2020
2020 was a particular year, however, we are proud to say that we have continued to expand our program. We inaugurated the curatorial grant to promote curatorial projects related to El Salvador. We also reinforced programs such as the Artist Grants, which now awards $5,000 for Salvadoran artists and projects. We published 3 critical articles as a result of the Artist Academy initiated in 2019.
Being a nomadic program, Y.ES Contemporary had the opportunity to adapt to the changes that have taken place in the world. Emergency Grants were awarded to artists and projects that were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. We enhanced our Online Study Visits program, connecting Salvadoran artists and curators around the world. Our traveling exhibition Contornos de Libertad / Borders of Freedom was presented in virtual format in collaboration with Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. The Regional Art Residency Program for Curated Production was initiated in collaboration with the Cultural Center of Spain in Costa Rica and other Central American institutions.
Y.ES Contemporary is proud to work with such an outstanding artistic community. Therefore, in addition to our achievements, we want to share some of the many accomplishments of Salvadoran artists. Seeing such a prolific and exciting scene only motivates us to continue our work.
Just Say Y.ES
MARIO CADER-FRECH
Y.ES Contemporary Founder
Y.ES Contemporary Art Loan Program
Y.ES TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS
Borders of Freedom
Curated by Patricio Majano
6 ARTISTS /7 VIDEOS
Abigail Reyes, Alexia Miranda, Crack Rodríguez, Fredy Solan, Guadalupe Maravilla, Sayre Quevedo
FEBRUARY 25
IE University during Madrid Art week
OCTOBER 10 TO DECEMBER 15
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions LACE
LOANS TO EXHIBITIONS
JULY 22 - AUGUST 9
“Melodrama”, Espacio Unión , CDMX, Mexico. Curated by Juan Pablo Ramos. Featuring Abigail Reyes , Sí Señor.
NOVEMBER 12, 2020JANUARY 17, 2021
“Cuidado y Peligro de sí”, Sala Amós Salvador, Logroño, Spain. Curated by Fernando Castro Flórez. Featuring Abigail Reyes , Sí Señor.
See yescontemporary.org/loan for more information on loaning artwork. The Y.ES Contemporary Art Loan Program is made possible thanks to The Mario Cader-Frech Collection
Artist Academy
CRITICALITY IN ARTS WRITING
arts writers were commissioned to write articles published by Y.ES
Contemporary and Arte al Día
Led by Y.ES Council member and scholar
The Possibilities of Performativity to Rethink Current Local Art Museums, or Devise New Ones, in El Salvador by Dalia Chévez
Aesthetic resistance as a way to approach the aesthetic regime of the Salvadoran artistic environment by Eduardo Crespín
Behind the Image of the Indigenous in the Visual Arts of El Salvador. After A Construction from Contradiction by Jaime Izaguirre
Y.ES thanks our partner Arte Al Día
DALIA CHÉVEZ JAIME IZAGUIRRE
EDUARDO CRESPÍN
GABRIELA POMA
Talks
6 TALKS
AUGUST 31
IE University. Mario Cader-Frech, Melissa Guevara, Patricio Majano.
FEBRUARY 14
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. Abigail Reyes, Arshia Haq, Liliana Hueso, Patricio Majano.
FEBRUARY 14
Call for Curators Patricio Majano, Ilaria Conti.
FEBRUARY 25
Photo Fringe Jose Campos (Studio Lenca), Patricio Majano.
TALK COLLABORATIONS
MARCH 1
Mikasa-teléfono 5. Mario Cader-Frech, Alberto Olé, Angustias Freijo, Carol Solar, Joaquín Gallego.
MARCH 20
University of El Salvador Manuel Guerrero, Mauricio Linares, Patricio Majano
Grants
Y.ES CURATORS GRANT
EDUARDO CRESPÍN & VÍCTOR ARTIGA
were selected as the winners of 2020 YES Contemporary Curators Grant for their project “Aisthesis”, an exhibition that will feature the works of 7 international artists at the Center for International Research and Collaborative Arts CIRCA 106, in Bremen, Germany. The work themes will address territory, decolonization, politics and the body and participating artists include Natalia Domínguez, Alexia Miranda, Erick Benitez, Nicolò Cervello, Pablo Somonte Ruano, Vicc Repasi, Aria Faranezhad.
