Paola Peña, Curator of the 3rd Edition of R.A.R.O. Bogotá

Meet Paola Peña, curator of the third edition of R.A.R.O. Bogotá.

Paola is a sociologist from the University of Antioquia (2009) with a master’s degree in Art History from the University of Salamanca (2012). She works as a researcher, educator, and independent curator.

Her research focuses on making visible artists and practices that have not been included in the more official narratives of art history. Notable examples include her investigations Sobre Arte: Carlos Echeverry y el arte correo (2021) and Al mismo tiempo: historias paralelas del videoarte en Colombia (2019). She has received other recognitions such as the Curatorship Grant (2015) and the Art Criticism Grant (2014) from the Medellín City Hall. In 2015, she was selected to participate in the curatorial training program of Independent Curators International (Bogotá). In 2014, she was awarded the Visual Arts Research Grant from the Ministry of Culture, which was later published in the book Nuevas prácticas artísticas contemporáneas: espacios autogestionados en la ciudad de Medellín (2019).

She has authored numerous texts focused on enriching discussions surrounding contemporary artistic practices. In 2023, she was a writer-in-residence at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), conducting research on the Chilean magazine CAL. Her most recent curatorial projects include: AÚN POR NOMBRAR (2024), a project that brought together the voices of diverse Latin American artists to address the legacies of colonialism, and Arte, amistad y redes: publicaciones seriadas hechas por artistas (2023), an exhibition that explored the diversity of collaborative editorial art practices in the context of Colombian art.

Applications for the third edition of R.A.R.O. Bogotá are open until May 26!

Call for applications: https://www.esraro.com/en/postular-bogota