez’s psychogeographies investigate what she has called “sites of dissent” within the seemingly placid urban fabric of cities like London and New York (her frottage of a design element from the entrance of the ITT building in Manhattan reminds viewers of the role this multinational played in bringing down the government of Salvador Allende in Chile). Ernesto Burgos literally upends everyday materials
like mattresses or vintage couches to turn into material for his totemic sculptures (his found and distressed objects effectively symbolize the violent riot uneasily contained within normal life). Andrea Wolf’s pocket video projections and sets create intimate scenarios via which viewers can imaginatively recall and examine their own empathetic memories (her use of anonymous super 8 home movies hints at an expanded realism inherent in today’s use of found material). And finally, Pablo Jansana’s historical explorations of the often yawning gaps existing between tradition and ideology lead him to novel, situational methods for establishing newfangled relations between form and content (while making, in his case, something of an ethics from the use of collage as a medium). While one interlocutor described Downey’s idea of invisible architecture as the “intersection of metaphysics and topological investigations between societies and their environments” (Downey’s own 1973 definition proved way more far out: “an attitude of total communication within which ultradeveloped minds will be telepathically cellular to an electromagnetic whole”), the methodologies of these six artists productively grounds their work very much in the here and now. Culturally attuned figures that exploit their increasingly hybridized position, they look to further problematize not just their respective mediums (itself a sign of tremendous sophistication for artists of any generation) but also their own abilities to interpret our increasingly globalized society. Critical artists for a narcissistic, erratic and highly indeterminate 21st century, their work points the way forward toward cultural and artistic definitions that appear increasingly necessary and urgent.
Christian Viveros-Fauné
Visible Architects
1. El tiempo subterráneo Graphite rubbing on paper, 14 pieces of 40 x 26 in Total area 16.6 x 6.8 ft 2012 Open Composition in Steel Intervened found object (steel and tar) 98 x 98 in 2011
Visible Architects
2. Untitled Fiberglass, paint, wood glue, paper 16 x 13 x 11 in 2012 Â Untitled (Hoodie Brancusi) Hooded sweatshirt, sofa cushion, fiberglass, paint, wood glue 66 x 22 x 22 in 2012
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3. Untitled XXX (6) Resin, pigment, enamel on panel wood 50 x 60 in 2012 B1 & B2 Resin, pigment on canvas 51 x 120 x 13 in 2011 Â
Visible Architects
4. Drawings Charcoal on wall Variable dimensions 2012
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5. Terrain of Interest: You Look so Much Like my Father (Detail) Â Terrain of Interest: You Look so Much Like my Father Mixed media 96 x 48 x 16 in 2012
Visible Architects
6. Cube, Little Memories Series Mix media and video projection 2010 Â Untitled, Little Memories Series Mix media and video projection 2011
Visible Architects
Solo Exhibitions
2011 ORO DULCE, Die Ecke, Santiago, Chile 2010 Francisca Benítez: 3 videos, Die Ecke Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain 2009 EIGENTUMSGRENZE, na daLokal, Vienna, Austria
Chamber, Lokal.int, Biel-Bienne, Switzerland
2006 The making of Golden Warriors, Medianoche, New York, US Selected Group Exhibitions
and new media, Los Angeles,
Si Po: La nouvelle scène artistique Chilienne, Mains d’Oeuvres, Saint-Ouen, Paris, France
US Contragolpe: Reenacting a failed operation, Instituto Divorciado, Berlin, Germany
Post it City, Cidades Ocasionais, Centre Cultural de Sao Paulo, Brazil
Post-it City, Ciudades Ocasionales, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile
Domestic Affairs, Gamle Mølla Kunstskole, Moss, Norway
Relaciones, utopías de proximidad, Centro Cultural de España en Guatemala
