Emiliano Valdés bids farewell to MAMM after ten years of outstanding work as chief curator

The Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM) shares with its audiences the sad news that Emiliano Valdés, its chief curator, has decided to conclude his tenure at the Museum on December 31, 2024. After a decade of dedication and significant contributions, Emiliano leaves a legacy that has profoundly transformed the MAMM and its impact on the local, national, and international art scene.

Reflecting on his time at the MAMM, he comments:

For me, it has been a privilege to contribute to bringing the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín to the place of vitality, plurality, relevance, and artistic rigor where it stands today. The last decade has been fundamental in the expansion and positioning of the MAMM in the country and the region, and I feel extremely proud and fortunate to have been part of it alongside a wonderful team. The time has come to renew my work models and professional interests, and also to make way for a new stage in which the Museum continues to be the 'place for the art of its time' that was envisioned from its beginnings. My affection and commitment to the MAMM is immense, and I look forward to continuing to enjoy it as a visitor and ally.

Since his arrival at the MAMM, Emiliano has led and developed nearly 100 exhibitions and special projects, promoting a broad and diverse interaction with the city, toward which he showed genuine interest by deeply understanding its art scene, engaging in dialogues with artists, collectives, and cultural managers, participating in countless city events, and placing on the Museum’s agenda crucial issues for understanding and critically reflecting on it.

This was reflected in such outstanding initiatives as Medellín. Pulso de la ciudad, an exhibition that brought together the work of artists and collectives dedicated to thinking about the city’s most pressing challenges through art; in group exhibitions such as El camino más largo. Arte contemporáneo en Antioquia, Patio de esculturas, El arte en Antioquia y la década de los 70. Una interpretación, and Deseo. Una exposición sobre el sexo, el amor y la lujuria; or in solo shows by Antioquian artists such as Débora Arango, Libia Posada, Beatriz Olano, Jorge Julián Aristizábal, John Mario Ortiz, Ángela María Restrepo, Martha Ramírez, Leonel Estrada, among others.

Under Valdés’s curatorial direction, the MAMM has also been the home of Colombian contemporary art and has contributed to the professionalization of its scene. This is evidenced by exhibitions such as La buena vida. Obras de la Colección del Banco de la República or Pasado tiempo futuro. Arte en Colombia en el siglo XXI, or the shows by artists María Teresa Hincapié, Juan Mejía, María Isabel Rueda, Manuel Hernández, Carlos Motta, and Karen Lamassonne.

Emiliano spared no effort to connect Medellín and the Museum with the world in various ways: participating in countless international events and professional networks, dedicating time to artists, curators, and museum directors who have visited us over these years, weaving alliances with other entities, and of course with exhibitions as memorable as those of Dan Flavin, Tania Candiani, DIS, Allora & Calzadilla, Carlos Amorales, Felipe Mujica, Naufus Ramírez Figueroa, Rodrigo Hernández, Daniel Steegmann, and En y entre geografías, his first curatorial project at the Museum.

The MAMM Collection was also among his priorities and interests, and together with his team he led tasks of systematization, conservation, acquisition, and above all, research and dissemination of a collection that today comprises more than 2,400 pieces and narrates a part of the history of Antioquian and Colombian art. Exhibitions such as Débora Arango. La vida con toda su fuerza admirable, Año cero. Los orígenes de la colección MAMM and, more recently, Musa. Perspectivas femeninas en las Colecciones del MAMM y MAC Panamá, have allowed us to better understand our heritage and, once again, contribute to the dissemination of Colombian art.

We will never forget and will always be grateful for his solidarity and commitment during the pandemic and social unrest, as together we endured those difficult years and were there to offer people a space for relief and expression. As a result of this recent period, Emiliano has been an active part of the institutional commitment to include new voices and ways of thinking about art, which has materialized in recent projects such as Tiempo para escucharnos. Manifestaciones del arte indígena en Colombia or El espacio en medio. Visiones del arte indígena en el mundo.

María Mercedes González, director of the Museum, states: “Of course, the exhibitions and the Collection held a central place in Emiliano’s work, but in his leadership as chief curator there is much more: he was a respectful, critical, and empathetic teammate; he contributed to making the MAMM a more efficient and robust institution; he was involved in all the fronts that a museum entails and patiently took on its challenges. He was a great art communicator and shared his knowledge with generosity; he lived Medellín deeply. For me, he has been, above all, a dear friend who holds and will always hold a very special place.”

Emiliano, on behalf of the board of directors and the MAMM team, THANK YOU! May the good moments lived at the Museum and in Medellín accompany you, and may the new paths ahead be truly fulfilling. The MAMM will always be your home!