2022 guest scholars Sara Garzón and Catarina Duncan at LA ESCUELA___
LA ESCUELA___ appoints Brazilian curator and cultural producer Catarina Duncan and Colombian curator and writer Sara Garzón as guest scholars for its 2022-II semester in an effort to promote research-based projects in Latin America. In this capacity, visiting researchers will offer a decentralized perspective on the pedagogical innovations made in Latin America during the twentieth century by critics, artists, and cultural producers. Learning environments that have operated outside of mainstream and conventional artistic hubs will gain historical context from this. Their contributions will be concentrated on methods that link political, ecological, and artistic concerns.
In order to answer the question of how a school may be imagined, developed, and engaged through creative practices and pedagogies, LA ESCUELA___ is a platform for radical learning in public places that relies on the continual rotation of cooperating artists, researchers, and educators. Each semester, a formative and editorial program that takes place in classrooms, laboratories, and public lectures is proposed. Additionally, a website that hosts a growing archive of essays, conversations, resources, and documentation created by a network of collaborators located throughout Latin America in collaboration with affiliated universities, institutions, and communities is also available online and on-site.
Guest scholars Sara Garzón and Catarina Duncan will provide their expertise to the LA ESCUELA___ editorial line for the 2022-II semester’s (September-December) program. “Since the beginning of the 20th century, alternative spaces like radio and TV shows, independent art schools, and even artist’s ateliers have played an enormous role in establishing new frameworks for understanding the ethos of art and its education,” writes Garzón, who specializes in contemporary Latin American art, Indigenous eco-criticism, decolonial theory, and temporality.
For her part, the proposal of Duncan, who is currently curator of Solar dos Abacaxis in Rio de Janeiro, arises from “a desire to broaden the scope of reflection on issues of art and education toward other areas of creative work in Latin America. Expanding the perspectives on ecology, politics, spirituality, and food to different countries, landscapes, and contexts to discuss the meaning of pedagogical practices in these cultures from a territorialized experience.”
By enabling the weaving of an international network of people and initiatives with a common interest in thinking about and responding to local realities through art and education in Latin America, LA ESCUELA____ continues to develop as a platform.
Miguel Braceli, an artist, architect, and educator, as well as the nonprofit Siemens Stiftung worldwide foundation, are co-founders of LA ESCUELA. It draws inspiration from Miguel Braceli’s creative and educational endeavors in public areas as well as Siemens Stiftung’s experiences with co-creation initiatives and artistic interventions throughout Latin America.
Keep up with the programs and learn about the upcoming formative projects and publications, visit laescuela.art, follow its social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), and subscribe to the newsletter.
Sara Garzón (Colombia, 1988) is a curator and writer based in New York City. She has a PhD in Art History from Cornell University and specializes in contemporary Latin American Art, Indigenous eco-criticism, decolonial theory and practice, and temporality. Sara has contributed to several exhibition catalogs, peer-reviewed journals, and art magazines like Arts of the Working Class, Ocula Magazine, and Hyperallergic. Sara has also worked as the Jane and Morgan Whitney Curatorial Fellow (2020–21) and the Lifchez-Stronach Curatorial Fellow (2014–15) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Alongside her experience in museums, Sara has also curated exhibitions in Croatia, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador. She is the founding member of Collective Rewilding, a working group that investigates the intersection between art, ecology, and care. Recently, Sara curated the program “The Rise of the Coyote: A Return Back to Earth” for the 2022 edition of Materia Abierta, looking at the relationship between Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous technologies, plant intelligence, and futurity.
Catarina Duncan (Brasil, 1993) is a curator and cultural producer working with curatorial projects focused on Latin American cultural practices. She graduated from History of Art at Goldsmiths College (London, 2014). She currently works as curator at Solar dos Abacaxis in Rio de Janeiro. In 2021, she received the fellowship for curatorial research from Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Institute and MoMa with the project Territorial Re-connections. Integrated the curatorial teams for the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo – INCERTEZA VIVA (2016), 36th Panorama of Brazilian art – Sertão at MAM-SP (2019), ‘Pivô Arte e Pesquisa’ (2014–15), Terra Comunal – Marina Abramovic at Sesc Pompéia (2015). She curated the public programs for the Cura Bra Cura Té installation by Ernesto Neto at Pinacoteca (2019), ‘Plataforma Crítica Oficina Brennand’ at Brennand Institute (2020), Third Paradise – Rebirth Forum by Michelangelo Pistoletto at Serrinha (2020). Catarina represented the program COINCIDÊNCIA by the Swiss foundation Pro Helvetia (2017–20).