Menu
Menu
Menu
This project has its origins in my curatorship of the exhibition Amor Pasión [Passion Love], held in 2021 at the Museo Municipal de Artes Dr. Urbano Poggi of Rafaela, and in my discovery, in 2022, of a private collection of homoerotic art in Rosario. These experiences led me to reflect on the relationship between private and public collections, a subject that I had also addressed in my dissertation.
Through visits and interviews, the project explores the collections of one of Rosario’s most important private collectors, whom I call ‘Mr Azul‘, to preserve his anonymity. There are three specific works within the collection that symbolically complement the pieces exhibited in Amor Pasión and create a dialogue between the two collections.
This project seeks to create a replica of Mr Azul’s room within one of the exhibition spaces of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires. With metafiction as my guiding concept, I will transform the space – originally a private, domestic setting – into a publicly accessible environment. The intervention aims to provoke critical reflections on the mechanisms involved in linking, selecting and mounting exhibitions, as well as on the construction of curatorial narratives.
By applying the concepts of recursion and metafiction – originating from literature, programming and audiovisual media – I aim to challenge the viewer to question and analyse the structures that underpin curatorial scripts. The replica of Mr Azul’s room will function as a device to present a ‘collection within a collection’, encouraging new possible associations.
During the research phase, I will explore the representation of the human body in the works of the Museo de Arte Moderno collection, placing special emphasis on erotic works. At the same time, I will analyse the spatial and conceptual relations of the private collection in its domestic context, and its interaction with the public collection of the museum. In addition, I will design and develop a museographic project that brings together the concepts of recursion and metafiction in the exhibition of the works.
In all, this project aims to open a dialogue about the criteria for collections in the public and private spheres. Through identifying and connecting these contexts, the project looks to collaborate with the Museo de Arte Moderno in the development of an innovative curatorial approach and a museographic design that enriches the exhibition discourse.
Sebastián Operto is a visual artist, curator, and project writer in art and education, and holds a degree in Fine Arts. Currently, he is a research assistant for the Research Methodologies lecture course at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, where he is also a member of CETES [Centre for Transdisciplinary Studies on Aesthetics and Semiotics].
Between 2021 and 2023, he coordinated “Gimnasio gráfico” [‘Graphic Gymnasium’], an experimental drawing workshop at the Usina Social foundation of Rosario. He was awarded the Fundación Petersen grant at the International Congress of the Argentinian Association of Art Critics (AACA) and completed the programme, “El Oráculo” [‘The Oracle’]. He was also part of “Pensar y contar Rosario” [‘Think and Tell Rosario’], in the province of Santa Fe. In 2023, he participated in the Cultural Management summer course at the Universidad Carlos III and the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.
As a curator, his exhibitions include: Doméstica y salvaje [Domestic and Wild], at Espacio Barraco; Amor Pasión [Passion Love], at the Museo Municipal de Artes Dr. Urbano Poggi; and Casa Hálito [Hálito House], an exhibition that brings together art and architecture. He has also organised art clinics, together with Carlos Herrera, Mauro Guzmán and Marcia Schvartz.
As an artist, in 2022, Operto participated in “Cosecha Propia” [‘One’s Own Harvest’], the tenth edition of the Biennial of the Municipality of Rafaela, where he was awarded the Friends of the Museum Institutional Prize from the Museo Municipal de Arte Dr. Urbano Poggi (MMAUP). He presented Zombi [Zombie] at the CAD2 (2022); Pasearse desnudo [Walking Around Naked] at Gallería Desmayo (2021); and Hipnótico [Hypnotic] at Galería Lava, in Rafaela (2020). In addition, he participated in the virtual exhibition ‘Otra feria’ [‘Another Fair’] (2020); MicroFeria [MicroFair], at Galería Darkhaus, Rosario (2018); and Cuerpo y paisajes [Body and Landscapes], at the Centro Cultural Recoleta (2017).