These spaces are typically labeled as training activities. However, because it is crucial to put theory into practice, the methodology I have employed to design these activities transforms them into mediation activities in their own right. Consequently, they resemble instances where experiences are shared, and as one teaches, they also glean insights from the experiences and knowledge of others.

2013 / Symposium “Educating for Transformation: The Role of Artistic Education in the Legacy of Paulo Freire and Mario Pedroza”

This event marked one of the initial open gatherings convened at the MSSA to deliberate and contemplate education and artistic mediation. Leveraging the exhibition commemorating the 40th anniversary of the museum’s inception, where the curatorial team sought to spotlight the Brazilian art critic Mario Pedroza, we aimed to create a thematic context by intertwining it with another prominent Brazilian figure who left an enduring impact on Chile: the educator Paulo Freire.

Built around the tenets of Freire’s Critical Pedagogy and the populist curatorial concepts of Mario Pedroza, we extended invitations to popular educators, formal educators, and museum educators to partake in panel discussions. These discussions culminated in mediation activities designed to stimulate the exchange of ideas and the generation of new knowledge.

2014-2015 / WORKSHOP CREATIVE PROCESSES AND EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES

As a way to consistently activate the core of contemporary art exhibitions at the MSSA, an opportunity was created for teachers and educators to participate in a workshop alongside the artists from each exhibition cycle. These artists shared their creative processes, and together, they rehearsed and analyzed ways to transform them into educational tools tailored to the needs and contexts of each educator. Artists such as Claudia del Fierro, Gabriel Holzapfel, and Rafael Guendelman participated in this initiative.

2014 / Collaborative Pedagogies (With the Artistic Mediation Network)

This collaborative endeavor took place at the Chimkowe cultural center in Peñalolén, Santiago, during August 2014. It comprised three meetings involving educators from the community who approached pedagogical work from diverse perspectives and within different educational contexts (formal and non-formal). Despite their varying backgrounds, they shared a critical perspective on the traditional educational practices that are currently facing challenges.

Within this context, integrated activities were introduced, incorporating the performing arts during the first and second meetings. These activities focused on bodily exploration and the potential for interaction using non-traditional (non-verbal) communication methods. These experiences proved to be highly informative regarding the kinds of relationships individuals can establish with their peers and their surroundings. In contrast, the third meeting centered around visual arts and took a more concrete and practical approach. It involved applying these dynamics to achieve outcomes with both reflective and tangible dimensions, providing tangible evidence of the process. (Taken from https://www.redmediacionartistica.cl/pedagogas-en-colaboracin-2014)

2016 / Introduction to Artistic Mediation Workshop for Teachers / Arts Education Week

As part of the IV Arts Education Week, this workshop was presented to introduce and familiarize the characteristics and main methodologies of artistic mediation to arts teachers and educators from various disciplines in the Coquimbo region.

Designed as an introductory session, the workshop lasted for 4 hours and aimed primarily to provide an experiential and reflective exploration of artistic mediation as a pedagogical and didactic tool. It sought to introduce the fundamental principles of this practice, its origins, initiate discussions regarding pedagogical and didactic approaches within artistic mediation, and outline its potential applications in teaching practices within the classroom.

The workshop adopted a methodology based on the principles of artistic mediation, adaptable to the needs and interests of the participants. Consequently, new topics and contents emerged during its execution, fostering dynamic discussions.

For more details and photos, please refer to the report.

2016 / Artistic Mediation Program for Schools ACCIONA Program in the IV Region

ACCIONA is an art education program operated by the National Council for Culture and the Arts, currently the Ministry of Culture, the Arts, and Heritage (MINCAP). For over 15 years, it has brought workshops, activities, and artistic-cultural experiences to rural and economically disadvantaged school communities. It primarily achieves this by pairing an artist-educator with a teacher. One of its main objectives is to achieve true integration of artistic disciplines and methodologies into the school curriculum, where dialogue and mutual knowledge transfer between artist-educators and teachers are of great importance.

