DaWire

Once again, the foremost international contemporary art fair in Latin America, which has had as many names as years of existence, took place in April. On this occasion, and to the delight of all, the name will remain ZONA MACO. So, what exactly is this event that happens every year in Mexico City to which we have become accustomed to?

On a chartered flight above the shade, clouds filter a sunny sky above the region of Murcia in Southern Spain. As part of the ARCO Madrid 2010 Contemporary Art Fair VIP program, a group of collectors, curators and a handful of artists spent 24 hours visiting this emerging contemporary art mecca on a chilly weekend in late February 2010.[...]

A variety of artists and galleries from major cities from across the world came together at this years CIRCA 10 art fair in Puerto Rico.[...]

The urban area of Santurce is fast evolving again into the center of the contemporary art scene in Puerto Rico, prefering the shabby streets of the urban core of this town. Just when the local art institutions are crumbling from lack of funding, private initiatives in Santurce emerge as the only alternative for the arts. Right now, the area is buzzing with opportunities, cheap rents and creative energy.[...]

On the second week of December, at the Arsenal de la Puntilla in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the awaited National Art Exhibit opened its doors to the public. Curated by Marilú Purcell, María Arlette de la Serna and Juan Carlos López Quintero, the show included established as well as emerging Puerto Rican artists such as Jorge Díaz and Elsa Meléndez. And although many noteworthy artists were definitely missing, this year the show presented a well organized and carefully chosen body of work that succeeded in displaying the forte of Puerto Rican artists working with contemporary themes.[...]

For those who love art, music and good vibes, all paths lead to opening night of the most recent BlackboxArt Foundation event titled Death: Transition and Celebration of Life, a group show organized in conjunction with the General Consulate of Mexico in San Juan at La Respuesta’s exhibition space in Santurce. The organizers presented works that spanned from painting, installation, video and sculpture from forty-four contemporary Puerto Rican artists celebrating one of Mexico’s most important traditions.[...]

Galleries have opened and closed on New York for quite some time, but for the last four years, the neighborhood once home to tenement housing has developed an intense gallery scene that keeps thriving. The Lower East Side, roughly the area bound to the north by Houston Street, to the west by the Bowery, to the south by Canal Street, and to the east by the East River, has become an alternative for young galleries seeking a space in Manhattan, but that are not willing to move into the overcrowded and overpriced Chelsea neighborhood.

During my last trip to New York, coinciding with the first couple of weeks of openings after a long August break, I ventured down to the Lower East Side to take a look at some of these galleries.[...]

Currently on view until October 14^th 2009 at the Museum of Art in Caguas (MUAC), TENDENCIA is a multidisciplinary event that brings together a group of contemporary artists whose practice ranges from video, installation and urban art. Organized by Victor Alex Reyes and Norma Vila Rivero, the event boasts of presenting a curated sample of emerging artists that reflect prevailing global trends in contemporary art.[...]

Who in the world goes to a sweltering Nevada desert for seven days to an event that boasts of an anything goes mentality? Well, approximately 50,000 thousand people. You can catch a glimpse of the Burning Man festival at the SculptureCenter in Long Island City, with Michael Smith and Mike Kelley’s first collaborative project, A Voyage of Growth and Discovery.[...]

I could not help but think déjà vu on opening night of the group show Puerto Rico: Human Geography, Images of the 21st Century at the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico (MAPR). Curated by Juan Carlos López Quintero, the exhibition attempts to be “a thematically organized selection that brings together works by a number of artists whose aesthetic and conceptual explorations are in many cases different from one another…but portray the human diversity and richness of a society.”[...]