Double Exposure, Makor Gallery, New York, US
SQUAT, evicted building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York
Wild Girls, Exit Art, New York, US
Visión:f(icción), Instituto Cervantes, Beijing, China
Domestic Affairs, Projekt 0047, Berlin, Germany
Berlin change plus vite que mon coeur, Gare Saint Sauveur, Lille, France
The Studio Visit, Exit Art, New York, US
Videopulsiones, Festival X, Lisboa, Portugal
2008 450 W 42, Jersey City Museum, New Jersey, US 2007 Prótesis del Nuevo Exodo, Die Ecke, Santiago, Chile
Beijing Biennale: Turn on, Tune In, Drop out / Constellations, Beijing, China
2012 Desire Lines, Espai Cultural Caja Madrid, Barcelona, Spain
Les Frontières Invisibles, Tri Postal, Lille, France
2005 Jornadas de Autonomía Aérea, KBB, Barcelona, Spain
Preemptive Resistances, Westport Arts Center, Connecticut, US
Sugar Plumbs, Makor Gallery, New York, US
Re:Generation, Mabel Smith Douglass Library, New Brunswick, US
Parrilla, Matucana 100, Santiago, Chile
Contaminaciones Contemporáneas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile To the Stars on the Wings of an Eel, Gowanus Ballroom, Brooklyn, New York, US
2008 The Labyrinth Wall: From Mythology to Reality, Exit Art, New York, US
Brucennial 2012, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York, US
Post-it City, 4 case studies, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Thailand
Occasional Cities, Centro de Arte Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain
Retorna, Centro Cultural de España, Santiago, Chile
Occasional Cities, Centre de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona, Spain
BROOKLin VIDEO, Futura, Prague, Czech Republic
2011 L’œil sur les rues, Parc de la Villette, Paris
Life is all about taking things in and putting things out, Salón Tudor, Santiago, Chile
The Street Files, El Museo del Barrio, New York, US
Retorna, Galería Gabriela Mistral, Santiago, Chile
30: A Brooklyn Salon, BRIC Rotunda Gallery 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Brooklyn, New York, US
Political Landscape: Recent Video Art from Chile, Kunsthalle Berlin-Lichtenberg, Germany
2010 Contaminaciones Contemporáneas, Museu de Arte Contemporánea da USP, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Expediente Die ecke 01, Valenzuela Klenner Galería, Bogotá, Colombia
Brucennial 2010, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York, US
Daniel López Show, White Box/ Roebling Hall, New York, US
Unplanned, Superfront, Los Angeles, US
País de Poetas, Rotunda gallery, Brooklyn, New York, US
Making Space, Superfront, Brooklyn, New York, US
Re:Generation, Smack Mellon/ Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, New York, US
2009 Reinventing Ritual, The Jewish Museum, New York, US
140 characters or less, Jason Rulnick Inc, New York, US
2007 Babylon, Festival de Arte Contemporáneo de Barcelona, Spain
2006 Legal Aliens, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, New York, US
Too much freedom? LA Frewaves 10th biennial of film, video
2004 Illegal Carnival, 173 N 7 Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, US
Terrorvision, Exit Art, New York, US
2003 VI Bienal de Nuevos Medios/ Concurso Juan Downey, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago 2002 6th International Festival of Architecture in Video, Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence, Italy 2001 Density, Centre de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona, Spain
Building Codes: The Programmable City, Storefront for Art & Architecture, New York, US
San Francisco, CA.
Solo Exhibitions 2013 Galeria D21, Santiago, Chile. (Forthcoming)
2012 The Tone was a Synthesis of all the Voices They had Ever Heard, Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY.
True Singing is a Deifferent Breathing, Curated by Andrew Prayzner, Vaudeville Park, New York, NY.
Portable Caves, Curated by HKJB, Long Island City, NY.
2011 Notes in the Margin, Galeria The Goma, Madrid, Spain.
Kryptonite, Kathleen Cullen, New York, NY.
