ongoing
#Curatorial: MAPA ART from Latin America
In spring 2018, I co-founded MAPA, a not-for-profit association to promote Latin American Art. Its principal site is Zurich, Switzerland. In its first three years, MAPA funded and organized five exhibitions, three video screenings, a printmaking residency, and led several visits to exhibitions and cultural events on Latin America for its members in Zurich. Since 2021, it is my private project in collaboration with project partners.
More info on MAPA’s website or Instagram.
2023
#Work: Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung Fellowship
I was selected as one of three fellows for the program „museum curators for photography“ of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Foundation. Between 2021 and 2023, I worked at Fotomuseum Winterthur, the City Museum in Munich, the Museum Folkwang in Essen, and the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. The main projects I worked on as curatorial fellow are the retrospectives of Claudia Andujar and Herbert List, and the multi-disciplinary exhibition IMAGE CAPITAL. At the Centre Pompidou, I co-curated , with Florian Ebner the exhibition Lynne Cohen & Marina Gadonneix and co-edited the two accompanying catalogues.
2022
#Research: Symposium „Looking for Photography“
Together with my Krupp co-fellows Nadine Isabelle Henrich and Marie-Luise Mayer, I organized the international symposium „Looking for Photography. Navigating, Collecting, and Curating Photographic Data“ in Munich in May 2022. We invited researchers, curators, and archivists to discuss the challenges and possibilities for photographic collections today. The recordings are available here.
#Research: Article „Monuments of Dissidence: 3D Models of the Social Unrest in Chile by the Artist Collective Antes del Olvido“
I wrote an article on the work of the Chilean collective Antes del olvido during the estallido social for the Colombian journal H-ART. The article can be accessed FREE here.
#Research: Article „The ‘Best Practice’ of Survey Photography in the Chilean-Argentine Boundary Case of 1902“
I wrote an article for Photography and Culture in which I investigate photography as a tool of neocolonial territorial politics in the Cordillera of the Andes Boundary Case of 1902, in which Chile and Argentina re-negotiated their border in Patagonia. I analyze the trilateral making and reading of photographs between the the boundary committees of the two opposing parties and the arbiter, the UK. The article can be accessed here.
#Research: Article „Imperial Violence in the Chilean-Argentine Boundary Case of 1902“
I wrote another article on the Cordillera of the Andes Boundary Case of 1902, focusing on the role that Indigenous communities played in the exploration and annexation of Patagonia by the criollo governments of Chile and Argentina. The article can be accessed here.
#Research: Case Study „Teresa Margolles and Fernando Brito“
During my curatorial fellowship at Fotomuseum Winterthur I conducted research on the works PM by Teresa Margolles and Frontpages of La i by Fernando Brito. The idea was to contextualize these pieces in the museum’s collection and given their explicit imagery of violence, ask how this sensitive content can be presented. Based on this project, my colleague Laura Sabel organized a workshop with people of very different professional and personal backgrounds to diversify the discussion. The case study and workshop results can be accessed on the project site.
2021
#Research: Dissertation „The Paradigm of the Nation as a Provocation to the History of Photography. Chile 1860-1960.“
My doctoral thesis deals with the provocation that the national paradigm poses to the history of photography, with Chile as a case study. In particular, it is about how our understanding of history, photography, and the nation shape the respective other terms and culminate in what has become its own field of investigation. Each of the three terms carries a considerable baggage originating in various disciplines of the humanities from media studies to political science, yet this baggage seems to be lifted as it merges in the genre of the “history of photography.” Hence, the objective of my study is to disassemble the “history of photography in Chile” into its individual parts in order to evaluate its potency to describe the past of photography in a particular geopolitical region.
I began my PhD research in 2018 under tutelage of Prof. Dr. Steffen Siegel and Prof. Dr. Andrés Zervigón at Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany, and successfully passed my viva in 2021. The thesis was awarded the inaugural Gisèle-Freund-Award for the History and Theory of Photography at Folkwang University of the Arts, sponsored by Ute Eskildsen and Timm Rautert.
