SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO.- CIRCA Puerto Rico ’06, the first international art fair in the Caribbean and Central America, will be held from May 25 - 28, 2006 at the new Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan, and will feature some 50 exhibitors from Puerto Rico, Latin America, the United States, Europe, and Australia. Strongly emphasizing the role of the local and international community, nine galleries from Puerto Rico will line up next to the nearly 20 from abroad. Other organizations, including alternative, non-profit art spaces and museums, will participate in a different section of the fair. A complete list of exhibitors is available.

According to Artistic Directors Elvis Fuentes and Celina Nogueras, “CIRCA is an opportunity to highlight the work of international artists as well as reflect the cultural richness of the region.” CIRCA aims to establish local and global partnerships with dealers, collectors, and artists while engaging an audience of art patrons, critics, curators, and scholars through the presentation of new programs all over the island. CIRCA will feature a multidisciplinary art program to include drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and video.

Two curated exhibitions will be among the highlights of the fair: 10x10, a show of ten internationally renowned artists, curated by Elvis Fuentes, which features Andres Serrano, Nari Ward, Miguel Luciano, Dean MacGregor, Edin Velez, Reynold Rodriguez, Charles Juhasz-Alvarado, Maria Mencia, Antonio Martorell, and Glexis Novoa; and In the Spot: States of Anxiety, curated by Paco Barragán, which focuses on the anxiety displayed in personal and sexual relationships, in the quest for status, in architecture or in recent history, and features the work of several younger artists. Each year a new curator will be invited to present a show for the In the Spot section. Two additional areas of the fair are SOLO, where the work of four selected, independent, contemporary artists will be presented and, District CIRCA, where museums, magazines, and art schools will present information on their programs and services.

A series of panels, lectures, and seminars will also accompany the events. The panel Fairs and Biennials will allow participants to reflect on the ever-expanding world of fairs and biennials and their relationship in the contemporary art world. Moderated by Paco Barragán, independent curator, it will include Celia Sredni De Birbragher, Director of ArtNexus; Paul Greenaway, founder of SALA (South Australian Living Artists) Festival and gallerist; and Deborah Cullen, Curator of El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files and Director of Curatorial Programs at El Museo del Barrio. Other symposia include The Art of Appreciation: Collecting Latin American Paintings and Sculpture, a seminar with Maria Bonta de la Pezuela of Sotheby’s held at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, and Artistic Practices in Puerto Rico.

CIRCA arrives on the heels of arteBA in Buenos Aires as well as the Latin American art auctions in New York at a time when specialists pay considerable attention to a regional creative context that has nurtured the most dynamic developments in the art world in recent years.

Around Puerto Rico - In conjunction with the fair, several organizations throughout the country have organized complementary programs. Espacio 1414 will present Los Usos del la Pintura II, an exhibition curated by Julieta González featuring works selected from the Diana and Manolo Berezdivin private collection. This innovative re-reading of contemporary art will showcase paintings by Franz Ackermann, Brian Alfred, Mark Bradford, Bernard Frize, Flavio Garciandía, Federico Herrero, Guillermo Kuitca, Beatriz Milhazes, Sarah Morris, Anselm Reyle, Chemi Rosado, Yinka Shonibare, David Shrigley, Adriana Varejao, Suling Wang, and Christopher Wool.

The Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) will present El Museo’s: Bienal The (S) Files / The Selected Files, the fourth edition of the biennial created by El Museo del Barrio. This year’s presentation highlights the most cutting-edge art produced by emerging Latin American artists working in the greater New York area. The exhibition is curated by Deborah Cullen, Director of Curatorial Programs at El Museo del Barrio, and Miki Garcia, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum. Acting as guest-curator is Marysol Nieves, former Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. Also at the MAPR will be Allora & Calzadilla: Recent Video, an exhibition curated by Marysol Nieves that presents two of the most recent videos by acclaimed international Puerto Rican artists Allora & Calzadilla. The works, entitled Amphibious (Login-Logout) (2005) and Under Discussion (2005) both challenge the fragile line between art, life, and politics, with wit and conceptual rigor.

Furthermore, the Public Art Project, a monumental public art program commissioned by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, will encourage visitors to view its 75 site-specific art works located throughout the island. Numerous national and international artists have created works for the Project. They include Liliana Porter, Antoni Muntadas, Ann Hamilton, Ada Bobonis, Deborah Sperber, Charles Júhasz-Alvarado, Carlos Rivera Villafane, Rafael Ferre, and Jorge Pardo.

CIRCA Puerto Rico ’06 is organized by Portfolio FIAC, Inc., a corporation founded by Roberto J. Nieves to serve as a leading cultural management company in the Puerto Rican and Caribbean communities.

CIRCA Puerto Rico '06 is sponsored by Caribbean Merchandiser Services, ArtNexus, El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico Turism Company, Telemundo, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico, Jaguar, Sheraton Hotel, Sony, MCS, Onelink , Capitol, Art Premium.