2010 Next to Nowhere (with Aaron Raymer), Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY.
2009 Flying by the Seat of Your Pants, Curated by Adriana Farietta, Miami, FL.
2009 Opening Night & Apparent Calm (with Michelle Elzay), Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY.
Get Ready, Curated by Claudia Scalise, MDC Wolfson Gallery, Miami, FL.
2007 What’s in the stew if the flu is in the chicken, Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York, NY. Kilowattzz, David Castillo Gallery, Miami, Fl.
Black Mondays, Curated by Thomas McDonell, Kathleen Cullen, New York, NY.
< >, Curated by Nickolaus Typaldos and Peter Clough, Commons Gallery, New York, NY.
Group Exhibitions 2012 Ugly Broke Sober, Curated by Adam Sherman, Kathleen Cullen, New York, NY. Convocatoria, Galeria Luis Adelantado, Valencia, España. 2011 You are Here Forever, Curated by Omar Lopez Chahoud, Carol Jazzar, Miami, FL. Champagne Urbana, Curated by Aaron Anderson, The Paper Mill, Sydney, Australia. Control Alt Delete, Curated by HKJB, Brooklyn, NY.
Its all in the Peripherals, Curated by Aaron Raymer, Gallery M, Louisville, KY.
Wild Combinations, Curated by Jay Nelson, Trible Base Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2010 Every Other Day, Curated by Donald Johnson-Montenegro, Tanya Brillembourg, Miami, FL.
Perseids, Curated by Sorine Anderson & Kari Adelaide, Custer Observatory, Southold, NY.
Born to Die, Curated by Jay Henderson, Second Home Projects, Berlin, Germany.
Friends in High Places, Curated by Adrian Ting/Zach Needler, Chris Henry Gallery, New York, NY.
Paper Awesome, Curated by Brion Nuda Rosch, Baer Ridgway,
2008 Thursday the 12th, Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY. Drawing a Conclusion, Curated by Daniel Lacy, Hell Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
3, Curated by Chris Duncan, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Kick out the Jams, The Luggage Store, San Francisco
Drawing a Conclusion, Curated by Daniel Lacy, Peloton Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Fundraiser, Locust Projects, Miami, FL.
2007 Miami Contemporary Artists: Creating a Scene, Curated by Gean Moreno, Freedom Tower, Miami, FL.
Smile on Your Brother, with Max Razdow and Ricardo Gonzalez, Rosenberg Gallery, NY, NY.
Smash and Grab, Locust Projects, Miami, FL.
All is well that begins well and has no end, 80WSE, NY, NY
The Most Curatorial Bienniale of the Universe, Apex Art, NY, NY.
Look Away, Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York, NY
Visible Architects
Solo Exhibitions
Project Birch Forest, Part II : Stirrings still , curated by Juan Puntes and Raul Zamudio, White Box, New York, USA
Vinyl, Local Project, New York, USA
ArteBA Argentina. ArtEspacio Chile
SmackMellon, New York, USA
2013 ArtEspacio. Stgo Chile ( Forthcoming )
Featured artist, ARCO Madrid, Spain. The Goma ( Forthcoming )
2012 Untitled, Okk Raum/ 29, Berlín, Alemania ( Forthcoming ) fall and fold, The Goma, Madrid, Spain 2011 20 minutes of weight, The Goma , Madrid, Spain 2010 Pablo Jansana, ISCP, New York, USA 2009 Pablo Jansana, ISCP, New York, USA 2007 Zoopsia, Galería ArtEspacio Chile, 2005 Fabric Painting AM/PM, Museo de Arte Moderno de Chiloé, Chile 2004 Magnolia, Galería ArtEspacio, Chile
2009 8 1/2 X 11 Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York, USA
ArteBA Argentina. ArtEspacio Chile
Emergency Fundraiser, Deitch Projects, New York, USA
2008 ArteBA Argentina. ArtEspacio Chile 2007 ArteBA Argentina. ArtEspacio Chile 2006 Periférica, CCB , Buenos Aires, Arg
