The Power Plant

Juan A. Gaitán is curator of the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, 2014. An independent writer and curator based in Mexico City and Berlin, he trained as an artist and art historian at University of British Columbia and Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver.

Previously, Gaitán was curator at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam. He has also served as adjunct professor in the Curatorial Practice Program at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco and as external curator at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver.

Gaitán’s writings have been published in several journals, including Afterall, The Exhibitionist, and Fillip. His most recent exhibition, Material Information, spans three venues in Bergen (Norway), and looks for a renewed critical approach to the contemporary global distribution of labour from the perspective of arts and crafts.

Gaitán’s presentation will contextualize the recent history of the Berlin Biennale, its international relevance and comprehensive impact on the cultural life of Berlin, introducing his curatorial research and the artistic team he has invited for the 8th edition. Treating Berlin as a subjective microcosm, Gaitán traces its globality and mercantile linkages in the late 19th century as well as its journey from empire to nation-state. The circulating figures within the formation of Modernity will be interrogated through the contributions of individuals such as Alexander von Humboldt and his scientific explorations across the Americas.

2013 International Lecture Series Donor

J.P. Bickell Foundation