Commemorate and Celebrate

Through media such as painting, installation, photography and the archive, Commemorate and Celebrate invites us to think about art as a territory to explore the tensions between body, desire, resistance and belonging. Everything, from a plural and affective perspective, where caring manifests itself as language, active memory and critical power.

After an open national call that received more than 120 applications from dissident artistic practices in the country, 18 artists were selected to participate in this exhibition. Camila Quiroga, Cecilia Campos, CholitaChic, Elena Muñoz, Francisco Allendes, Fernando Andreo, Leandro Garrido, Gagball, Jerardo Alfaro, Kam Roi, Kütral Vargas Hüaiquimilla, Luna Morgana, Neocristo, KeplerJr., Pablo Lincura, Poleo Painemal, Quin France, Toti Brajovic, Tradisidente and the artist guest Walther Sánchez, are part of the exhibition, contributing more than 45 works.

"It is about commemorating and celebrating at the same time, because there are reasons to celebrate as well as to regret and none should be forgotten. The works selected in this context show the complexity of the trajectories and questions that arise from sex-gender dissidence. Nothing is black or white and among those multiple nuances," explains curator Mariairis Flores.

This second edition of Commemorate and Celebrate pays special tribute to the outstanding trans visual artist Cecilia Campos, whose career of more than 35 years has been fundamental in making visible, through painting, the struggles of women, sexual and gender diversities, and the memory of older trans people. His work, deeply committed to the denunciation of patriarchy and the defense of human rights, has become an ethical and aesthetic reference for cuir art in Chile.

Organized by Isabel Croxatto Galería in collaboration with Fundación Mecenas, the exhibition seeks to be a space of plurality, where different voices, gestures and territories meet to expand the field of what is possible in contemporary art and culture.

Extension activities

Along with the guided tours of the exhibition, which take place every Saturday between 4 and 6 p.m., there will be talks, workshops and special visits that you can review below.

Conversation: Cuir circuits in Chile: alliances and new ecosystems for the arts
25 Jul | Fri— 6 to 8 p.m.
FREE on a first-come, first-served basis. Limited spaces
Visual Arts Room

This conversation, based on experiences located in the local cultural industry, will focus on reflecting on the importance of making visible and strengthening cuir artistic practices in Chilean art circuits. Starting from questions that address its historical persistence, the challenges of its programming and exhibition, and the need for new policies and curatorial criteria, we seek to collectively think about strategies of cooperation and solidarity to guarantee the continuity and projection of the cuir arts. This conversation invites us to imagine possible futures for the cuir arts within the cultural industry, exploring how these practices can transform, strain or expand existing artistic ecosystems.
Participating: Sebastiana Calfuqueo, trans Mapuche visual artist; Isabel Croxatto, gallerist; Poleo Painemal, Mapuche transvestite visual artist, and Boris Marinkovic, President of the Mecenas Foundation. Moderator: Rox Gómez Tapia

General guided tour with Isabel Croxatto
Jul 26 | Sat— 12 to 2 p.m.
FREE on a first-come, first-served basis. Limited spaces
Visual Arts Room

Conversation: Saying care in Chile: Inscribing care in our artistic practices
Aug 1 | Fri— 6 to 8 p.m.
FREE on a first-come, first-served basis. Limited spaces
Visual Arts Room

This instance proposes an open conversation about how artists and cultural agents and activists in Chile approach, adopt and redefine the concept of cuir in their own trajectories. Based on questions that investigate their personal stories, the transformations that this framework has generated in their practices, and the challenges of translating and adapting a term of Anglo origin to local contexts, we seek to reflect on the political and creative power of “saying cuir” in our own language. The space invites us to think collectively about what it means to be part of a cuir scene, what possibilities this inscription opens up and how it is projected towards the future in dialogue with the territories, the resistance and the new generations.
Participating: Felipe Rivas San Martín, Tobal Opazo, Lorenza Quezada, Valentin Durán /Tradiscidente. Moderator: Ernesto Orellana