Starting in 2016, I was able to work on various stages and functions of implementing this program in the Coquimbo Region as a freelancer. This initial workshop served as an introduction for the teachers and artist-educators who were already working together. The goal was to improve their communication, create spaces for discussion and reflection on the role of the arts in their communities, and share working methodologies.

For more details and photographs, please refer to the report.

2017 / Convergence

This was a self-organized event in which, through an open call and free participation, we invited mediators, educators, artists, and anyone interested to come together for an exchange of experiences and methodologies aligned with artistic mediation. Thus, Confluencias is conceived as a space for collective learning where we aim to recognize ourselves as a community belonging to a territory. We are capable of continuously rethinking and reconfiguring established notions regarding the implications of artistic practices, institutionalization, cultural production, and other related topics.

We had broad and diverse participation from local actors who are currently reflecting on – and in some cases, discovering – the potential of artistic mediation as a field of action, both in theory and practice. These participants come from diverse fields such as psychology, architecture, and performing arts, among others. In this sense, we are pleased to know that despite all the existing challenges at the regional level – such as connectivity issues in the case of the fourth region – and the overarching difficulties faced by cultural and arts professionals in the country – like the lack of spaces, resources, and training opportunities – there are many individuals and organizations developing interesting research and action experiences in the field of arts, both within institutional frameworks and in independent and self-managed spaces. (Taken from https://www.redmediacionartistica.cl/confluencias)

2017 / Artistic Mediation Laboratory for the ACCIONA Program

Within the scope of the work carried out by the ACCIONA program in participating schools of the IV region, the Artistic Mediation Network (RMA) was called upon by the CNCA to create a training opportunity specifically aimed at artist educators. This was intended to support their work in schools.

Based on a preliminary diagnosis conducted by the National Council of Culture and the Arts in the Coquimbo Region, it was observed that the work of artist-educators with teachers tended to focus on procedural aspects. In other words, they mainly transmitted knowledge of artistic techniques (drawing, painting, ballet, etc.) and did not position themselves as a transdisciplinary tool that promotes reflection and transformation within educational communities.

As a response to this, a working session was proposed in the format of an Artistic Mediation Laboratory (Lab Med), which RMA had previously conducted in other contexts. This format allows for an initial approach to the field of mediation as a space for exploration in the arts and as a platform for creating collective learning experiences. It also enables the strengthening and forging of connections between the arts, art education, and local cultural actors. Mediation is positioned as a platform for meeting, exploration, and knowledge production, where exploration is based on the perspectives of the participants. This approach helps define, from their own sensitivities, a contextually grounded and critical sense of artistic mediation.

For more details and photographs, please refer to the report.

2017 / Open Classroom Project: Educational Heritage Workshops and School Memory in High Schools in the Historic Center of La Serena.

As part of the Open Classroom Project, funded by the Regional FONDART, I was invited to participate in the creation and implementation of a mediation activity open to project teachers and the interested public. The focus was on museology and pedagogical museography, along with three sessions for students participating in the heritage brigades of the Gregorio Cordovez, Gabriela Mistral, Germán Riesco, and Seminario Conciliar high schools in La Serena. These sessions covered critical museography and heritage mediation.

This was an opportunity to address topics such as museography and heritage using tools of reflection, dialogue, and the creation of artistic mediation.

2018 / Artistic Mediation Laboratory in Performing Arts LABM

This project developed as a continuation of the 2017 Confluencias meeting, with a clearer understanding of the needs and characteristics of regional cultural actors.

In this way, performing arts – especially theater, dance, and circus – were identified as relevant fields to initiate the work of the LABMAs. This initiative became a reality through the project “Artistic Mediation Laboratory in Performing Arts for Artists and Artistic Educators,” funded by the Regional FONDART, Training Activities Line, 2018. It consisted of 4 sessions, each lasting 4 hours, with the support of the Cultural Palace and the Gabriela Mistral Regional Library. These sessions were held on April 14th, April 21st, May 5th, and May 12th, 2018, with the last session rescheduled to June 1st at the Remolino Educational Circle.

