Chile: 7 days in Santiago, 1 day in Valparaíso

During the month of March I was invited by R.I.C. (Residencias de Investigación Curatorial, a project initiated by curator Alexia Tala and collector Pedro Montes) to visit Santiago, Chile for one week to research the city’s cultural scene, including artists, alternative spaces, and museums. Although well aware of the perils of the flash visit and the impressions that this kind of format can produce, I nonetheless felt compelled to write a brief account of my experience in Santiago (and Valparaíso) and the conversations that ensued there. I have always been suspicious of the brief curatorial research trip and its subsequent text -a format now common among the transnational curatorial elite- fearing its inevitable becoming into a travelogue of superficial accounts and glib first impressions.