GUATEMALA CITY.- Marking its 50th anniversary, Fundación Paiz para la Educación y la Cultura is delighted to announce the appointment of Cuauhtémoc Medina as the curator of the 25th Bienal de Arte Paiz in 2027. The Biennial, which will take place in Guatemala City and Antigua Guatemala from November 2027 to February 2028, has been Central America’s most important art event since its inception in 1978, playing a fundamental role in the projection and development of art from the region.
Cuauhtémoc Medina is a Mexican art critic, curator and historian, with an extensive international career spanning curatorial practice, academic research and art criticism. He holds a Ph.D. in History and Theory of Art from the University of Essex in Britain. Since 1993, he has been a full-time researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Between 2002 and 2008, he was the first Associate Curator of Latin American Art Collections at Tate Modern, and from 2013 to 2024 he served as Chief Curator at MUAC – Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City.
Commenting on his appointment, Medina states: “The Bienal de Arte Paiz has reached its 25th edition. For half a century, it has been a reference for art in the Central American region and, above all, has served Guatemalan audiences as a vehicle for contemporary thinking and sensibility. It is a great honor, but also a challenge, to be in charge of curating the Paiz Biennial for this special occasion. I hope that, with the help of the Biennial staff and the artists, we will be able to produce something worth remembering.”
Sonia Hurtarte, Executive Director of Fundación Paiz, comments: “Reaching the 25th edition and the Biennial’s 50th anniversary compels us not only to reflect on what we have built, but also to ask what a biennial should mean today and what Guatemala can contribute to the conversations shaping contemporary art. The appointment of Cuauhtémoc Medina responds precisely to that ambition. His ability to bring together curatorial practice, critical thinking, and academic research will allow us to take the Biennial into a new chapter—one that produces knowledge, generates meaningful dialogue, and creates a legacy that extends far beyond the exhibition itself.”
Born in Mexico City, 1965, Cuauhtémoc Medina, is an art critic, curator and historian, holds a Ph.D. in History and Theory of Art from the University of Essex in Britain. Since 1993 he has been a full time researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and between 2002 and 2008 was the first Associate Curator of Art Latin American Collections at the Tate Modern. He was Chief Curator at the MUAC Museum in Mexico city from 2013 and 2024 where he curated exhibitions by artists such as Andrea Fraser, Carlos Amorales, Harun Farocki, Jill Magid, Jeremy Deller, Vicente Rojo, Jan Hendrix, Ai Weiwei, Beatriz González, Kader Attia, Magali Lara and the Raqs Media Collective, among many others.
In 2012, Medina was Head Curator of the Manifesta 9 Biennial in Genk, Belgium, titled The Deep of the Modern, in association with Katerina Gregos and Dawn Ades. In 2018 he was chief curator of the 12th Shanghai Biennial titled Proregress. Art in the age of historical ambivalence at the Power Station of Art. More recently, he curated the site specific project “Monumentos sin Monumentalidad” in Monterrey City in 2024.
In 2012 he became the sixth recipient of the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement of the Menil Foundation. Among many publications he has recently published a collection of his essays on Mexican art titled: Abuso Mutuo(Mutual Abuse), RM and Cubo Blanco, 2017 and the book Olinka: El sueño del Dr. Atl published by the Colegio Nacional in 2019.
