Chilean Pavilion at Venice Biennale

Antonio Arévalo

Antonio Arévalo is a cultural promoter, an independent curator and a poet. He was born in Santiago, Chile in 1958, but has lived and worked in Rome since 1975. He has organized international exhibitions and cultural events in important institutions, museums, and galleries in Italy, Chile, France, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, USA, Spain, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden and the Czech Republic, most recently “Jeu de l’ombre” (2007) in the Napoleon Museum in Rome, “Atlante Latinoamericano” (2007) in the Fototeca de Monterrey at the Cultures World Forum, Mexico, and “Archivo Sur” (2008) in Futura at the Center for Contemporary Art in Prague.  He is also a published poet; his work has been included in a number of poetry anthologies and art catalogues in Europe and America. He was appointed curator for Chilean pavilion in the 49th Venice Art Biennale (receiving a Mention of Honor from the International Jury). He was also appointed curator for the III Biennale Adriatica Arti Nuove in 2006.

Justo Pastor Mellado

Justo Pastor Mellado was born in Santiago, Chile in 1949, where he continues to live and work as an independent curator. He studied philosophy in Chile and France, specializing in political philosophy. Beginning in the 1980s, he focused intensely on writing about art and politics, concentrating on questions of transference and legacy in contemporary Chilean and Latin American art. He has been director of two art schools: the Catholic Pontifical University and the UNIACC University in Santiago, Chile. He has served as the curator of Chilean art for the Bienal do Mercosur, the Bienal de São Paulo and the Bienal de Lima, and is currently serving as curatorial advisor for the Trienal de Chile. He has written extensively about Chilean and Latin American contemporary art; he has published the books “La novela chilena del grabado” (1995), “Dos textos tácticos” (1998), and “Textos estratégicos” (2001) as well as many essays on the work of Chilean and Latin American artists such as José Balmes, Eugenio Dittborn, Gonzalo Díaz, Víctor Grippo, Artur Barrio and Gordon Matta- Clark among others. Since 2002 he has maintained an independent writing forum www. justopastormellado.cl. He is currently finishing the book “Escritos de batalla” (April 2009) about criticism, politics and visual art in Chile from 2006-2009.