The sessions aimed to create a space for reflection, practice, and creation centered around artistic mediation in the context of performing arts. The goal was to establish a network of collaboration and cooperation that would produce practical tools related to artistic mediation. Each session focused on a specific theme and involved experienced mediators from the Artistic Mediation Network.

Report and logbook are available here:

2019 / Educating in Movement with La Manada Dance Collective

This project was a collaborative and group training initiative in which we had the participation of renowned choreographers, dancers, and dance educators. We also welcomed the entire local community interested in dance and movement.

In addition to handling management and production tasks within this project, I was involved in systematization and the creation of activities related to artistic mediation.

A este tipo de espacios normalmente se le denominan actividades de formación, sin embargo debido a que es importante hacer lo que se está explicando en teoría, la metodología que he utilizado para el diseño de estas actividades las convierten en actividades de mediación en sí mismas. Por eso son más bien instancias en que se comparte una experiencia, y en la que en la misma medida en que uno enseña también aprende de las experiencias y conocimientos de los otros.

2013/ Coloquio Educar para transformar:EL ROL DE LA EDUCACIÓN ARTÍSTICA EN EL LEGADO DE PAULO FREIRE Y MARIO PEDROSA

Este fue uno de los primeros encuentros abieros que se convococaron en el MSSA para conversar y reflexionar acerca de la educación y la mediación artística. Utilizando la exposición de los 40 años de la creación del museo, en el que el equipo curatorial buscaba relevar la figura del crítico de arte brasiñelo Mario Pedroza, buscamos como marco temático el cruce con otro brasileño importante que dejó un gran legado en Chile, el educador Paula Freire.

En torno a las propuestas de la Pedagogía Crítica de Freire, y a las propuestas curatoriales populares de Mario Pedrosa, invitamos a educadores populares, educadores formales y educadores de museos a participar de mesas expositivas que cerraron con actividades de mediación en busca de generar intercambio y creación de nuevos conocimientos.

2014- 2015/ WORKSHOP PROCESOS CREATIVOS Y PRÁCTICAS EDUCATIVAS

Como manera de activar de forma constante el núcleo de exposiciones de arte contemporáneo del MSSA, se creo una instancia abierta a profesores y educadores para participar en un taller en compañía de los artistas de cada ciclo de exposiciones, quienes compartían sus procesos de creación, para luego ensayarlos y analizar formas de convertirlos en herramientas educativas acorde con las necesidades y contextos de cada educador. Participaron artistas como Claudia del Fierro, Gabriel Holzapfel y Rafael Guendelman.

2014 / Pedagogías en Colaboracíon (Con Red de Medaicón Artistica)

Instancia de trabajo colaborativo que se desarrolló en el centro cultural Chimkowe, Peñalolén, Santiago, durante el mes de agosto de 2014. Se realizaron 3 encuentros entre educadores de la comuna que se ven enfrentados a la labor pedagógica desde distintos espacios y posibilidades (educación formal y no-formal), pero comparten una visión crítica frente a las prácticas tradicionales que actualmente se encuentran en crisis.

Dentro de esta lógica se plantearon actividades integradora las artes escénicas (1º y 2º encuentros) con un rol centrado en la exploración corporal y posibilidad de relacionarnos desde códigos distintos a los tradicionales (verbales), que resultaron bastante ilustrativas respecto al tipo de relaciones que uno establece con sus pares y el entorno. En tanto las artes visuales (3º encuentro) tuvieron un sentido de trabajo más concreto y práctico, es decir, la aplicación de estas dinámicas en pos de un resultado que tenga un sentido reflexivo, pero que también pueda materializarse como un objeto tangible que dé testimonio de este proceso. (Tomado de https://www.redmediacionartistica.cl/pedagogas-en-colaboracin-2014)

2016/ Taller de Introducción a la mediación artística para profesores./ Semana de la educación Artistica

En el marco de la IV Semana de la Educación Artística se presenta este taller que busca dar a conocer y acercar las características y principales metodologías de la mediación artística a profesores de artes y otras disciplinas de la región de Coquimbo.

