Thirteen years of transformation, expansion, and internationalization at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín

• Through inspiring leadership, María Mercedes González takes on a new challenge in an important public position for the country’s culture. She will continue to be part of the MAMM as a member of its Board of Directors.
• Under her leadership, the Museum experienced a stage of transformation, expansion, and internationalization that consolidated it as a benchmark in the national and global art landscape.

Medellín, October 15, 2025. The Board of Directors of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM) announces with deep gratitude and nostalgia the resignation of María Mercedes González Cáceres from her position as director of the Museum. After thirteen years of inspiring leadership, she now takes on a new challenge in an important public position for the country’s culture, from which she will continue contributing to the strengthening of the Colombian cultural sector.

In recognition of her career and commitment to the MAMM, María Mercedes will join the Museum’s Board of Directors, thus ensuring the continuity of her connection and vision with the institution. The transition process toward a new directorship will be led by the Board of Directors.

After thirteen years leading the MAMM, I close and celebrate a cycle that profoundly transformed my life in a place that was my home. It is and will be very gratifying and nostalgic to look back and remember life through the more than 100 exhibitions that allowed us to discover, learn, explore, and be moved. Thank you, dear artists, for having broadened our perspective. My heartfelt gratitude goes to my beloved MAMM Team, both today's and that of these years: thank you for being respectful, critical, and empathetic teammates—what a great privilege to have known you and to have built together! To the Board of Directors—both today's and yesterday's—my deep admiration for your unwavering commitment to guide, sustain, and support this institution that contributes so much to the life of the city and the country. How could I not be grateful for the vision, commitment, and generosity of the companies, foundations, public entities, and allies whose contributions have made possible the growth of these years of a private entity with a total vocation for public service; the enthusiasm, curiosity, and affection of the people who experience the MAMM; the complicity and friendship of my colleagues; and the love of my dear friends. Thank you, dear Medellín! May everything lived at the MAMM stay with me, and may art always bring us together.

- Said María Mercedes González

During thirteen years of leadership, the MAMM experienced a phase of transformation, expansion, and internationalization that consolidated it as a benchmark in the national and global art scene. Under her leadership, the construction, launch, and consolidation of the expansion project materialized, a milestone that made it possible to diversify the Museum’s programming and strengthen its relationship with audiences.

Thanks to this development, the MAMM expanded its cultural offerings and opened new galleries that have enabled the permanent display of the MAMM Collection; the sound experimentation room, a benchmark space for sound art in the country; and the MAMM Theater, a venue that is today the home of Colombian cinema. Museum audiences grew from 45,000 in 2013 to more than 160,000 people in 2024. The building’s architecture has also enabled a constant connection between the Museum and public space, where the Extended Night and its outdoor film screenings reflect a city that embraces and fully inhabits these spaces. Community programs and projects that brought us closer to audiences who rarely visit museums were also strengthened.

During María Mercedes’s tenure, the Museum also advanced in the diversification of its revenue sources, consolidating a sustainable model that combines public and private support with the generation of its own resources. Thanks to strategic, innovative management committed to institutional independence, the Museum’s own revenues today represent, with pride and effort, close to 50% of its total income, an achievement that demonstrates the solidity and maturity of its cultural and financial model.

During these thirteen years, María Mercedes led more than 100 exhibitions that reflect the balance between the local, the national, and the international, as well as the growth of the collection and the organization of the archive, consolidating the MAMM as a meeting place for diverse perspectives on contemporary art.

The Board of Directors and the MAMM Team deeply appreciate her vision, commitment, and passion for strengthening the MAMM’s connection with the city, the country, and the world, and for keeping alive the perspective of a museum of the present time.

We begin a new phase with many achievements and immense challenges. We will announce in the coming days the foundations of this new phase of the Museum, with satisfaction at the forefront but with our feet on the ground to project the Museum forward and maintain it as a cultural benchmark in Colombia.