This symposium explores the histories of the foundation and subsequent development of art, archaeology, and ethnography museums across Latin America. In some countries, governments established national museums following their independence from Spain in an effort to define a new national identity; in other instances, museums arose primarily from private collections. Museums in Latin America have also found different solutions to presenting diverse types of objects and identities, be they pre-Columbian or colonial art and artifacts, ethnographic collections, or modern and contemporary art. Charting an underexamined field of study, this event foregrounds the important scholarly contributions from Latin America to the history of museums.

Program

Thursday, May 11, 2017

9:30 a.m.
REGISTRATION

10:00 a.m.
WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS
Thomas W. Gaehtgens, Getty Research Institute

10:15 a.m.
SESSION I
Moderator: Miguel Ángel Fernández, Independent Scholar

Museum Networks: People, Itineraries, and Collections in Latin America
Irina Podgorny, Archivo Histórico del Museo de La Plata/CONICET

Museums of Un-National Art: Unraveling the History of Brazil's National Art Collections
Rafael Cardoso, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

11:15 a.m.
COFFEE BREAK

11:30 a.m.
SESSION I, continued

The Nineteenth-Century Mexican Museum and the Desire to Be Modern
Adam T. Sellen, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mérida

12:00 p.m.
DISCUSSION

12:30 p.m.
LUNCH

2:00 p.m.
SESSION II
Moderator: Aleca Le Blanc, University of California, Riverside

Museums, Memory, Object-Hood in Brazil
Amy Buono, University of California, Santa Barbara

Pre-Columbian and Early Colonial Collections from Latin America in Europe and the Role of Ethnographic Museums-Examples from Germany
Viola König, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin

3:00 p.m.
BREAK

3:15 p.m.
SESSION II, continued

Building Museums, Building Collections: International Art Exchanges in Mid-Twentieth-Century Mexico City and Los Angeles
Megan E. O'Neil, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Matthew Robb, Fowler Museum at UCLA

3:45 p.m.
DISCUSSION

Friday, May 12, 2017

9:30 a.m.
REGISTRATION

10:00 a.m.
SESSION III
Moderator: Kim Richter, Getty Research Institute

Museo Nacional de Arte, 25 Years Making History
Agustín Arteaga, Dallas Museum of Art

From National to Local: The Establishment of Archaeological Museums in Costa Rica
Francisco Corrales-Ulloa, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

11:00 a.m.
COFFEE BREAK

11:15 a.m.
SESSION III, continued

Awakening the Dormant Giant: The Rescue Efforts for M.A.R.T.A., Panama
Orlando Hernández Ying, Instituto Nacional de Cultura de Panamá

11:45 a.m.
DISCUSSION

12:15 p.m.
LUNCH

2:00 p.m.
SESSION IV
Moderator: Elena Shtromberg, University of Utah

Art Museums of Latin America: Structuring Representation
Michele Greet, George Mason University
with Gina McDaniel Tarver, Texas State University

Alternative Routes: Ephemeral Practices and Archival Collections
C. Ondine Chavoya, Williams College

3:00 p.m.
DISCUSSION

3:30 p.m.
CLOSING REMARKS
Miguel Ángel Fernández

3:45 p.m.
PUBLIC RECEPTION

This program is organized by the Getty Research Institute in conjunction with Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA and the Getty’s four PST: LA/LA exhibitions opening at the Getty Center on September 16, 2017.

An RSVP is required for each day of the symposium.
http://www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/ev_1664.html