César García-Alvarez will co-curate the third edition of Desert X in the Coachella Valley.
García-Alvarez joins returning Artistic Director Neville Wakefield for the third edition of the international art exhibition that will activate California's desert landscape through site-responsive installations by renowned international contemporary artists.
Born in Mexico and based in LA, García-Alvarez is the founder and current Executive and Artistic Director of The Mistake Room (TMR), an international non-profit contemporary art space in LA. Prior to founding TMR García-Alvarez held the position of Associate Director and Senior Curator of LAXART (2007-2012). He was also one of the curators of Made in L.A. 2012, the first iteration of the Hammer Museum’s LA Biennial, and from 2012-2013 served as the US Commissioner for the 13th International Cairo Biennial in Egypt.
I am thrilled to be joining Neville and the team at Desert X as co-curator of the 2021 edition. The Coachella Valley is a...vibrant and complex locale of layered histories forged by a multitude of communities. I look forward to spending time in the region working closely with artists, local residents, and other stakeholders in order to put together an exhibition that considers the desert not just as an ecology but also as a home, a border, and an idea. My hope is that this iteration of Desert X can shed light on a set of lived experiences that are shared across geographies and cultures.
– CÉSAR GARCÍA-ALVAREZ
Desert X has been an honor to work on and an extraordinary journey into the unknown with some of the most significant artists working today. The overwhelming response to the exhibition’s first two editions, and the lure of the desert and its endless possibilities continue to inspire me. I am excited to welcome César as co-curator, and confident that the curatorial acumen that he brings along with a deep involvement and understanding at both local and international levels will be instrumental in shaping and developing new voices and outlooks for 2021.
– NEVILLE WAKEFIELD
NEVILLE WAKEFIELD
Neville Wakefield is a modern curator interested in exploring the ways in which art behaves outside of institutional contexts. This interest led him to co-found Elevation1049, a site-specific biennial in Gstaad, Switzerland, while his role as artistic director of Desert X has been instrumental in shaping the recurring exhibition that attracted over 400,000 visitors to the Coachella Valley region of Southern California. With Saudi curators Raneem Farsi and Aya Alireza he is co-curator of Desert X AlUla 2020, a site-specific exhibition of international artists, taking place in AlUla, northwest Saudi Arabia, home to the country’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra. As senior curatorial advisor for PS1 MoMA and curator of Frieze Projects, he gained a reputation for challenging the conditions that shape art in both commercial and noncommercial contexts. He has worked extensively with international institutions, including the Schaulager Switzerland, where he curated the Matthew Barney retrospective Prayer Sheet with the Wound and the Nail.
CÉSAR GARCÍA-ALVAREZ
César García-Alvarez is the Founder and current Executive & Artistic Director of The Mistake Room (TMR)—LA’s international non-profit contemporary art space. At TMR García-Alvarez has organized projects and exhibitions with Oscar Murillo, Korakrit Arunanondchai , Ed Clark, Vivian Suter, Diana Thater, Mandy el-Sayegh, Thomas Hirschhorn, Henry Taylor, Christopher Myers, Eduardo Sarabia, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and Serge Attukwei Clottey amongst others. Most recently he organized Where The Sea Remembers, one of the first US exhibitions devoted solely to contemporary art from Vietnam. He is currently working on a group exhibition slated for Fall 2020 titled Wetlines, that will survey the state of Latinx art in the United States. Prior to founding TMR García-Alvarez was Associate Director and Senior Curator of LAXART (2007-2012). He was one of the curators of Made in L.A. 2012, the first iteration of the Hammer Museum’s LA Biennial, and from 2012-2013 served as the US Commissioner for the 13th International Cairo Biennial in Egypt. García-Alvarez has organized a host of other notable exhibitions at institutions locally, nationally, and internationally including, amongst others the mid-career survey of Eduardo Sarabia at Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Guadalajara, Mexico (2014); the US premier of Egyptian artist Wael Shawky’s Cabaret Crusades, Hammer Museum (2013); the re-staging of Mark di Suvero’s Artist Tower of Protest, Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival, Los Angeles (2012); and the mid-career survey of Tijuana-based artist Marcos Ramirez ERRE, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City (with Kevin Power, 2011). García-Alvarez’s recent books include monographs on artists Eduardo Sarabia and Brenna Youngblood. He is currently at work on an edited volume titled The Anthology of Errors which documents the history and work of TMR’s first five years. He lives and works between Los Angeles, CA and Guadalajara, Mexico.
Entrada actualizada el el 14 may de 2020
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