54th International AICA Congress, Valparaiso / Buenos Aires 2022
What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Art Criticism in the 21st Century?

The Asociación Argentina de Críticos de Arte (AACA – Argentinean Association of Art Critics, AICA Argentina)
and the Asociación Internacional de Críticos de Chile (Chilean Association of Art Critics, AICA Chile) are jointly
organizing the Congreso Internacional AICA ¿De qué hablamos cuando hablamos de la crítica en el siglo XXI?
(International AICA Congress What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Art Criticism in the 21 st Century?),
which will be held this year in the cities of Valparaíso and Buenos Aires from November 14 to 19.

As a symbolic expression of social concerns, today’s art calls for us to reflect on the times in which we live,
which have been marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, raising questions not only in the domain of health, but
everywhere in the world where it has wreaked havoc, by exacerbating existing inequalities and deep-seated
problems affecting the most fragile societies. This combination of factors has cut off societies and thrown
communities into isolation, creating a powerful impact on institutional agendas, starkly exposing the digital
divide and provoking new challenges in the art world, while manifestations of discontent have spilled over into
the street in some countries and have generated actions and public practices that have shifted towards the
expressive/symbolic sphere usually
reserved for art practice. The military conflict in Europe comes on top of the situation created by the
pandemic. The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 reactivates concerns over nuclear weapons and
raises the spectre of a third world war. The horrors of warfare become visible, over and above the toll of death
and destruction, in the drama of millions of refugees fleeing from the conflict zone.
This context makes it indispensable for us to reflect, revise and discuss current problematics in the fields of
criticism and curating. Multiple perspective the Congreso Internacional AICA ¿De qué hablamos cuando
hablamos de la críticas and a range of ambiguities open up in the fields of art and criticism. For example,
feminist critique of the nature of relationships of power and knowledge has revealed different types of
exclusion that persist in the art world, particularly in the areas of gender, ethnicity and class. In this sense, the
contemporary arts have expanded and defied both theory and criticism, by proposing problematics linked, for
example, to discrimination, invisibility and gender stereotypes. As a result, cultural theorists face the challenge
of analyzing creations mediated by identity constructions that question the art system and the discourse that
regulates it. The processes of de-naturalizing sexuality have broadened the boundaries of criticism and curating
by being subjected to interrogation by queer and feminist works that aim to subvert established discourse.
In the face of this uncertainty and the challenges it creates, the Congreso Internacional AICA ¿De qué
hablamos cuando hablamos de la crítica en el siglo XXI? (AICA International Congress What Are We Talking
About When We Talk about Art Criticism in the 21 st Century?) invites us to think about revising the role of art
criticism, with special attention to gender and diversity, and the memories these evoke.

The thematic lines we propose, to generate debate, are:
1. Art institutions and museums in the new virtual panorama.
2. Educational curating: from the schoolroom experience to the screen.
3. Biennales and exhibitions. Reflections on the new, post-pandemic context.
4. New audiences and strategies for overcoming the digital divide.
5. Art critics in the face of differences. Ethnic-racial and gender discrimination.
6. Art and criticism in the face of historical traumas provoked by the health emergency and the context of war
and migrations.
7. Memories of authoritarian processes, social conflicts and upheaval.
8. Art and activisms: art, politics and citizenship.

TIMELINE
● Open Call for Papers begins: June 20, 2022
● Deadline for submitting abstracts: August 1, 2022 (extended August 15th)
● Congress registration: September 1 - October 31, 2022
● Notification of Acceptance / Rejection: September 30, 2022 (Reading and selection committee: Carina
Cagnolo, Nancy Rojas, Maxi Jacoby, Henry Serrano, Samuel Quiroga and Rafael Torres.)
● Full Paper Submission Deadline: October 28, 2022
● Full Program Announcement: November 5, 2022
● Congress in Valparaíso: November 14-16, 2022
● Congress in Buenos Aires: November 17-19, 2022
● Post-Congress in Buenos Aires: November 20, 2022
● Post-Congress suggested trips within Argentina: November, 21-25, 2022

Buenos Aires Programme
What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Art Criticism in the 21st Century? Genders, Memories and Diversity. The Critics’ Perspective

The Argentinian Section of the International Association of Art Critics prepares to receive delegates and
participants to the AICA International Congress 2022 in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 17-19,
2022.
Place: Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Dates: November 17-19, 2022
Organized by: AACA - AICA Argentina
* Important: for translation purposes please bring headphones to each session.

Thursday, November 17
During the morning arrival of the guests and delegates of the congress from Santiago de Chile.