ArteBA Argentina. ArtEspacio Chile
Group Exhibitions
Bicentenario, El camino amplio, Galeria Cecilia Palma, Chile
2013 Biennial Museo del Barrio S Files, curated by Rocio Aranda Alvarado, New York, USA ( Forthcoming )
2005 Orden y Correspondencia, curated by Carlos Navarrete, Fundación Gasco, Chile
2012 Pinta New York, ArtEspacio Chile
2004 ArteBA Argentina. ArtEspacio Chile
Chaco Chile, ArtEspacio Chile
ArteBA Argentina. ArtEspacio Chile
2011 Chaco Chile, ArtEspacio Chile
Pinta New York, ArtEspacio Chile
2003 La mirada austera, curated by Carlos Navarrete, Chile
Gibsmir Karaoke, Kunstszene, Zurich, Switzerland
Headlies, curated by Diana Alis, London. UK
Illuminated Metrópolis, New York- USA
2002 Trama, ArtEspacio Galería, Chile Art Miami ArtEspacio, ArtEspacio Chile
Casino Metropolitano, Half Blue, D.F México
Social Distortion, New York, USA
ArteBA Argentina. ArtEspacio Chile
Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York, USA
Chaco Chile. ArtEspacio Chile
2010 Bronx Biennial, Reconstruction Elsewhere, Bronx Museum, NY, USA
The Intern Show, Art Since the Summer of¨69, New York, USA
El Cilindro como soporte, Fundación Gasco, Chile
Art Miami ArtEspacio, ArtEspacio Chile
Polite Culture” Galería Sala, Chile
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2012 El Vértigo de Eros y el Dibujo Incómodo, YONO and Die Ecke, Santiago, Chile
Juan, Puerto Rico
Eat Your Emblem, Vogt Gallery, NY, USA
Cristóbal Lehyt, ARCO Madrid, Spain 2010 If Organizing is the Answer, What’s the Question? Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
Drama Projection, House of Propellers, London, England
Cristóbal Lehyt, MAVI, Santiago, Chile
Cristóbal Lehyt, Galería Patricia Ready, Santiago, Chile
2009 El Penúltimo Paisaje (The Penultimate Landscape), Fundación Telefónica Chile, Santiago 2008 Dramaprojektion, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2012 ArtRio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Contaminaciones, Museo de Arte Contenmporaneo, Santiago Chile 2011 Even in the Quietest Moments, Vogt Gallery, NY, USA La Oscura Vida Radiante, CeAC, Santiago, Chile 2010 Tectonic Shift: Contemporary Art From Chile, Saatchi Gallery and Phillips de Pury and Company, London, England
Epílogo, Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico
Like a river that stops being a river or like a tree that is burning in the horizon without knowing it is burning... Temporary Gallery, Cologne, Germany
Kritische Komplizenschaft / Critical Complicity, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Austria
Let’s Kidnap a Sculpture, Civic Room, London, England
Weaving In and Out, No Longer Empty, NY
Abstract Derive, Ludlow 38, NY
2009 7th Mercosul Biennial – Grito e Escuta (Screaming and Hearing), Porto Alegre, Brazil
This is not America, Center for the Aesthetic Revolution, San
Los de Arriba y los de Abajo, Sala de Artes Público Siqueiros, Mexico City
2008 Ruidos y Relatos, Hoffmann’s House, La Capella, Barcelona, Spain
Sunset from the Empire State Building Observatory, Sezession Wichtelgasse, Vienna, Austria
Be Marginal Be a Hero, Thrust Projects, NY, USA
Visible Architects
Solo exhibitions 2008 Un Triste Tigre, Galería Concreta Matucana 100, Santiago, Chile 2007 Acumulativa Furniture, Die Ecke Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile
Mobiliario (collaboration with R. Araya), Centro Cultural de España /Santiago, Chile
Group exhibitions 2012 The Wood, The Coal, and The Paint, Reverse Gallery, New York, USA