#Research: Article „Two Photographic Albums at the Getty and Their Relation to the Stock-Photography Market in 1860s Chile“
I published an article in the Getty Research Journal about two photographic albums at the GRI and the Getty Museum. Both date to the 1860s and show scenes from Chile. Through a synopsis of other albums from Chilean, US-American, Swiss, and French archives, I trace the commercial network of photo studios from Valparaiso during that decade up to the early 20th century.
#Research: Article „Die chilenische Krise im Livestream der Galeria CIMA“
I wrote an article in Rundbrief Fotografie on how protesters used the webcam of the art gallery CIMA in Santiago as a means to create porwerful images during the social uprising in Chile 2019-2020. I put emphasis on the connection between the medium of the livestream and the interventions on the ground. The research was inspired by my witnessing the crisis first hand #hastaqueladignidadsehagacostumbre
#Opinion: Exhibition Review „One Year of Online Exhibitions: Four Experiences“
Since leaving Chile at the beginning of the pandemic in 2019, I have followed the cultural happenings in Chile through online exhibitions, and I am offering a review of four well and not so well done shows on Artishock (June 2021).
2020
#Research: Review of „Una revisión al fotolibro chileno“
Una revisión al fotolibro chilenoHoracio Fernández (ed.). Fundación Sud Fotográfica, Santiago de Chile, 2018. 310 pages with 550 colour illustrations. eBook. ISBN 978-9-560-92280-9. Original link to PDF: sudfotografica.cl/fotolibro-chileno.pdf Read the review here
#Opinion: Collecting in Times of Crisis
How can wealthy collectors participate in the Chilean art scene after it has been drawn into the biggest social crisis since the dictatorship? How can they enter in a dialog with art & artists in a protest that is about social inequality? A brief guide on Artishock (April 2020).
#Opinion: A Plea for more permanent exhibitions in Chile
Temporal exhibitions and frequent rehangs of museums are all the rage. But what is missed when there are no more permanent exhibitions? What are the chances for Chilean art, if art was visible for longer? A pro- and contra, and a big pro for permanent exhibitions, on Artishock (May 2020).
2019
#Research: Translations of texts by Ronald Kay and Mario Fonseca
I translated the following texts from Spanish into English and wrote short introductions for them in the journal Art in Translation:
„On Photography in Chile“ by Mario Fonseca Velasco, Art in Translation, Vol. 10 #4 (May 2019), 391-403.
„Chile Survives“ by Mario Fonseca Velasco, Art in Translation, Vol. 10 #4 (May 2019), 404-413.
„The Reproduction of the New World“ by Ronald Kay, Art in Translation, Vol. 10 #4 (May 2019), 414-421.
Find the texts on the journal site by Taylor and Francis here.
2017
#Research: Review of Delitos Fotográficos
Review of Delitos Fotográficos by José Pablo Concha is now published in the English journal History of Photography: Read it here
Delitos Fotográficos, José Pablo Concha. Ediciones Metales Pesados, Santiago, 2016. 124 pages, with 24 black & white illustrations. Softcover CLP 9,000, ISBN 978-9-569-84310-5
#Research: Review of Extensión Fotográfica
Writing about key issues in contemporary image production such as the body, communication, and politics, Rodrigo Zúñiga demonstrates the far-reaching changes incited by photography. PDF of the review available here.
La Extensión Fotográfica. Ensayo Sobre el Triunfo de lo Fotográfico. Rodrigo Zúñiga. Ediciones Metales Pesados, Santiago, 2013. 114 pages with four black and white illustrations. Softcover chil$ 8.000, ISBN 978-956-8415-56-3.
2015
#Curatorial: Contributions to the exhibition Infosphere at ZKM Karlsruhe
For the 2015 monumental exhibition Infosphere at ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe, I contributed texts for the exhibition catalog (HERE) and curated a small section with works by Mishka Henner.
For the exhibition cycle „Die Stadt ist der Star“ in which the ZKM participated, I was a performer for the South Korean artist duo Shinseungback and their work Aposematic Jacket. Documentation here.I also contributed texts (HERE) for the exhibition Global Games curated by Stephan Schwingeler.