Con un carácter de introductorio, el taller tuvo una duración de 4 horas y se planteó como objetivo principal experimentar y reflexionar en torno a la mediación artística como herramienta pedagógica y didáctica, para dar paso a conocer los principios básicos de esta práctica y sus orígenes, abrir la discusión en torno a los enfoques pedagógicos y didácticos de la mediación artística y bosquejar su aplicación en las prácticas de enseñanza en el aula.
Se contempló una metodología basada en los principios de la mediación artística y flexible a las necesidades e intereses de los participantes, por lo que durante su ejecución surgieron nuevos tópicos y contenidos para la discusión.

Más detalles y fotos en el Informe

2016/ Programa de mediación artística para escuelas programa ACCIONA IV Región

ACCIONA es un programa de educación artística operado por el Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, actual Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio (MINCAP); que desde hace más de 15 años acerca a las comunidades escolares rurales y de bajos recursos económicos, talleres, actividades y experiencias artístico culturales a través principalmente de juntar a un artista educador con un profesor. Uno de sus objetivos principales es lograr una real integración de las disciplinas y metodologías artísticas en el curriculum de las escuelas, en la que el diálogo y el traspaso de conocimientos mutuos entre los artistas educadores y los profesores es de gran importanci

A partir del año 2016 pude trabajar de forma freelance en distintas etapas y funciones de la ejecucción de este programa en la Región de Coquimbo. Este primer taller fue un acercamiento a los profesores y artistas educadores que ya estaban trabajando en conjunto. El objetivo era mejorar su comunicación y generar espacios de discusión y reflexión en torno al rol de las artes en sus espacios, así como compartir metodologías de trabajo

Más detalles y fotografías en el informe:

2017/ Confluencias

Esta fue una instancia autogestionada en la que a través de una convocatoria abierta y de participación gratuita, invitamos a mediadores, educadores, artistas y todo aquel interesado, a una instancia de encuentro centrado en el intercambio de experiencias y metodologías en sintonía con la mediación artística. Así, Confluencias se concibe como un espacio de aprendizaje colectivo en el que buscamos reconocernos como una comunidad que pertenece a un territorio, capaz de repensar y reconfigurar infinitamente lo preestablecido en torno a las implicancias de las prácticas artísticas, la institucionalidad y la producción cultural entre otros temas.

Contamos con la amplia y variada participación de actores locales que hoy se encuentran reflexionando -y en algunos casos, descubriendo- la potencia de la mediación artística como campo de acción -teórico y práctico a la vez-, desde ámbitos tan diversos como la psicología, arquitectura y artes escénicas, entre otros. En ese sentido, nos alegra mucho saber que pese a todas las trabas existentes a nivel regional -por ejemplo, la conectividad en el caso de la cuarta región- sumado a las dificultades transversales a las que se enfrentan los trabajadores de la cultura y las artes en el país -como la insuficiencia de espacios, recursos e instancias de formación-, existen muchas personas y organizaciones que están desarrollando interesantes experiencias de investigación y acción en el campo de las artes, tanto desde la institucionalidad como desde espacios independientes y autogestionados. (Tomado de https://www.redmediacionartistica.cl/confluencias)

