Talks

Talks — 2023

Conversación entre Mela Dávila y Paola Peña | Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia

What have been the main publishing initiatives by women artists in Latin America? Why might one say that they have been “off-register”? So as to answer these questions, the National Library of Colombia and Center for Book Arts in New York organized a meeting where I had the opportunity to speak with Colombian historian Paola … Continued

Talks — 2023

Conversación entre Mela Dávila y Sol Henaro | Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia

What have been the main publishing initiatives by women artists in Latin America? Why might one say that they have been “off-register”? So as to answer these questions, the National Library of Colombia and Center for Book Arts in New York organized a meeting where I had the opportunity to speak with Mexican historian and … Continued

Talks — 2023

«Investigación / Musealización / Valor de mercado» | La Virreina Centre de la Imatge

At La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, the event After the Archive: Artwork and Document featured a roundtable discussion titled “Research / Musealization / Market Value,” during which I moderated a conversation between Brazilian collector Pedro Barbosa, art historian Manuel Borja-Villel, and Madrid-based art historian and gallery owner José de la Mano.

Talks — 2023

Archivar / Exponer. Salirse del guion en los archivos de arte | MNAC

The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya and the Museu Picasso in Barcelona organized an international symposium on archival practice in 21st-century art, bringing together archivists, curators, artists, historians, and researchers from the local and international art scenes. The symposium took place over two days and focused on two essential, overlapping actions: the task of ARCHIVING, … Continued

Talks — 2022

documenta Ost/West: Kunstpolitik und Kunstmarkt | Center for Art Market Studies, TU

https://youtu.be/MFvKZXxR1Sk?si=q5syrPtqmitmydbE How was documenta funded, what role did galleries play in this, and how did the “world exhibition” position itself within the East-West conflict? The workshop discussion (in German) “documenta East/West: Art Policy and the Art Market” by Alexia Pooth and Mela Dávila Freire uses these questions as a starting point to outline, through individual … Continued

Talks — 2022

Ed Ruscha’s “The Books of Ed Ruscha” | Fondation Jan Michalski 

In the film The Books of Ed Ruscha (23’), directed in 1969 by Ed Ruscha (1937- ) himself, some of his iconic conceptual books are leafed through, unfolded and read by his accomplice Mason Williams. The books Twenty-six Gasoline Stations (1963), Some Los Angeles Apartments (1965), or Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1966) reveal … Continued

Talks — 2021

El que pot un llibre 13: «Apariciones, Enric Farrés Duran» | MACBA

Session No. 13 of the series of talks and presentations What a Book Can Do, organized by Anna Pahissa at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, was dedicated to discussing Apariciones, an artist’s book by Enric Farrés Duran published by the museum itself.  Apariciones had been published in conjunction with Farrés Duran’s exhibition Cosas que … Continued

Talks — 2021

“Alchemie im Archiv. Was wir unter kuratorischer Forschung verstehen (können)” | Master Program Exhibition Theory and Practice, University of Applied Arts Vienna 

UNESCO defines “research” as “creative and systematic work aimed at expanding the body of knowledge—including knowledge about humanity, culture, and society—and at developing new applications based on existing knowledge.” When we speak of research in general, we usually mean “scientific” research, which in fact encompasses a very heterogeneous spectrum of working models and methods. In … Continued

Talks — 2020

«Constructive Contact between Us»: Other Books and So by Ulises Carrión | Artpool Art Research Center

In 2020, the international conference Artists, Archives and Networks, held in Budapest (Hungary) commemorated the 40th anniversary of the foundation of Artpool, which had come into being as an independent archive, but had become, by then, an organization named Arpool Art Research Center and connected to the university. The conference aimed to map the cultural-political-historical … Continued

Talks — 2018

«El Universo (que otros llaman biblioteca): colecciones documentales privadas en Europa» | Arts Santa Mònica

The 5th International Symposium on Artist Books, organized by the artist publications fair Arts Libris (Barcelona, 2018) and moderated by art historian and curator Glòria Picazo, focused on artist’s books collecting. Participants in the sessions included João Fernandes, deputy artistic director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía; Anne Thurmann-Jajes, from the Center … Continued

Talks — 2018

La condición de contorno | MACBA

The seminar The Boundary Condition: About the Archive and Its Limits, directed by Maite Muñoz, was one of the events marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Study Center at Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona – MACBA, in 2018 The aim was to examine the factors that shape the difficult definition of the … Continued