Magalí Arriola
Magalí Arriola is an art critic and independent curator based in Mexico City, Mexico.
Art Basel debuted its digital platform, the Online Viewing Rooms, with 235 galleries showing over 2,000 pieces. To help our readers navigate these first virtual aisles, curators have been invited to preview the offering and share what caught their eye. Here, Magalí Arriola, curator of the Meridians sector and director, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City shares her picks.
Art Basel Miami Beach launches a new sector: Meridians
Curated by Magalí Arriola, Meridians will be dedicated to large-scale installations, videos, and performances
Art Basel is pleased to announce the launch of Meridians, a new sector dedicated to monumental artworks which will debut at the 18th edition of the Miami Beach show in December. The initiative will be spearheaded by Mexico City-based Magalí Arriola, Lead Curator for Latin America at KADIST and curator of Mexico’s participation at the 58th Venice Biennale.
‘I am thrilled to steer this fantastic project,’ she said. ‘Meridians brings enormous possibilities to Art Basel Miami Beach, creating a vibrant platform for large-scale sculptures, installations, and moving image, as well as for performance – which did not have a dedicated space at the fair until now.’
Meridians will present around 30 projects that push the limits of what can traditionally be shown at an art fair. It will take place in the newly-opened Miami Beach Convention Center’s Grand Ballroom, a 60,000 sq. ft. (5,600 m²) space directly connected to the exhibition halls.
Participating artists, galleries, and further information on the projects will be announced in September 2019.
Top image: Joe Overstreet, Saint Expedite I (detail), 1971, Eric Firestone Gallery.
Magalí Arriola is the Director at Museo Tamayo. Previously, she was the curator at Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Chief Curator at the Museo Tamayo (2009‒11) and Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil (1997-2000). Arriola has curated Alibis, Mexican Cultural Institute, Paris, and Witte de With, Rotterdam (2002), How to Learn to Love the Bomb and Stop Worrying about It, CANAIA, México City, and Central de Arte at WTC, Guadalajara, Mexico (2003–04), What once passed for a future, or Landscapes of the living dead at Art2102, Los Angeles (2005), Prophets of Deceit at Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco (2006), and the 8th Panama Biennial (2008). She was also a visiting curator at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco in 2006. Arriola has contributed to publications such as Poliéster, ArtNexus, Parachute, Exit, Spike, Afterall and Manifesta Journal.