2017/ Laboratorio de Mediación Artistica para Programa ACCIONA

En el marco de la labor que realiza el programa ACCIONA en las escuelas participantes de la IV región, Red de Mediación Artística (RMA) es convocado por el CNCA para generar una instancia de formación dirigida especialmente a los artistas educadores como una forma de apoyar su trabajo en las escuelas.
En base a un diagnóstico preliminar realizado por el Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes en la Región de Coquimbo, se detectó que la orientación del trabajo de los artistas educadores con los docentes tiende a centrarse en lo procedimental, es decir, trasmitir conocimiento de técnicas artísticas (dibujo, pintura, ballet, etc.) y a no proyectarse como una herramienta transdiciplinaria que promueva procesos de reflexión y transformación en las comunidades educativas.
En base a esto se propuso una instancia de trabajo con el formato de Laboratorio de Mediación Artística (Lab Med) que RMA ya ha realizado previamente en otros espacios. Este formato permite realizar a partir de una experiencia una primera aproximación al campo de la mediación como espacio de exploración en torno a la artes, y como plataforma de creación de aprendizajes colectivos. También permite potenciar y generar vínculos entre las artes, la educación artística y actores culturales locales, instalando la mediación como una plataforma de encuentro, exploración y producción de conocimiento, en el que se indaga a partir de las miradas de los participantes, para así definir, desde sus propias sensibilidades, un sentido de la mediación artística contextualizado y crítico.

Más detalles y fotografías en el Informe:

2017/ Proyecto Aula Abierta: talleres de patrimonio educativo y memoria escolar en liceos del centro histórico de La Serena.

En el marco del proyecto Proyecto Aula Abierta, financiado por el FONDART Regional, se me invitó a participar en la creación y ejecucción de una actividad de mediación abierto a docentes del proyecto y público interesado sobre museología y musografía pedagógica, más tres sesiones para los estudiantes partícipes de las brígadas patrimoniales de los liceos Gregorio Cordovez, Gabriela Mistral, Germán Riesco y Seminario Conciliar de La Serena sobre museografía crítica y mediación patrimonial.

Esta fue una oportunidad para trabajar temas como la museografía y el patrimonio utilizando herramientas de reflexión, diálogo y creación de la mediación artística.

2018/ Laboratorio de Mediación Artística en Artes Escénicas LABM

Este proyecto se desarrolla como una continuación del encuentro Confluencias del 2017, teniendo un panaroma más claro acerca d elas necesidades y las características de los actores culturales regionales.

De esta forma, las artes escénicas – especialmente el teatro, la danza y el circo- se marcan como campos relevantes para comenzar el trabajo de los LABMA, el cual se pudo concretar a partir del proyecto “Laboratorio de mediación artística en artes escénicas para artistas y educadores artísticos” financiado por el FONDART Regional, Línea Actividades Formativas 2018. Este se planteó en 4 sesiones de 4 horas cada uno que se desarrollaron con el apoyo del Centro Cultural Palace y la Biblioteca Regional Gabriela Mistral, los días 14 y 21 de abril, y 5 y 12 de mayo del 2018, reagendando la última fecha el 1 de junio en el Círculo Educativo Remolino.
Las sesiones tuvieron como objetivo generar un encuentro de reflexión, práctica y creación en torno a la mediación artística focalizado en las artes escénicas, en función de articular una red de trabajo y cooperación que genere herramientas de trabajo reales en torno a la mediación artística.
Cada sesión trabajó en torno a una temática específica y contó con la participación de mediadores de la Red de Mediación Artística con amplia trayectoria en la materia.\”

Sistematización y bitácora disponible acá:

2019/ Educando en Movimiento con Colectivo de Danza La Manada

Este proyecto fue una instancia de formación colaborativa y grupal, en la que pudimos contar con la participación destacadas coreógrafas, bailarinas y educadoras de la danza, en el que después sumamos a toda la comunidad local interesada en la danza y el movimiento.

Dentro de este proyecto, además de llevar las tareas de gestión y producción, pude participar en la sistematización y en la creación de las instancias relacionadas con la mediación artística.

