Permission to Be Global/Prácticas Globales
Latin American Art from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection
Jen Mergel
Robert L. Beal, Enid L. Beal and Bruce A. Beal Senior Curator of Contemporary Art , Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA)
Exhibition Co-Curator
Jen Mergel has been the Beal Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the MFA since February 2010. She organized the inaugural installations of the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (in 2011) and oversees the MFA’s efforts to expand the contemporary collection and exhibition program. Mergel pursues cultural partnerships nationally and internationally, and has developed new contemporary exhibition series, with shows including Kristin Baker: New Paintings (2010), Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Passages (2011), Sparking Dialogue (2011) and Ridley Howard: Fields and Stripes (2013). Previously, Mergel was associate curator at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), where she organized numerous exhibitions, including Tara Donovan, the artist’s first museum survey, and Acting Out: Social Experiments in Video. Mergel received a B.A. in visual and environmental studies from Harvard University and an M.A. from Bard’s Center for Curatorial Studies in Art and Contemporary Culture. She has contributed to several publications; taught at Harvard University and Boston University; served as a guest lecturer, curator and juror at many national organizations; and reviewed art internationally. Mergel is a proud native of Boston.
Liz Munsell
Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art & MFA Programs, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA)
Exhibition Co-Curator
Liz Munsell is Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art & MFA Programs and has instituted a number of new programs in video art and performance since joining the MFA in 2009. In the collection galleries she curated Slippery Surfaces (2012), and the Museum-wide performance art exhibition Odd Spaces (2013). Munsell has worked with the Museum’s Film Department on French Edges (July 2012) and Other French Loves (July 2011)–the MFA’s first video art programs to be featured in an international film festival, and VideoSur III: Experimental Shorts from Chile, Argentina and Brazil (December 2010)–partnering with the Latino community in Boston. A Fulbright Scholar to Chile in 2006, she holds a Masters in cultural studies from the Universidad de Chile and a B.A. from Tufts University in international letters and visual studies. Munsell's exhibitions outside the Museum include Cuban Virtualities: New Media Art from the Island at Tufts Univeristy (2013), Everyday Angles at Harvard University’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (2012) and Close Distance at the Boston Center for the Arts (2011). Her writings have been published in English, Spanish and Japanese in print and online publications such as Bomb Magazine and ArtForum.com.
Jesús Fuenmayor
Director and Chief Curator, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO)
Consulting Curator
Jesús Fuenmayor has been CIFO’s Director and Chief Curator since 2012. Prior to CIFO, Fuenmayor was the director of Periférico Caracas, a contemporary art space in Venezuela, where he organized more than 30 exhibitions. He was also a member of CIFO’s Honorary Advisory Committee before taking on his current role in the organization. Fuenmayor was previously active in a number of institutions in Caracas: advisor to the Museo Jacobo Borges (1992-1995), associate curator at Espacio 204 (1995-1997) and curator for the Museo Alejandro Otero (2004). Fuenmayor co-curated the touring exhibition Jump Cuts, Venezuelan Contemporary Art, Mercantil Collection, which travelled to the Americas Society in New York (2005) and the CIFO Art Space in Miami (2007), as well as Demonstration Room / Ideal House, which travelled through art institutions in Caracas, New York, Antwerp and Chicago (2001-2002).
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