Trienal de Chile 2, Galeria Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile Retrovisión, Centro Cultural Palacio de la Moneda, Santiago, Chile
2010 Transcripción Local, Palacio Astoreca, Iquique, Chile DISLOCACIÓN, “Quien cuenta la Historia, Quien fabrica las imágenes”, Centro de Arte Alameda, Santiago, Chile 2009 Primera Trienal de Chile, “El terremoto de Chile”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo – Quinta Normal /Santiago, Chile 2007 Daniel López Show, Roebling Hall, New York, NY
Trueque, Centro Cultural Balmaceda 1215, Santiago, Chile
2006 Guirnaldas, Galería EFE, Santiago, Chile
Umbrales, Centro de Extensión UC, Santiago, Chile
Encuentro Metropolitano de las Artes, Centro de exposiciones Apoquindo 3300, Santiago, Chile
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010 Untitled, Museum of Memory and Human Rights
2011 Little Memories, One By One Gallery, New York, USA
“Winnipeg, The Circular Exile” projection, Stgo, Chile,
Little Memories, Yashar Gallery, New York, USA
“Open Studio”, Brooklyn Arts Studios, New York, USA
The After Image or a Very Slow“ Itp Spring Show” Indexical Movement of Time, Itp, New York University, New York, USA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2012 Little Memories , “Latin Labour Day”, White Box Gallery
Souvenir, interactive video installation “Not Winter, Not Spring Show” Scholes 319, Brooklyn, New York, USA,
Little Memories, House Of Government Cultural, Santiago Chile “Reflecta”
Remembering and Forgetting 2,Mat Mr Pyx, Berlin, Germany
Deer, Love Story, and Car, Little “Luminance” Memories Series, Paley Center, New York, USA
Little Memories, Afa Gallery, Santiago, Chile
Little Memories, “10Th Video and New Media Arts Biennale”, Museum Of Contemporary Art, Stgo, Chile Love Story, Little Memories Series, “My Heart is on Fire” video sculpture, Local Project Sede 1, Santiago, Chile
2009 Passage, mono canal video “Itp Winter Show”, Itp, New York University, New York, USA Exhibition on the work developed “Santiago Turistik” through the workshop on photography, city, and visual culture held at two high schools from Belen Education Foundation, Sala De Arte Ccu, Santiago, Chile
Souvenir, interactive video “9Th Video And New Media Arts Biennale” installation, Contemporary Art Museum/ Stgo, Chile
Memoryframes, interactive video “The Unknown University Conference” installation, School Of Creative Writing, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile
2011 Untitled (Self Not), mono canal video “In Six Hours Ago”, Etalage Derde Wal, Amsterdam, Holland
Car and Zoo, Little Memories Series, The TV of Tomorrow, New York, USA
2008 Memoryframes, interactive video,Fundación Telefónica, Santiago, Chile
Zoo, Love Story, Deer Little “Hello World” Memories Series, Scholes 319, New York, USA
Untitled, video installation “As Things Appear to Be”, Local Project, New York, USA
Cubo and Love Story, Little “Replica2” Memories, 11, Rue Thérèse, Paris, France
Tennis, Car, Love Story, Little “Memories of CMYK” Memories Series, Poetry Club/ New York, USA
Tennis from the Series Little “Not Spring, Not Winter Show” Memories Series, Scholes 319, New York, USA
Tennis from the Little Memories “Camera Vivant” Series , Central Utah Art Center, Utah, USA
Installation, Tesla, Digital Culture Meeting
2007 Memoryframes – Online Version First Inclusiva-Net.Org Meeting: (www.Memoryframes.Org), New artistic dynamics on web 2.0 interactive narratives, Medialab, Madrid, Spain
Visible Architects: NEW CHILEAN ART AT A GLOBAL CROSSROADS