YES Contemporary 2021 Impact Report

Contemporary Art El Salvador

2021 IMPACT REPORT

2021

2021 was a turning point for Y.ES Contemporary. As the world experienced many changes, YES has been changing and adapting to the needs of the Salvadoran arts community. The addition of the experienced curator Omar Lopez-Chahoud to Y.ES team as International Director has brought a fresh perspective to the program. One of the most important changes is the reconstitution and improvement of the Y.ES Artist Academy, which will change its name and approach, becoming a more in-depth and extensive program to support projects

by Salvadoran art professionals and connect them with international professionals and institutions.

Amidst all the changes that Y.ES is experiencing, we continue developing our now established programs and reaching important milestones. For instance, Y.ES contributed to the recent “Madrid Take Over” of Salvadoran contemporary artists exhibiting simultaneously in 4 venues. The Reina Sofia Museum and Casa América Museum presented works from the Reina Sofía Museum permanent collection, acquired in 2020 after their Directors visited El Salvador. Espacio Mínimo Gallery, and Arniches 26 Gallery presented two Exhibitions co-curated by YES Team.

At the same time YES continues to grow, so does the Salvadoran art scene. Looking at all the achievements by so many Salvadoran artists it is a great motivation for us to continue our efforts and keep advocating for Salvadoran artists.

Just Say Y.ES MARIO CADER-FRECH Y.ES Contemporary Founder 1

Exhibitions M A D R I D TA K E O V E R

Y. E S C O N T E M P O R A R Y E X H I B I T I O N S

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ARNICHES 21

Alejandra Josefina Paz, Aria XYX, Studio Lenca, Víctor Hugo Portillo Curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud and Patricio Majano November 20-December 5, 2021

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ARTISTS

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ARTWORKS

S in F riont eras / N o B o rders ESPACIO MÍNIMO

Abigail Reyes, Crack Rodríguez, Guadalupe Maravilla, Karlos Carcamo, Verónica Vides Curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud and Patricio Majano November 20, 2021-January 29, 2022

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ARTISTS ARTWORKS

O NC E U P O N A T IME Sistema Studio

Rafael Díaz Presented in Collaboration with Arniches 26 gallery Opened on November 18, 2021

OTHER EXHIBITIONS

MUSEO REINA SOFÍA

Promesas del Porvenir Permanent exhibition of Reina Sofía Museum Featured artists from El Salvador Abigail Reyes, Ernesto Bautista, Karlos Carcamo, Walterio Iraheta

CASA AMÉRICA

El Pasado Adelante November 19, 2021 - February 5, 2022 Curated by Tamara Díaz Bringas and Ricardo Ramón Jarne Featured artists from El Salvador Guadalupe Maravilla, Natalia Domínguez, Simón Vega

Promesas del Porvenir and El Pasado Adelante were made possible thanks to Mario Cader- Frech’s generous donation of Salvadoran artworks to the Reina Sofía Museum Collection See yescontemporary.org/museums

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Y. E S C O N T E M P O R A R Y I N U N T I T L E D A R T FA I R , M I A M I Promoted Y.ES Contemporary’s Art Loan Program and the Augmented Reality Platform.

Presented an installation by Ernesto Bautista from The Mario Cader-Frech Collection, and digital and augmented reality artworks by Antonio Romero, Beatriz Cortez, Natalia Domínguez, Lucy Tomasino, Ricardo Flores and Orlando Villatoro.

See yescontemporary.org/loan yescontemporary.org/nft The artist Karlos Carcamo was featured in the tote bagas handed at Chase Bank Private Client lounge in the Art Fair.

Artist Academy Y. E S C O N T E M P O R A R Y A U G M E N T E D R E A L I T Y P O R TA L

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artists participated in 2 symposiums and created reality artworks.

