Ciudad de la Imaginación is a Guatemalan non-profit institution that promotes research and production of contemporary art. The institution seeks to stimulate critical thinking among the community locally and internationally. It does so, through its public programming, including exhibitions, laboratories, seminars, talks and educational workshops. Founded in 2010 and based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Ciudad de la Imaginación is dedicated to fostering projects where art, social sensitivities, political events and culture intersect creating space for contemporary creation. www.ciudadimaginacion.org
Recent artistic and curatorial programming includes project such as States of Exception and Interpellations with contemporary and indigenous Guatemalan artists such as Sandra Monterroso, Bonifaz Diaz, Nora Perez, Fernando Poyón, Sergio Ramirez engaged in visual, performing arts and film. It hosts many seminars, laboratories, festivals and symposia such as the Absurd Symposium and Flex book festival in Quetzaltenango. The director Anabella Acevedo was one of the curators of the Guatemalan Biennial in 2014.
The New School is a university based in New York City (founded in 1919), where design and social research drive approaches to studying issues of our time, such as democracy, urbanization, technological change, economic empowerment, sustainability, migration, and globalization. It fosters social engagement by orienting students’ academic experience to help them become critically engaged citizens dedicated to solving problems and contributing to the public good.
The mission of the Sheila Johnson Design Center at The New School is to generate an active dialogue on the role of innovative art and design in responding to our contemporary world. Its critical curatorial agenda, provoked by current environmental and social challenges, reflects and advances creative research and pedagogic practices. The exhibition and public programs in its two galleries encourage an interdisciplinary examination of possibility and process, blurring the boundaries between classroom, laboratory and exhibition, and link the university to local and global debates.