The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo), founded in 1994, is a

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

n museum, specialising in contemporary

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

n art and design, but also representing international work in the field. To comply with this ambitious idea, we define and promote, in a permanent way, the most recent tendencies and dynamics in the world of contemporary art and design.

Building and collections

Occupying approximately 1,200 square meters in Costa Rica's capital, San José, the museum has four exhibition rooms, an auditorium, and the ''Pila de la Melaza'' — an open-air space for performances installations, and other events. There is also a small sales area, offering access to the museum's Web site, a Documentation Centre, and a Video Library, that includes video-art, documentaries about exhibits and performances. The library also hosts a wide range of art catalogues, art books and contemporary design books, which have been produced by the museum and other institutions. The museum's permanent collection contains more than 900 works by both young and established artists, in a wide range of media, including

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

, installations, the intervened object, and

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

. Selections from this collection are exhibited each year in the museum's galleries. Since its founding, MADC has carried out a great quantity of individual and collective exhibits by national and international artists. One of the principal objectives is to exhibit artists and curatorial visions related with

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...

, cultural and social issues which affect the Central American region and the world. The museum programme consists of art competitions, video-based exhibitions, digital art and emerging artists. The programmes and projects all contribute to the issues and concerns surrounding contemporary art and design in the Central American region.

Educational and other activities

The museum holds competitions and hosts exhibitions in fields such as video creation,

digital art Digital art refers to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process, or more specifically computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960s, various names ...

, and emerging artists. It offers a regular programme of activities, including guided tours, conferences, talks and discussions on the museum exhibits and on general artistic and cultural themes, art workshops, and international video-cinema screenings and other activities that incorporate

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

, video, music, etc. The museum also provides permanent consultation services to artists, specialists, and the general public. This service is based in the Centre of Documentation and the Video Library. The MADC has a website, that offers wide and complete information about our spaces and principle events: Previous, present and future exhibits, parallel programs of activities, images and data about our permanent collection, art brochures and catalogues, videos about the museum’s exhibits, podcast interviews with artists and

curators A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

, seminars, information and images concerning the main national artists, institutions, and contexts from Central America and in relation to contemporary art.

Directors

Ana Luisa Piza Carrillo (1994),

Virginia Pérez-Ratton Virginia Pérez-Ratton is the pseudonym for Virginia Pérez Johnston (1950–2010). She was a Costa Rican artist, art historian, art critic and curator. She devoted a large part of her life to the promotion of visual arts and the development of ...

(1994–1998), Rolando Barahona (1999–2004), Ernesto Calvo (2005–2008), and María José Monge (2008–2009).

Curators

Rolando Castellón Rolando Castellón, also known as Rolando Dionisio Castellón-Alegria (born 1937) is a Nicaraguan American painter, author, art historian, and curator. He was a well-known contributor to the arts of San Francisco, California and he has lived in C ...

(1994–1998), Tahituey Ribot (2000–2002), Ernesto Calvo (2002–2004).

References

External links

Official Web page
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in Costa Rica Art museums established in 1994 Museum of Contemporary Art and Design Museums in San José, Costa Rica