The El Paso Museum of Art and El Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez to host world’s only US-MX border-focused biennial exhibition
Artists living within 200 miles of the US-Mexico border are invited to apply by December 5, 2017.
EL PASO, Texas – The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) and the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez (MACJ) announce the call for entries to the singular Transborder Biennial 2018. This contemporary art exhibition is unlike any other in the world, bringing together artists from the entire US-Mexico border in a dual exhibition featured at both museums. Artists can submit online beginning November 1, 2017, and the deadline for entries is December 5, 2017. The
Transborder Biennial 2018 will be on view from June 1 to September 16, 2018, at EPMA and MACJ.
The focus of this unique international biennial is the transborder theme, which can range from immigration, politics, economics, violence, and landscape, along with the exploration of personal, cultural, linguistic, or conceptual identities and themes related to the border region. Artists living within 200 miles north and 200 miles south of the US-Mexico border are invited to submit their work. “The El Paso/Juárez region is the world’s largest international border metroplex,” said Victoria Ramirez, EPMA Director. “We are extremely proud of the number of artists our biennial inspires, with 287 entrants for the last biennial, as well as the role its themes play for the US-Mexico borderland community.”
Submissions will be judged by two jurors from the US and Mexico who are distinguished scholars and practitioners in the field of contemporary art— Gilbert Vicario, a San Diego native who since 2015 has been the Selig Family Chief Curator at the Phoenix Art Museum, and Carlos Palacios, originally from Venezuela and now Curator at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City. Prizes will be awarded to selected artists, which include one EPMA acquisition award, two solo exhibition opportunities awarded to a Mexican artist at EPMA and an American artist at MACJ, and two binational prizes for residencies at SOMA in Mexico City.
The El Paso Museum of Art first began its biennial exhibition in 2008. In 2011, the biennial program received a prestigious Award for US-Mexico Cross-Border Cooperation and Innovation from the Border Research Partnership. The last biennial held in 2015–16 received a record number of submissions from almost 300 artists, with work by 23 American artists and 21 Mexican artists shown. As EPMA Senior Curator, Patrick Shaw Cable, said, “This biennial offers a unique forum for our local artists and for artists from larger and smaller border communities to place their art and concerns within the context of broader artistic themes and cultural issues.”
For additional information, contact EPMA-info@elpasotexas.gov.