The Fundación Paiz para la Educación y la Cultura created in 1978 the Bienal de Arte Paiz (BAP) with the objective of improving and stimulating Guatemalan art. The Biennale was established to promote a platform for exhibiting and promoting local artists abroad, as well as to consolidate the visual arts scene in the country. The BAP’s focus is to be an illustrative critical mirror, reflecting social concerns through art, thus becoming a space of discussion and reconfiguration of proposals and tendencies.
The Bienal de Arte Paiz is an international event that takes place every two years. It consists of several large format art exhibitions. Local and international artists are selected to participate with works of contemporary production (photographs, paintings, performances, installations, sculptures, videos, interventions on public spaces, etc.); becoming points of interest by displaying the most advanced and representative samples of each country in order to generate controversy, discussion, analysis and theoretical debates around contemporary art, and having a dialogue with the themes selected by the curators.
Vision
Since 2006, the Bienal de Arte Paiz focuses entirely on contemporary art and it is the only space in the country that has a wide enough range to showcase national and international artists in a context of global dialogue. The accompaniment of a team of curators devoted to spread this work to a wider audience makes this possible. Therefore, by becoming a platform for the display, creation and promotion of local art production, the Bienal de Arte Paiz became the most relevant visual arts event in Guatemala.
The incorporation of international artists in the XVII edition of the Biennale “Seeing Is Believing”, gave a substantial curatorial turn to the history and nature of the event. This decision, whose main goal was to position the Biennale globally, allowed Guatemala to connect with the world of international art.
Every two years, the Biennale welcomes at least 40,000 visitors that enjoy the exhibitions at no cost for one month in all venues simultaneously. The BAP offers a great opportunity for Guatemalans to interact with contemporary art and to reflect upon the issues proposed accessible spaces.
The Bienal de Arte Paiz has a large educational program, which allows adults, young people and children to connect with contemporary art through workshops, lectures and round tables with an interactive methodology.
The next edition, the 22nd Bienal de Arte Paiz, “lost. in between. together”, curated by Alexia Tala (Chile) with co-curation of Gabriel Rodriguez (Guatemala) intends to make this legacy grow, investing their wide experience in projects that have taken place both in Latin American and Guatemalan contexts.
Foundation
The Fundación Paiz para la Educación y la Cultura is a non-profit organization committed to the development and transformation of the Guatemalan society.
It was created more than four decades ago as a Corporate Social Responsibility organization, and is currently a family run entity. From the beginning, it has focused its work through educational, cultural and artistic programs that have an impact on the lives of more than 60,000 people every year.
Fundación Paiz works endlessly contributing to change the way people perceive themselves and their reality. Art and education are the basis from which dynamic proposals are built in common, inclusive spaces, thus contributing to improving Guatemalans life condition.
Through artistic programs, aimed both for the larger public as well as for specific areas and groups, the Fundación Paiz provides an space for new visions and projects ensuring a big impact on individuals, the Guatemalan society and the Central American region.
Since the Fundación Paiz was founded, it has given more than 8,500 education scholarships to youths in social vulnerability. Working jointly with international cooperation donors, it has also implemented programs aimed to improve training in life skills, technical abilities and employability, which have helped transform people’s lives, families and their environment.
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