This symposium explores the histories of the foundation and subsequent development of art, archaeology, and ethnography museums across Latin America. In some countries, governments established national museums following their independence from Spain in an effort to define a new national identity; in other instances, museums arose primarily from private collections. Museums in Latin America have also found different solutions to presenting diverse types of objects and identities, be they pre-Columbian or colonial art and artifacts, ethnographic collections, or modern and contemporary art. Charting an underexamined field of study, this event foregrounds the important scholarly contributions from Latin America to the history of museums.
Program
Thursday, May 11, 2017
9:30 a.m. REGISTRATION
10:00 a.m. WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS: Thomas W. Gaehtgens, Getty Research Institute
10:15 a.m. SESSION I: Moderator: Miguel Ángel Fernández, Independent Scholar
- Museum Networks: People, Itineraries, and Collections in Latin America / Irina Podgorny, Archivo Histórico del Museo de La Plata/CONICET
- Museums of Un-National Art: Unraveling the History of Brazil's National Art Collections / Rafael Cardoso, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
11:15 a.m. COFFEE BREAK
11:30 a.m. SESSION I, continued
- The Nineteenth-Century Mexican Museum and the Desire to Be Modern / Adam T. Sellen, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mérida
12:00 p.m. DISCUSSION
12:30 p.m. LUNCH
2:00 p.m. SESSION II: Moderator: Aleca Le Blanc, University of California, Riverside
- Museums, Memory, Object-Hood in Brazil / Amy Buono, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Pre-Columbian and Early Colonial Collections from Latin America in Europe and the Role of Ethnographic Museums-Examples from Germany / Viola König, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin
3:00 p.m. BREAK
3:15 p.m. SESSION II, continued
- Building Museums, Building Collections: International Art Exchanges in Mid-Twentieth-Century Mexico City and Los Angeles / Megan E. O'Neil, Los Angeles County Museum of Art / Matthew Robb, Fowler Museum at UCLA
3:45 p.m. DISCUSSION
Friday, May 12, 2017
9:30 a.m. REGISTRATION
10:00 a.m. SESSION III: Moderator: Kim Richter, Getty Research Institute
- Museo Nacional de Arte, 25 Years Making HistoryAgustín Arteaga, Dallas Museum of Art From National to Local: The Establishment of Archaeological Museums in Costa Rica / Francisco Corrales-Ulloa, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica
11:00 a.m. COFFEE BREAK
11:15 a.m. SESSION III, continued
- Awakening the Dormant Giant: The Rescue Efforts for M.A.R.T.A., Panama / Orlando Hernández Ying, Instituto Nacional de Cultura de Panamá
11:45 a.m. DISCUSSION
12:15 p.m. LUNCH
2:00 p.m. SESSION IV: Moderator: Elena Shtromberg, University of Utah
- Art Museums of Latin America: Structuring Representation / Michele Greet, George Mason University with Gina McDaniel Tarver, Texas State University
- Alternative Routes: Ephemeral Practices and Archival Collections / C. Ondine Chavoya, Williams College
3:00 p.m. DISCUSSION
3:30 p.m. CLOSING REMARKS: Miguel Ángel Fernández
3:45 p.m.
PUBLIC RECEPTION
This program is organized by the Getty Research Institute in conjunction with Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA and the Getty’s four PST: LA/LA exhibitions opening at the Getty Center on September 16, 2017.