The School of Panamerican Unrest

Pablo Helguera (* Mexico City, 1971) is a visual artist based in New York. His work generally acquires unusual formats, ranging from experimental symposiums, phonograph recordings, exhibition audio-guides, publications or nomadic museums. Helguera normally departs from historic research or from interests surrounding the very nature of art production, its perception, and the role that art making and culture in general plays in politics and society. He often combines literary and musical strategies as well as pedagogy and education theory. Some of the subjects that have become part of his work include the history of the Shakers (Watervliet, 2006), the art of memory (Memory Theater, 2001-05), the phenomenon of the languages on the verge of extinction (Conservatory of Dead Languages, 2004- ), and the global impact of Latin American soap operas (Instituto de la Telenovela, 2002).

Helguera has presented his work at an individual level at the Museum of Modern Art of New York (performance: Parallel Lives, 2003) and at the Royal College of Art de London ( Los del Este, 2004, Monique Beudert Curatorial Program). He has also shown his work in various biennials such as the 8th Havana Biennial, San Juan's Poly-graphic Triennial (2004) and PERFORMA 05, New York's first performance art biennial. He has exhibited at the Museo del Barrio in New York, an institution that holds some of his primary works in its permanent collection. He also has exhibited also at the Shedhalle in Zurich, PS1 in New York, MCA Chicago, IFA Bonn, Metropolitan Museum in Tokio, MALBA in Buenos Aires, Ex-Teresa in Mexico City, Sculpture Center, Bronx Museum, and others, as well as in Zagreb, Berlin, Athens, Ljubljana, São Paulo, Bogotá, Chicago, and others. His work has been reviewed by the New York Times, Art in America, Artforum, Flash Art, Tema Celeste and Art Nexus, amongst others.

As cultural promotor and educator, Helguera has worked for over 15 years in US museums. He is currently the Director of Adult and Academic Programs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Prior to that, he was the head of public programs at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1998-2005). As part of his museum career, he has organized nearly 500 public programs. He has been the co director of the international forum of contemporary art experts in ARCO, Madrid (2003-05), and was director of the 5th SITAC in Mexico City in 2005 (Symposium of Contemporary Art Theory). He has also been juror of the biennials of Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the national contemporary art competition of San Juan.

He is the author of four books "Endingness" (2005), "Las Brujas de Tepoztlán (y otras óperas inéditas (2007), "The Pablo Helguera Manual of Contemporary Art Style" (Spanish edition, 2005; English edition 2007), and the novel "The Boy Inside the Letter" (forthcoming, 2007).

He is represented by Enrique Guerrero Gallery in Mexico City.

General project archive:
http://web.mac.com/phelguera/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html

Other links:
http://www.pintobooks.com/booksintransPabloHelguera.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_of_Panamerican_Unrest
http://www.juliafriedman.com/SwanSong_exhibition.html
http://www.juliafriedman.com/bio_helguera.html
http://channel.creative-capital.org/grantee_202.html
http://www.wps1.org/include/shows/wps1_interviews.html
http://nyartsmagazine.com/pages/nyam_document.php?nid=1223&did=2766

Pablo Helguera Biography

Pablo Helguera
Biography