Fundación Proa. Av. Don Pedro de Mendoza 1929.

2:15 pm Registration.
3:00 pm Congress Opening. Welcome words by Lisbeth Rebollo Gonçalves (Brazil), President of AICA
International and Florencia Battiti (Argentina), President of AACA.
3:15 - 3:45 pm Presentation by Dora Barrancos (Argentina), Sociologist from the University of Buenos Aires,
Master's in Education, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Doctor in History from the University of Campinas,
Brazil.
4:00 - 5:00 pm Panel discussion: Art criticism in the face of differences, ethnic-racial and gender discrimination.
Francisco Lemus (Argentina) Art historian, PhD in comparative art theory, Universidad Nacional de Tres de
Febrero UNTREF and MA in Visual Arts Curating, UNTREF and María Laura Rosa (Argentina) PhD in
contemporary art (UNED), Madrid, Bachelor of Art History, Complutense University, Madrid.
Moderator: Nancy Rojas (Argentina) member of the MALBA curatorial team.
5:15 - 6:15 pm Keynote Lecture by Isabel Tejeda Martin (Spain) curator, critic and cultural manager, Madrid.
PhD, Universidad Politécnica.
Friday, November 18
Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF). Juncal 1319 3er piso
9:00 am Registration of conference delegates.
9:30 - 11:30 am. Presentation of the selection of papers submitted in response to the Open Call: Gabriel
Palumbo (Argentina) La política por otros medios, Jovana Stokic (Serbia - USA) Emergent Ecologies in the
Context of Exhibition Making, Anna Tolstova (Russia) Art criticism in Russia: Between crime and responsibility,
Sofía M. Ciel (Norway) Art Criticism’s List of Inequalities, Rosario García Martínez, Sonia Gugolj and Noemí
Aira (Argentina) Acortar distancias. Notas sobre los programas públicos en Fundación Proa durante la
pandemia, Fernanda Mujica (Argentina) Un lugar para la literatura electrónica: entre museos virtuales y
repositorios.

*Presentations, transmitted via streaming, will be held both online and in person.

Link
https://youtu.be/1OeZx2QqzXo

12:00 noon - 1:00 pm Discussion between Ticio Escobar (Paraguay) Professor, curator and director of the
Centro de Artes Visuales, Museo del Barro, Asunción and Diana Wechsler (Argentina) Director of the Instituto
de Investigaciones en Arte y Curaduría and sub director of Research and Curatorship of UNTREF
Introduction by Fernando Farina (Argentina) Vice President AICA/AACA.
1:00 pm Free time for lunch.

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes - Auditorio de la Asociación Amigos del MNBA.
Figueroa Alcorta 2280
2:30 pm Congress registration.
3:00 - 4:00 pm Keynote Lecture by Dan Cameron (USA), contemporary art critic, New York.
Introduction by Andrés Duprat (Argentina), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Director.
4:15 - 6:30 pm Panel discussion: Art Institutions in the New Virtual / Educational curatorship: from the gallery to
the screen/ Biennials and exhibitions: reflections on the new context.
Peio Aguirre (Spain), critic and researcher, curator of Spain’s Pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia, 2019, Caue Alves
(Brazil) PhD by the University of São Paulo, curator, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Mariana Marchesi
(Argentina) Artistic Director Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and Cecilia Jaime (Argentina) Buenos Aires, member of
Fundacion Proa ́s curatorial team.
Moderator: María Cristina Rossi (Argentina), Buenos Aires, independent curator, PhD in art history and theory,
UBA.
7:00 pm Guided tour and Toast.
Saturday, November 19
ARTHAUS. Bartolomé Mitre 434
10:00 am Registration.
10:30 - 11:30 am: Keynote Lecture: “5 Open Questions on Contemporary Art Critic” by Graciela Speranza
(Argentina) cultural critic, narrator and screenwriter.
11:45 am - 12:30 pm Panel discussion: Congress Conclusions (Argentine chapter).
Ana María Battistozzi (Argentina) historian and art critic, María Teresa Constantín (Argentina), Arthaus Director
and Adriana Lauria (Argentina), art historian, curator and argentinian art professor.
1:00 pm Free time for lunch.
Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat. Olga Cossettini 141
3:00 - 6:00 pm AICA General Assembly (for AICA members only) at Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat
6:30 pm Lifetime Achievement Award to Ana María Battistozzi, Argentine art critic.
7:00 pm Guided tour through the collection and current exhibitions.
8:00 pm Closing Congress Toast.