Eduardo Crespín is a Salvadoran curator based in La Libertad, El Salvador, and cofounder of “Ensayo y Error” project. Víctor Artiga is a Salvadoran artist and curator based in Germany, and co-director of CIRCA 106.
Y.ES thanks Independent jurors
TAMI KATZ-FREIMAN
Art historian, curator and critic based in Miami. Former Chief Curator of the Haifa Museum of Art in Israel
MAYA JURACÁN
Chief Curator of the Biennial in Resistance in Guatemala.
ANTONIO ROMERO
Co-curator of the temporary exhibition’s hall at the Luis Poma Theater in El Salvador
Y.ES ART WRITERS GRANT
ANNETTE LIN was selected as the winner of the 2020 Y.ES Arts Writers Grant in collaboration with HYPERALLERGIC In the article she will address how queer, female Salvadoran artists in the diaspora are writing a new narrative of El Salvador which contrasts the official representation of the country by the media.
“
I picked the theme of ‘How queer, female Salvadoran artists in the diaspora are writing a new narrative of the country’ because, as a a third-generation migrant and member of multiple diasporas myself, I think it’s important to challenge the notion of identity as fixed and consistent—because it’s not. At its heart the theme I picked challenges this notion within the frameworks of both national and personal identity, and I’m excited to explore how these artists negotiate and renegotiate these multiple layers within their work.
- Annette Lin
Y.ES thanks Independent jurors
GABRIELA RANGEL Artistic Director of MALBA, Buenos Aires
HRAG VARTANIAN The editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hyperallergic
SUSANA
MARCELO Professor of Central American Studies at California State University, Northridge
Y.ES thanks our partner Hyperallergic
ARTIST GRANTS
WELCOME TO INTIPUCÁ CITY
Koral Carballo, Anita Pouchard Serra and Jessica Ávalos , members of Welcome to Intipucá City Team, have been awarded a YES Grant for an exhibition project and installation to take place at Casa de la cultura de Intipucá during the traditional festivities of the town.
Welcome to Intipucá City is a collective transmedia project that addresses Salvadoran migration to the USA, considering the case of Intipucá, and the Salvadoran community from Intipucá living in Washington D.C.
FRANCIS AND ANTHONY ALMENDÁREZ
Houston-based Salvadoran artists Francis and Anthony Almendárez have been awarded a YES Contemporary Artist Grant to lead a workshop and screening at Cantón San Cristobal neighborhood (Ciudad Barrios, San Miguel, ES) in 2021. During the workshop, they will work with the local community, leading the participants to create their own videos and present them in a public screening on the final day.
YES thanks Independent jurors
PABLO LEÓN DE LA BARRA
Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator, Latin America at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
TERESA VELÁZQUEZ
Head of Temporary Exhibitions at the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid
MAURICIO KABISTAN
Salvadoran artist and curator. Member of The Fire Theory. Co-Curator of Luis Poma Theater
Y.ES EMERGENCY GRANTS
4 Emergency Grants
Y.ES Contemporary awarded 4 grants of $500 for Salvadoran artists based anywhere in the world who experienced financial setbacks relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
YES thanks Independent jurors
BEATRIZ CORTEZ
Artist, Professor and Y.ES Council-member
CAROLINA ALVAREZ-MATHIES
Deputy Director of Dallas Contemporary and Y.ES Contemporary Founding Council-member
Online Studio Visits
12 ONLINE STUDIO VISITS
ANTONIO ROMERO AND MANUELA VELÁZQUEZ
Director of Lokkus gallery in Medellin, Colombia
ELOÍSA VAELLO MARCO
Executive Director of Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador (CCESV)
BEATRIZ CORTEZ AND ILARIA CONTI
Independent curator. Recently served as a Research Curator for Cosmopolis at the Centre Pompidou, in France
WALTERIO IRAHETA AND ANDREW UTT
Lux Art Institute Executive
Director in California
CRACK RODRÍGUEZ AND DANIELA LIEJA
Curator at Los Angeles
Contemporary Exhibitions
JAVIER RAMÍREZ (NADIE) AND OMAR LÓPEZ
CHAHOUD
Artistic Director and Curator of the Untitled Miami Beach Art Fair
ALEXIA MIRANDA AND MANUELA VELÁZQUEZ
Director of Lokkus gallery in Medellin, Colombia
GUADALUPE MARAVILLA AND DANIELA LIEJA
Curator at Los Angeles
Contemporary Exhibitions
NATALIA DOMÍNGUEZ AND RAQUEL VILLAR-PÉREZ
Researcher, art curator and writer. Assistant Curator at Photoworks UK
ANTONIO ROMERO AND MARIA CHIARA WANG
Independet curator based in Bologna, Italy.