INVISIBLE /2013

This project emerged within the framework of an event called “Memory Exercises,” held at MSSA from September 11th to 15th, 2013. It included a range of activities both within and outside the museum as part of the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Chilean coup d’état in 1973. The MSSA organized a special program for this occasion.

In my role within the mediation department, we aimed to leverage the exhibition by Chilean artist Juan Castillo, who was residing in Sweden. He had been a member of the Colectivo de Acción de Arte CADA, one of the most prominent groups that openly opposed the dictatorship in the 1980s. Our goal was to connect him with a group of high school students participating in a visual arts workshop at their school, known as Colectivo O.B.R.A, which was led and mentored by the art teacher Mildred Donoso.

Once the connection was established, we proposed five working sessions between the students and Juan Castillo, facilitated by the mediation team. The mission was to develop a collaborative artistic project that would shed light on and draw attention to some of the houses in the República neighborhood. These houses had been used by the National Intelligence Directorate (CNI) as detention and torture centers during the dictatorship. Their history had been obscured by the imposition of the “University District” in the 1990s and their subsequent designation as a “Typical Zone” in the same decade, which focused solely on the architectural characteristics of the mansions and their association with the late 19th and early 20th-century oligarchy.

Through mediation exercises, we introduced the themes of the military dictatorship in Chile and the challenges of constructing memory, particularly from the perspective of visual arts. We asked the OBRA students, aged between 14 and 18, to envision and visually represent their perceptions of the dictatorship period and the coup, considering both personal and collective emotional aspects. We also requested that they conduct interviews with individuals aged 35 and older to gather narratives. This enabled us to engage in a memory-building exercise using their images, which were connected through relationship maps, fostering reflection on historical themes, human rights issues, and the broader concept of memory.

With these themes on the table, Juan Castillo joined the project and led the collective creative process. Through discussions, a concrete project gradually took shape, ultimately resulting in an art action called “Invisible.”

OBRA members selected quotes from their interviews, combined them with the names of disappeared detainees and underage political victims, and printed them on adhesive stickers. These stickers were affixed by the students on September 10th along the sidewalks of Avenida República, between Gorbea and Gay streets.

“Invisible” was a contemporary, ephemeral, collective work of art and a kind of action-installation. It fully met the museum’s mission and sparked various reactions among the neighborhood residents and passersby. For example, during the sticker-pasting process on the streets, many people approached to share their stories, ask questions, and even called the police. On the evening of September 11th, the stickers affixed to one of the University Andrés Bello houses were quickly removed, while Liceo Cervantes borrowed the stickers to affix them to their facade as a protest gesture in the context of the “Pingüino Revolution” (student protests and takeovers in 2013).

School-Education-Museum? An imperative question/ 2015

Inspired by the proposal of the 6th Mercosur Biennial, which, for the first time, introduced a Pedagogical Curatorship led by Uruguayan artist Luis Camnitzer, we initiated a Participatory Curatorship with a thematic focus on the role of education within the museum and its relationship with schools.

In this context, Participatory Curatorship is understood as the creation of exhibitions that are themselves conceived as educational endeavors. These exhibitions strive to incorporate the visitor’s perspective into the display, sharing artistic concepts with them and encouraging them to propose and engage with their own interpretations and recontextualizations within the exhibition itself.

This curatorial project was conceived as an exploration of the educational role inherent in both museum and school institutions, within the context of the ongoing educational crisis that Chile has been facing. This crisis gained prominence during the waves of social mobilization that began with the “Pingüino Revolution” in 2006 and has persisted as a consistent force to the present day.

As a result, we believe it is crucial to position the museum as a platform for reflection and discussion regarding the historical understanding of education and its potential for transformation. We extended invitations to key stakeholders directly involved in these institutions, including students, teachers, school principals, and coordinators, as well as education professionals from other museums and museum directors.

