CHILE OPENS NEW NATIONAL CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

The National Centre for Contemporary Art Chile—the first government-run facility dedicated to contemporary artists—opened its doors last month. Located on the former premises of the historic Cerrillos Airport, the venue will be the home of Chile’s National Council of Culture and Arts’ collection.

“This is an important new space for Chile, a modernist building dedicated to strengthening conservation policies, research, archival work, and the display of contemporary Chilean and Latin American visual art,” said Ernesto Ottone, minister president of the National Council.

The newly renovated 43,000-square-foot arts center boasts exhibition space, libraries, a documentation center, a digital archive, research laboratories, and storage warehouses. The property, which was originally donated to the Chilean government by American philanthropist Daniel Guggenheim in 1928, was transferred to the National Council in 2016. Los Cerrillos airport operated on the grounds from 1929 to 2006.

Curated by Chilean artist Camilo Yañez, the center’s inaugural exhibition, “Una Imagen llamada Palabra” (An Image Called Word), features artworks by artists such as Gonzalo Díaz, Paz Errázuriz, Eugenio Dittborn, Iván Navarro, and Cecilia Vicuña. It will be on view until January 30, 2017.