HARRY AND CLAUDIA WASHINGTON WITH ANNA CORNICK AND WAVA CARPENTER
Anna Carnick and Wava Carpenter are Fouders of Anava Projects, a new design-for-good agency.
NATALIA DOMÍNGUEZ, IRIS LAM CHEN AND SALVADOR VAYÁ SALORT
Salvador Vayà was the former Director of the Cultural Center of Spain in Costa Rica. Iris Lam Chen is an Arts Manager at the Cultural Center of Spain in Costa Rica, and is the Director of Global Metro Art
CRACK RODRÍGUEZ, FRANCESCO
BUONERBA AND MARIANNA DE MARZI
Francesco Buonerba and Marianna de Marzi are part of the Italian curatorial duo Los Azules Tigres del Caos
Central American Residencies
2 ARTISTS 2 CURATORS
The Regional Curated Art Residencies in Visual Art and New Media is a program created by the Cultural Center of Spain in Costa Rica, in collaboration with Y.ES Contemporary, Casa Caníbal (Costa Rica), The Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador, La Revuelta (Guatemala), Ensayo y Error (El Salvador), espacio/C (Guatemala), Quorum Laboratorio Cultural (Panama), and La Fábrica (El Salvador). The program supports the production of projects by Central American artists, and connects them with curators from other regions from Central America.
LANDRÉS PAZ
LAndrés Paz will be working in Tres Lunas, curated by Tatiana Muñoz (Costa Rica)
PATRICIO MAJANO
Patricio Majano will be curating Aureola Mental Factory, by artist Silvia García Solís (Costa Rica)
RODRIGO GUARDADO
Rodrigo Guardado will be working in Anotaciones, curated by Erika Martin (Costa Rica)
NATALIA DOMÍNGUEZ
Natalia Domínguez will be curating Espacios Habitables, by artist Alessandra Sequeira (Costa Rica)
CanalY.ES (new)
Y.ES Contemporary launched CanalY.ES, a channel dedicated to the videos of the program from 2014 to present, including Y.ES Talks, artist interviews and more.
VIDEOS
Stream Y.ES content at yescontemporary.org/canalyes
Art Trip Alumni Outcomes in 2020
LUISA FUENTES GUAZA
Independent researcher and curator based in Spain, focuses in emancipatory processes and ruptures in artistic and curatorial practice. Visited El Salvador in 2016.
- Curated the exhibition Corposoberanía, at the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador, including works by Colectiva Amorales, Alexia Miranda, and more.
JOSSELINE PINTO
Independent curator, researcher, writer and professor based in Guatemala. Founder and Curator of Manifesto Espacio. Visited El Salvador in 2018.
- In June, Pinto conducted a workshop about Digital Art and new Media in Central America, and invited Salvadoran artist Orlando Villatoro to share about his practice.
- She included Ernesto Bautista’s work for the digital traveling exhibition Notes for Tomorrow, organized by Independent Curators International (ICI).
ÉRIKA CUERVO
Independent curator. Curatorial Advisor at Lokkus Gallery in Medellin, Colombia. Visited El Salvador in 2017.
- Included the work by Abigail Reyes in the exhibition “Con esta boca, en este mundo”, presented at Lokkus gallery in Medellin, Colombia.
MANUEL URBINA
Curator at Poporopo Project and Rozas Botran Foundation in Guatemala. Visited El Salvador in 2018.
