Andrea Valencia Aranda, Art Historian aNd Independent Curator 28:54
Andrea Valencia Aranda is able to cultivate an international perspective from Mexico City to NYC to Rotterdam thanks to digital communication. Regardless of where she lives, she has figured out a way to work on major exhibitions--such as Cecilia Vicuña’s world-travelling retrospective--while also continuing (and embodying) her research on immigration, memory, and empty space. We talk about instability in the art world and Andrea’s anxiety dreams of empty spaces giving way to a career that investigates how we, as curators, can hold a space and support a community. Tune in for tips on sustaining an international practice as well as details on her amazing projects Open Doors and Se Habla Español--both of which emphasize community, inclusion, and understanding while working to subvert and deconstruct systems that divide and exclude audiences. How does she use soft power so powerfully?
Aranda is an art historian and independent curator from Mexico City. She holds an MA in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts, New York. Among her current curatorial research, she is working with sound art, immigration, feminism, and the poetics of empty spaces. She worked as an Assistant Curator at The National Museum of Art, Mexico City; as Liaison Manager for International Projects in the Office of International Affairs of The National Institute of Fine Arts, Mexico; and she was Coordinator of the Pavilion of Mexico in the 57th Venice Art Biennale. In 2017, she co-founded the curatorial collective Se habla español. She is currently working with Witte de With Contemporary Art Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands as Exhibition Coordinator of the retrospective of Cecilia Vicuña.
