Currently I’m in Argentina and I apologize for the extra long “sabbatical” from posting, there is just so much to see and so little time!
Back to Chile… what an amazing and vibrant art scene. My father and I visited several museums which are highly worth while. The first stop was to Museo Bellas Artes, the building itself is a neoclassical style masterpiece by Chilean-French
Livio Scamperle, Constelacion del caballo, 2003
architect Émile Jéquier. I really loved the striking glass dome made of 2,400 pieces weighing 115,000 kilos brought from Belgium in 1907. The museum is home to both Chilean and foreign art dating from the colony until today.
I was particularly interested in the temporary exhibition titled Metalmorphosis. Since 2008 National Museum of Women’s Art in Washington, DC has sought to highlight emerging or underrepresented artists from a range of participating countries. In partnership with the NMWA, the exhibition focuses on the modern day woman, a common theme I am seeing throughout the art culture in Latin America. Using metal these 12 female artist showcase themes such as femininity, desire, and motherhood. As a whole the exhibition seeks to shatter glass ceilings dominated by the male metallurgy and the categories of “fine” art and decorative art, which are rooted in gender discrimination.
After doing some research, I found it very unsettling how underrepresented women are in the arts across the globe. “In the USA only 5% of works exhibited in museums have women as authors and this is a reality that extends around the world and of which Chile is not foreign,”says Drina Rendic, president of the Chilean Chapter of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. I am very inspired by Chile’s efforts to display, promote and spread women in all artistic disciplines in order to give them the value they deserve.
Cabello, Botero
A corridor connects the Museum Bellas Artes with the Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art, giving you the chance to see two museums in one. The exhibit “I was there” curated by Mauricio Pezo and Mauricio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen explore the relationship between architecture and tourism through 100 dollhouse size, Chilean architectural icons.
And of course you can’t miss the amazing “Cabello” by Botero outside the entrance of the Contemporary Art Museum.
From there we headed to the Museum of Pre Colombian Art which was fantastic and very interesting. I particularly liked the Textile Gallery. For a sneak peak take a look at their Textile Gallery Guide.
Also, be sure to visit the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, dedicated to commemorate the victims of human rights violations during the civic-military regime led by Augusto Pinochet between 1973 and 1990.
Unfortunately with so little time I was unable to visit the following museums but I know I’ll be back to visit all of them, I am really sad I missed The Centro Nacional de Arte Cotmporaneo Cerillos with a temporary Theo Jansen exhibition !
Museums and Cultural Centers in Santiago:
– Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art
– Museo de Artes Visuales (MAVI)
– Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral (GAM)
– Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda (CCPLM)
– Centro Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo Cerrillos
