Curating Architecture Across the Americas

The third iteration of the series Brazil Speaks! Architecture Culture at Risk seeks to establish a conversation on the state of architecture as a cultural artifact in Brazil. We bring together historians, curators, and cultural agents to examine exhibitions, archives, and curatorial practices that bring architecture to the public eye. These diverse voices and practices will trigger a conversation on the methods, experiences, and aims of past, present, and future actions. Curated by Patricio del Real, Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture, in collaboration with Catarina Flaksman, PhD student in History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University and Victor Próspero, PhD candidate in History of Art and Architecture, University of São Paulo and Fulbright Visiting Fellow, Harvard University.

A fourth iteration of Curating Architecture Across the Americas: Historias Ausentes / Missing Histories will take place in 2024 to foment historical research on pre-1990 architecture exhibitions and expositions by establishing collaborations between scholars, archives, and museums, and alternative exhibition spaces. The aim of Historias Ausentes / Missing Histories will be to survey the state of the field with an open call for papers and will seek to establish meaningful and lasting collaborations with scholars, curators and institutions to become manifest and active presence in the region.

Architecture as a cultural object in display was the subject of the Spring 2021 course: Architecture in the “museum.” This course explored the historical conditions that normalized the presentation of architecture in cultural spaces and run as parallel seminars held at the Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University; the Magíster en Arquitectura (MARQ), Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Estudios Urbanos, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; and the Laboratorio Editorial de Arquitectura, Facultad de Arquitectura, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and led by Professors Patricio del Real, Carolina Sepúlveda and Cristina López Uribe respectively. Each seminar focused on their national architectural contexts and worked together to survey and construct an Americanist geography of curatorial practices in architecture during the 20th century. 

Working sessions with collections specialists and curators were offered to students registered in the course Architecture in the "museum" | March 24: Paul Galloway, Collection Specialist, Architecture & Design, The Museum of Modern Art

The Conversation Series Why Architecture Belongs in the Museum was held between March and May 2021 as part of this course. Guest speakers included: Giovanna Borasi, Director, Canadian Center for Architecture | Ricardo Daza,  Director, Leopoldo Rother Architecture Museum , Universidad Nacional de Colombia | Barry Bergdoll, Professor of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University | Valentina Moimas, Curator, Architectural Collections, Centre Pompidou | Patricio del Real, Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University.

The first iteration of CAAA gathered architecture curators, historians, and architects, working in art museums and architecture galleries from Mexico and the United States in the symposium titled Curating Architecture Across the Americas: Espacios de Contacto MX-US /Contact Spaces MX-US. With presentations focused on past and ongoing experiences and projects, the symposium discussed the role of architecture exhibitions in the expanding world of curatorial exhibition practices and cultural debates of the 21^st Century. This program sprung from the seminar-workshop: Displaying Latin America, given in the Spring of 2019 at Harvard University’s Department of History of Art and Architecture and successfully inaugurated future endeavors. Curated by Patricio del Real, Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture, in collaboration with Carolina Sepulveda, Master in Design Studies student with a concentration in Art, Design and the Public Domain, and Marcela V. Ramos, Program Manager for DRCLAS Art, Film & Culture Program.