Included the work of artists Abigail Reyes and Walterio Iraheta in the collective exhibition “Revisiones 2” at Osmosis in Guatemala City.
ALEJANDRO DE VILLOTA
Cultural Entrepreneur. Founder of Memoria Gallery, at Madrid, Spain.
- Included works by Rafael Díaz and Muriel Hasbun at “El Castigo”, the inaugural exhibition of Memoria Gallery.
2020 Partners
The impact of Y.ES Contemporary in 2020 is made possible with the support of these partners:
ARTE AL DÍA
ATELIER SOLAR
CROWNE PLAZA CONFERENCE CENTER
CULTURAL CENTER OF SPAIN IN EL SALVADOR
CULTURAL CENTER OF SPAIN IN COSTA RICA
HYPERALLERGIC
IMPACT HUB SAN SALVADOR
LABERINTO PROJECTS
LOS ANGELES CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM OF ART OF EL SALVADOR
POINT BUSINESS CENTER
LA FÁBRIK
2020 Artist Highlights
BEATRIZ CORTEZ participated in Frieze Sculpture 2020 at Rockefeller Center, New York. Cortez won the Inaugural Frieze Arto LIFEWTR® Sculpture Prize in 2019 and was commissioned to create a large sculpture for the exhibition. Cortez also presented her work in the online viewing rooms of Frieze and Art Basel. She also participated in several exhibitions and talks.
GUADALUPE MARAVILLA In April, P.P.O.W gallery in New York announced its representation of Salvadoran US-based artist Guadalupe Maravilla. He was also part of the online viewing rooms of Frieze and Art Basel.
ALEXIA MIRANDA’S participated in Contínuo Latidoamericano de Performance festival, and organized the events in El Salvador. She also was part of the First International online Triennial of Performance DEFORMES Chile 2020.
ABIGAIL REYES participated at Réunion, Second Performance Festival, at Honduras. She was also part of more than 6 collective exhibition in the USA, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.
SIMÓN VEGA participated in Art Basel Online Viewing Room: Miami Beach, represented by Maia Contemporary. Additionally, Vega presented his work in a pop up exhibition in Casa Versalles, México, organized by the Mexican galleries originally selected for Art Basel Miami Beach.
STUDIO LENCA (JOSE CAMPOS) was selected as the winner of Photo Fringe Open20 Solo. He presented a solo online exhibition as part of the Photo Fringe Festival. Campos created a collaborative gallery as part of the exhibition
MELISSA GUEVARA participated in a residency in Usera, Madrid, Spain. During the residency, Guevara developed personal projects addressing migration.
MURIEL HASBUN’S photograph work ¿Solo una sombra?/ Only a Shadow? was acquired by the Whitney Museum as part if their collection. Additionally, she was awarded an Artists & Scholars Project Grant by the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Maryland. She also was one of the six Sondheim Artscape Finalist.
JOSEFINA PAZ Josefina Paz was one of the artists selected as winner of the 7th Michel Journiac Gallery award, and presented recent work in the exhibition “Juste Avant” on October. Additionally, she was part of part of the collective exhibition “Ouverture”, presented at Jour et Nuit Culture in Paris, France
WALTERIO IRAHETA presented his solo exhibition “The Line” at La Única Gallery in Downtown San Salvador explores the medium of drawing. On February 19, as part of the exhibition, he executed a series of actions at Plaza Morazán and the Gallery
EDDIE RODOLFO APARICIO opened his solo exhibition Espinas Amorosas/Loving Thorns at Commonwealth and Council in Los Angeles on September.
JOHN RIVAS presented the solo exhibition “Las Voces Inside of Me” at Untitled Art Fair in Miami, represented by Latchkey Gallery.
Y.ES IS AN INITIATIVE OF THE ROBERT S. WENNETT AND MARIO CADER-FRECH FOUNDATION
Y.ES Council
Mario Cader-Frech
Robert S. Wennett
Adriana Cisneros de Griffin
Simón Vega
Carolina Alvarez-Mathies
Gabriela Poma
Solita Cohen
Claire Breukel
Beatriz Cortez
Y.ES Team
Patricio Majano
yescontemporary.org
@yescontemporary info@yescontemporary.org