Past Exhibitions

Marta Minujín’s Minucode (1968) explored social codes in four groups of leading figures in the arts, business, fashion, and politics in New York. MINUCODEs revisited that project more than 40 years later. Using recovered footage and documents, the exhibition shed light on the original mythical event.

Fernell Franco (Cali 1942-2006) is considered one of the few photographers who developed a distinct lyrical view of the shift towards modernity in Latin America. The exhibition Fernell Franco: Amarrados [Bound] is focused on the homonymous series comprising large-scale black and white photographs developed by Franco in the early 1980s.

Mauricio Dias and Walter Riedweg have worked together since 1993, developing a cohesive body of work that delves into the poetic as well as the critical potential of the moving image. Americas Society’s exhibition was their first solo show in the United States.

Americas Society’s exhibition elucidated the meaning of the symbolic, social, and artistic landscape of Mapuche culture and history. The display presented objects from the Domeyko Cassel Collection that reflect the high quality of cultural materialism, religious fervor, and political power of the Mapuche in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In the fall of 2008, Americas Society presented Carlos Cruz-Diez’s first solo show in a major U.S. cultural institution. Focusing on the relationship between color and perception, the exhibition will increase Cruz-Diez's visibility and appreciation in the United States, one of Latin America’s Kinetic Art masters.

Over the last thirty years, Canadian artist Melvin Charney has produced a demanding and rhetorically complex body of work which lies on the cutting edge between art and architecture. These works were the focus of the exhibition at Americas Society, the first solo show by the artist in a New York museum since his P.S. 1.installation in 1979.

Torrijos: The Man and the Myth was a unique exhibition of never-before-published photographs of former Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos by Graciela Iturbide, one of Mexico's most celebrated photographers. Omar Torrijos was Panama's most famous leader (from 1968 to 1981) and is one of the best-known twentieth century figures throughout Latin America.

Americas Society presented in the Fall of 2008 Beginning with a Bang! From Confrontation to intimacy, a reflection on the utopian and destructive impulses that marked the rise of Happenings and Conceptual art in Argentina. The exhibition focused primordially on action based gesture and its evolution throughout the movement from 1960-2007.

Emancipatory Action: Paula Trope and the Meninos, curated by José Luis Falconi and Gabriela Rangel, was the first show of Paula Trope and the Meninos in the United States and focused on issues related to authorship and artistic collaboration.

Pedro Reyes’ exhibition highlighted his constant exploration into the limits of the usefulness of artistic practices in intractable social situations. The exhibition showcased the artist's research on the disputed notion of the utility of art objects and art processes.