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digital and augmented

Experience the artworks:

iOS

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Android

BEATRIZ CORTEZ Glacial Pothole Digital sculpture geolocated at “El Playón” in El Salvador

ANTONIO ROMERO Eróstrato Augmented Reality character that interacts with the viewer by thaking them a picture

RICARDO FLORES ERIAL-EarthS.XXII Digital kinetic clay sculpture

NATALIA DOMÍNGUEZ AND LUCY TOMASINO Aipotu Augmented reality immersive portal

ORLANDO VILLATORO The two faces of the wall Digital sculpture and 3D drawings

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Grants ART WRITERS GRANT ALEJANDRO CÓRDOVA will write about a

selection of performances by 3 female and one LGBTI+ artists, Melissa Guevara, Carmen Elena Trigueros, Verónica Vides and NadiA. These works consider Salvadoran identity in many heterogeneous ways, proposing particular ways of putting the body and intervening space.

ALEXANDRA ORTIZ WALLNER was will write about the artistic work of Verónica Vides from the question of what it is to be human today,deriving an urgent reflection on our future as a species and our current condition.

Y.ES thanks our 2021 Art Writers Grant partner, Terremoto magazine Y.ES Contemporary Art Writers Grant is made possible through the generous support of Susane Meline and Gabriela Poma

C U R AT O R S G R A N T NATALIA DOMÍNGUEZ

Her project “Volcanas de Carne y Piel” focuses on Salvadoran performance, and will consist in a series of workshops that will aim to present critical perspectives regarding the use of the body as expression, and will finish in a multinational exhibition.

Y.ES Contemporary Curators Grant is made possible through the generous support of Solita Cohen

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Online Studio Visits

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ONLINE STUDIO VISITS

INÉS KATZENSTEIN AND ABIGAIL REYES, BEATRIZ CORTEZ, EDDIE APARICIO Director of the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America, and Curator of Latin American Art

JOHN RIVAS AND DANI LEVINAS

collector and Chaiperson of the Board of Trustees of the Phillips Collection

MELISSA GUEVARA AND MAYA JURACÁN

Head Curator of Bienal en Resistencia, co-curator of 21 Paiz Biennial

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Art Loan Program

ELSEWHERE(S)

Curated by Estrellita Brodsky and José Falconi, the exhibition features works by over 25 Latin American artists, including the recent addition to the loan program, a spacesuit

by Simón Vega. The show was presented in Untitled Art Fair and in Another Space in New York and featured works from multiple periods and regions, grouped around themes of cosmology, magic, and non-Western forms of knowledge.

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE YES Contemporary’s exhibition “Borders of Freedom”, was presented in collaboration with Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, in Transborder Temporalities and Imaginaries of the Future Symposium, organized by California State University, Northridge. Featured artists include Abigail Reyes, Alexia Miranda, Crack Rodríguez, Guadalupe Maravilla, Fredy Solan, and Sayre Quevedo.

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Abigail Reyes’ video “Sí señor” was transmitted regularly over the course of two months in the Chilean tv channel ARTV. This video series is curated by Carolina Martínez Sánchez.

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NEW ARTWORKS ADDED TO THE PROGRAM

Y.ES talks

FEBRAURY 12 Felipe Durán and Beto Resano from the creative technology group UXART presented an introduction to their virtual museum project and expanded on the different possibillities that digital art offers today.

MARCH 12 Felipe Durán and Beto Resano from the creative technology group UXART exchanged ideas with Salvadoran artsits about possible collaborative projects to be developed in the Y.ES Artist Academy Program.

TA L K C O L L A B O R AT I O N S

0CTOBER 13 Patricio Majano participated in the online talk to celebrate the exhibition “Cubo Negro” at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Costa Rica. The talk included panelists from Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panamá.

