Museo de Arte Contemporáneo-- GISLECHTVALK GI

The Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: ''Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Santiago'' or ''MAC'') is located in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It is one of the city's major museums, created in 1947, and is run by the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

Faculty of Arts. Since 2005, the museum has had two separate sites: MAC

Parque Forestal Parque Forestal is an urban park in the city of Santiago, Chile. The park was created on reclaimed land from the Mapocho River The River Mapocho ( es, Río Mapocho) ( Mapudungun: ''Mapu chuco'', "water that penetrates the land") is a river in Ch ...

and MAC Quinta Normal Park. The museum specializes in

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

and

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...

and focuses on the development, study, and dissemination of modern art through exhibitions and other activities. It also concentrates on protecting the cultural heritage that forms its collection, which is made up by over 2,000 pieces and files. One of the museum's sites is located in

behind the

Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts The Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts ( es, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes or ), located in Santiago, Chile, is one of the major centers for Chilean art and for broader South American art. Established in 1880 (making it the oldest in South Am ...

( es, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes) and sharing its grand ''Palacio de Bellas Artes'' building. The other site is located in Quinta Normal Park.

History

The museum was created by law in 1946, and inaugurated on August 15, 1947, in the building known as ''El Partenón'' in Quinta Normal Park. Its main purpose was to promote and serve as a platform for spread the work of contemporary artists, as part of the University of Chile's policy to contribute to the development of cultural life in Chilean society. In 1974, the museum moved to the building of the ''Palacio de Bellas Artes'' (Fine Arts Palace) in

, where it is still located today. In its six decades, the museum has collected many works by Chilean artists as well as some international pieces. Its collection originated from its first exhibition, to which both Chilean and foreign artists resident in Chile loaned their works – and later donated some of them permanently. The valuable heritage has been growing over the years, mainly through donation, purchase and competitions held to add more pieces to the collection. The museum collection currently holds around 2,000 pieces. The most complete and important are its collections of nearly 1,000 engravings and nearly 600 paintings, with another 130 drawings, watercolours and sketches and some 80 sculptures completing the collection. The pieces date from the late 19th century through to the modern day, and include the work of artists such as

Roberto Matta Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (; November 11, 1911 – November 23, 2002), better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. Bio ...

Nemesio Antúnez Nemesio Antúnez Zañartu (Born in Santiago, May 4, 1918 - May 19, 1993) was an influential Chilean painter and engraver who founded Workshop 99. Biography Born to Nemesio Antúnez and Luisa Zañartu, he was the eldest of three sons, all of wh ...

, Matilde Pérez, José Balmes and important international art figures as

Oswaldo Guayasamín Oswaldo Guayasamín (July 6, 1919 – March 10, 1999) was an Ecuadorian painter and sculptor of Kichwa and Mestizo heritage. Biography Early life Guayasamín was born in Quito, Ecuador, to a native father and a Mestiza mother, both of Kichwa d ...

(Ecuador),

Emilio Pettoruti Emilio Pettoruti (1892–1971) was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was a city full of artistic development. Pettorut ...

(Argentina),

Friedensreich Hundertwasser Friedrich Stowasser (15 December 1928 – 19 February 2000), better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (), was an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection ...

(Austria),

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and severa ...

(US), David Batchelor (England), Jesús Ruiz Nestosa (Paraguay) and Dino Bruzzone (Argentina).

Mission

The museum's mission is twofold. The first, as part of the University of Chile, is educational, relating the university's goal of being a pluralistic institution that hosts the widest possible range of the cultural diversity that forms Chilean society. The museum uses art as a medium of expression and social inclusion, promoting debate and reflection on all the fields of human knowledge. The second strand of the MAC's mission is simply to be a high quality, specialist museum of modern and contemporary art. It explores new ways of creating art, managing for this purpose, both, his collection and curatorial line, regarding the national and international exhibitions invited, from a contemporary look, that is reflected since the origins of the museum, through the samples exposed. Through this dual mission, the museum aims to deliver on its commitment to build bridges between society and new forms of artistic expression, hosting different and sometimes unconventional community involvement activities.

Objectives

The MAC defines itself as an institution permanently open to the public with the following objectives: * Preserve the pieces that make up the museum's collection. * Document and investigate the works in its collection. * Expand the collection through donations from prominent national and international artists. * Disseminate the museum's cultural heritage through various activities . * Produce and curate exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. * Build bridges between new artistic trends, the public and the student community.

Architecture

; Quinta Normal Park site Partenón de la Quinta Normal

The ‘’Partenón’’ in Quinta Normal Park was the location of the first fine arts museum in Chile and one of the first in the Americas. Inaugurated in 1885, it originally displayed the works of a group of Chilean painters headed up by Pedro Lira. In 1910, as part of the celebrations for Chile’s first centenary, the current

was inaugurated in

and took on the functions of the old Quinta Normal Park building. The old building was abandoned until 1915, and on various occasions was used as school, gymnasium and storage place. In 1945, the painter Marco Aurelio Bontá Costa recovered the building for the arts and in 1946 opened the Museum of Contemporary Art. Bontá Costa selected the pieces on display to give an overview of Chilean art of the 20th century. The museum moved in 1974 to a new location in the western part of Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts building in

. In 1985, an earthquake damaged the old Quinta Normal building and from 1998 it has been some efforts in order to repair him. ;

building

This building is a typical example of Neoclassical/ art nouveau architecture, designed by the Chilean architect Emile Jéquier. It was built in the 19th century for the centenary of Chile's independence, which was celebrated in 1910. The building's western front (the home of the MAC) was damaged in the

2010 Chile earthquake The 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami ( es, Terremoto del 27F) occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February at 03:34 local time (06:34 UTC), having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking l ...

.''Video of Earthquake Damage in Chile”
Mackey, Robert. www.nytimes.com', February 28, 2010, retrieved April 13, 2013 Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Earthquake in Chile

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Earthquake in Chile

Directors of the museum

The director of the museum is named by the rector of the University of Chile, who chooses from a list of five candidates selected by the dean of the university's school of fine arts. MAC directors to date have been: *Marco Bontá (1949–1962) *

(1962–1964) *Luis Oyarzún (1964–1965) * Federico Assler (1965–1968) *Alberto Pérez (1968–1970) * Guillermo Núñez (1971–1972) *Lautaro Labbé (1972–1973) *Eduardo Ossandón (1973–1976) *Marta Benavente (1976–1980) *Dolores Mujica (1981–1991) *Rosario Letelier (1991–1998) * Francisco Brugnoli (1998 to date)

References

External links

Official website of the Museum of Contemporary Art (Spanish)Art faculty of the University of ChileLonely Planet review of the museum
{{authority control Museums in Santiago, Chile Modern art museums Contemporary art galleries in South America Second Empire architecture Neoclassical architecture in Chile Art museums and galleries in Chile Art museums established in 1947 1947 establishments in Chile Art Nouveau architecture in Chile Art Nouveau museum buildings Art museums established in 1910