Telenovela

Art at Americas Society is pleased to present Telenovela, an exhibition which explores the cultural significance of telenovelas across the Western Hemisphere through the lens of visual art. With over 50 artworks produced between the 1970s and the present day, the exhibition will demonstrate that telenovelas are an enduring Pan-American phenomenon that transcends geography, social stratification, or cultural categories.

Telenovela posits that the genre has been instrumental in conveying Latin American social, political, and economic values to inter-American audiences, while serving as a cultural touchstone for individuals throughout the region. Telenovelas are the most circulated cultural product of postwar Latin America, and a key part of inter-American dialogue with shows from Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil becoming Hemispheric hits. Subverting traditional discourses through their use of camp, telenovelas subtly challenge the boundaries of class, gender, and taste in the largely rigid and machista societies of the Americas.

The exhibition is organized in close collaboration with artist Pablo Helguera, whose ongoing relational aesthetics piece Instituto de la Telenovela (2007-present) pioneered the exploration of the topic through its many international presentations. For our exhibition at Americas Society, a new expanded version of the Instituto examining telenovelas from a Pan-American perspective will be commissioned. Instituto de la Telenovela (2024-2026) will occupy the entry point to the exhibition, serving as the prologue to a selection of artworks created by artists working in a range of media across the postwar Americas.

In anticipation of the exhibition, Americas Society hosted four virtual convenings between specialists on telenovelas from April 4 to October 3, 2025. These meetings, organized and moderated by Aimé Iglesias Lukin and Mariano López Seoane (CCS Bard), facilitated scholarly exchange that informed the planning of Telenovela.

The exhibition will be accompanied by two printed publications: an exhibition catalogue and a scholarly reader. Telenovela: A Reader is co-edited by Lukin and Seoane, and compiles artworks, interviews, archival documents, and multidisciplinary essays exploring telenovelas from the perspectives of art history, sociology, anthropology, comparative literature, performance studies, and visual studies.

An active schedule of public programming, including a symposium, two engaging performances, and an evening of telenovela karaoke, will also accompany the exhibition.

The exhibition will be on view from September 9, 2026 to March 27, 2027.

Curated by Aimé Iglesias Lukin.

View gallery and visitors information here.

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