This project encompassed a range of actions and activities, including a curatorial design workshop where a group of individuals selected artworks from the collection, reinterpreted them, and arranged them within the exhibition space. Building upon their contributions, the final exhibition was realized. The mediation team, in collaboration with the designer Rodrigo Dueñas and Ramón Meza, the technician responsible for installations, introduced various visual elements that facilitated visitor engagement and participation within the exhibition.

There are several details about this work, but I’m sharing a brief video clip in which a past Alma, who was very pregnant, explains the process. Additionally, there is a document with the details and a photo album of the exhibition.

Blind Date /2016

As the concluding activity of the Confluencias event in the city of Coquimbo, where we, in collaboration with the Artistic Mediation Network, independently organized two days of work with local artists and cultural managers, we formulated a proposal for action and intervention in public space. The aim was to establish a platform for dialogue and interaction between two strangers, centered on inquiries about their connection to the arts and cultural venues.

This collective creative endeavor was inspired by the reflections around the artistic mediation in the local community, recognizing the substantial demand for spaces of connection.

During this period, I also had the privilege of enhancing these proposals through discussions with members of the Artistic Mediation Network, of which I was a part during my residency in Santiago de Chile.

One defining aspect of the work I proposed was to redefine the role of artistic mediation within the institution, fostering dialogue among all departments and reimagining our approach based on a critical vision. This vision aimed to connect audiences with collections and cultural institutions in dialogic and democratic ways, emphasizing and encouraging the active participation of all individuals. In practice, this translated into generating activities that went beyond mere reproduction and instead questioned both the institutions and the collections. It created spaces for public creation and research, allowing for a deeper connection with their contexts and realities.

Regarding the latter point, it’s essential to highlight that in Chile, people’s participation in cultural spaces is severely limited due to various factors linked to deep social inequality and centralization in the country. Therefore, a key objective was to create meaningful experiences for each visitor, particularly for elementary and secondary school students who, often for the first time and out of obligation, visited a museum. In other words, the first impression played a crucial role in shaping policies for access and democratization of culture.

In this context, we replaced the concept of a guided tour with that of a Conversational Tour, implementing strategies and tools that facilitated questions about what was being observed without imposing them. This approach opened up discussions and conversations about emerging ideas.

Introduction to the activity through exercises connecting with the body and space.

Exploration moments through exercises that invite active participation.

Conversation moments for sharing ideas and impressions.

Group debriefing, collective knowledge generation, new interpretations

We also develop Experimentation workshops, providing an opportunity to engage in artistic creation exercises. The aim was to depart from the notion of merely copying or replicating what is seen in the exhibition (a very common practice in museums that days), and break that moment to follow the path of a creative proposal. ‘The Anti-Workshop’ was an activity that allowed us to explore through a proposal with performative characteristics. There were two scenarios: initially, groups engaged in a very traditional and structured activity (coloring a reproduction of one of the works from the collection), during which we played the roles of stern and rigorous instructors. Subsequently, the group transitioned to a space equipped with various materials, and the role of the teacher/mediator vanished, with the sole instruction being ‘no words allowed’

We also proposed the creation of Exploration Games specifically designed for children (with the option for adults to participate as well), focusing on play as a methodology for discovery and exploration.

During the development and implementation of these programs and activities, as a mediation team, we were able to stimulate reflections and discussions that allowed us to explore and experiment with these formats. At this juncture, I would like to highlight the work undertaken for the “Block Mágico” exhibition, curated by Soledad García and Brandon LaBelle. Thanks to our seamless collaboration with them, we were able to introduce a performative tour. Visitors navigated the artworks accompanied by a character who presented them with challenges along the way.

The work I undertook during my tenure at the MSSA (Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende) was the result of a collective effort committed to improving and professionalizing the Education Department, which later transformed into the Mediation and Audiences Department. A crucial aspect of this transformation was the opportunity to dedicate working hours to research, experimentation, and the systematic documentation of our experiences as mediators.

Thanks to this endeavor, I had the chance to participate in several training programs and also to share our experiences through talks and presentations.

Texts and presentations (in Spanish):