FEBRUARY 9 YES Founder Mario Cader-Frech participated in an online talk about collecting, art and democracy hosted

by Art-Focus Latinoamérica, in the context of the online exhibition “Democracy”

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Y.ES Contemporary Art Trips SEPTEMBER 6-10, 2019

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SOHRAB MOHEBBI Head Curator of the 58th Carnegie International

PABLO JOSÉ RAMÍREZ Member of the Carnegie International Curatorial Council and Adjunct Curator of First Nations and Indigenous Art at Tate Modern

Visited:

20+ ARTISTS 9 CULTURAL VENUES AND STUDIOS 2021 Partners The impact of Y.ES Contemporary in 2021 is made possible with the support of these partners:

AIR EUROPA MUSEO TAMAYO CARNEGIE INTERNATIONAL TERREMOTO MAGAZINE 10

POINT CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL MUSEUM OF ART OF EL SALVADOR LOS ÁNGELES CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS UNTITLED ART FAIR MUSEO REINA SOFÍA MEMORIA GALLERY RESIDENCIA PLANTA ALTA ARNICHES 26 GALLERY ESPACIO MÍNIMO GALLERY ANOTHER SPACE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY LA ÚNICA GALLERY LFBK MoMA

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2021 Artist Highlights MAURICIO KABISTAN AND MAURICIO ESQUIVEL FROM THE FIRE THEORY presented the works from Salvadoran artsits Gabriela Novoa, Melissa Guevara, Óscar Moises Díaz and Meme Flores at the Spanish Academy in Rome as part of Videografías Project.

GUADALUPE MARAVILLA opened the solo exhibition titled “Luz y Fuerza” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, featuring recently acquired artworks.

RONALD MORÁN opened a solo exhibition “Por Encima del Jardín” at the Museum of Art of El Salvador, presenting his most recent work.

WALTERIO IRAHETA curated the exhibition “El Pasado Adelante” for the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador, a multinational collaborative exhibition presented in collaboration with Casa América and the network of the Cultural Centers of Spain in Central America.

RONALD MORÁN presented the solo exhibition “Dulce Hogar” at the Musuem of Conteporary Art and Design in Costa Rica.

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BEATRIZ CORTEZ, EDDIE APARICIO and JULIE TOLENTINO were featured in Commonwealth and Council booth in Art Basel Miami Beach, while GUADALUPE MARAVILLA was included in P.P.O.W. Gallery’s booth.

VÍCTOR HUGO PORTILLO participated at Parallel Viena, presenting an installation part of his series exploring locality and migration.

LA ÚNICA GALLERY presented USAbased Salvadoran artists ERICK ANTONIO BENÍTEZ at Swab Art Fair in Barcelona.

ABIGAIL REYES participated in the Clarice O. Tavares /SI Residency at the Swiss Institute in New York, and presented “QUESTIONS”, an Art Display Case installation by Abigail Reyes in Astor Place

EDDIE RODOLFO APARICIO presented his interactive sculpture “Pansa del Publico” at LA State Historic Park

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BEATRIZ CORTEZ’S piece “Glacial Erratic” was acquired by the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Diego

MURIEL HASBUN’S works were aquired by the Whitney Museum Collection and the InterAmerican Development Bank Collection

ARIA XYX Included in the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection

ANTONIO MENA participated in Art Omni residency program

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MELISSA GUEVARA, CRACK RODRÍGUEZ and JAVIER RAMÍREZ participated in the project Art X Puzzles in the section “Curator’s Choice” selected

by YES’ International Director OMAR LOPEZ-CHAHOUD

CRACK RODRÍGUEZ participated in a residency at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions LACE, as part of the show Intergalacticxs: Against Isolation / Contra el Aislamiento. During the residency, Rodríguez created the works for “Dream Team”, an exhibition to be presented in 2022 at LACE.

MARIO LOPEZ VEGA, HERBERT DE PAZ BEATRIZ CORTEZ, THE FIRE THEORY, MELISSA GUEVARA were featured in issue 21 of Terremoto Magazine, “A Burning Song”, co-edited by Guatemalan curator Maya Juracán and Diego del Valle

GUADALUPE MARAVILLA presented his public project “Planeta Abuelx”, at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York.

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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 Beatriz Cortez Claire Breukel Y.ES Team Omar Lopez-Chahoud Patricio Majano

yescontemporary.org @yescontemporary