Young Professionals of the Americas recibió al chef “paisa” Juan Manuel Barrientos, o Juanma, para su segundo evento de la serie de Gastrodiplomacia. El chef, nacido en la ciudad de Medellín, nos enseñó a preparar dos cócteles de su carta en su restaurant ElCielo, uno el Lady Old Fashioned, y el otro, No Dar Papaya, representando la cultura colombiana con una frase casual que significa "no darle importancia" a algo. En su modo ligero y alegre, Juanma preparó los tragos y luego el plato del día, la tortilla de papas arrugadas. Durante la clase, Juanma contestó preguntas sobre el estado del turismo en Colombia, cómo la pandemia ha afectado a emprendedores de todas las industrias, en particular en la alimenticia, y qué consejos tiene para jóvenes emprendedores con sueños de negocios. A eso, el chef contestó que hay que "soñar en grande, dedicar tu vida a hacer tus sueños realidad, y si no son grandes los sueños, no valen la pena", y que se debe ser "irrealista al soñar, y realista al planear".

Young Professionals of the Americas (YPA) spent the evening cooking with the Peruvian Brothers, Chefs Mario and Giuseppe Lanzone, in what was YPA's first Gastrodiplomacy Series event. The brothers recently opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Washington, DC, after seven years running a food truck fleet.

The pair started the class by making a classic Peruvian pisco sour, followed by a quinoa salad, and then a lomo saltado as the main course. A vegetable saltado was also made for those who prefer a meatless option. These dishes represent a cuisine called comida criolla, which has Andean, Iberian, African, and Asian influences. According to the Peruvian Brothers, the cuisine only gets tastier when you combine all those cultures. Those who registered in the Washington area received a food kit with ingredients.

Participantes:

• Enrique Avogadro, Ministro de Cultura, Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires
• Danielle Barros, Directora de Cultura y Economía Creativa, Estado de Rio de Janeiro
• Magdalena Moreno Mujica, Directora Ejecutiva, International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies
• Ramiro Pallares, Director de Cultura, Intendencia Municipal de Montevideo
• Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Sebastián Zubieta, Americas Society, (moderadores)

Continuando la serie de conversaciones con profesionales de las artes organizada por Americas Society durante la pandemia del coronavirus, profesionales de gobiernos locales hablaron de cómo pueden apoyar a artistas e instituciones durante la cuarentena y cómo lugares como museos pueden adoptar un nuevo rol después de la crisis. Enrique Avogadro habló de una nueva plataforma que presenta una oferta de películas, teatro y tours a museos para una población en cuarentena obligatoria. Danielle Barros y Ramiro Pallares discutieron sobre los fondos y concursos para fomentar actividades de artistas en este momento y Magdalena Moreno Mujica habló de ejemplos de otros países y cómo la interacción con instituciones de arte va a cambiar.

Speakers:

• Sandra Antelo-Suarez, Ibero America, Spain & Portugal, Artforum @Artforum
• Dorothée Dupuis, Director and Chief Editor, Terremoto, @terremoto_mx
• Hrag Vartanian, Editor-in-chief and Co-Founder, Hyperallergic @Hyperallergic @hragv
• Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Director and Chief Curator of Visual Arts at Americas Society (moderator) @Visual_ArtsAS

COVID-19 is affecting cultural institutions across the Americas, but experts and critics participating in a virtual panel organized by Americas Society on April 16 said art institutions can find new ways to build community and opportunities in times of crisis. While Dorothée Dupuis said that newer publications such as Terremoto are having to rethink their format and opt to not print their upcoming issue due to financial constrains, Hrag Vartanian explained his team "is used to crisis" as they founded Hyperallergic in 2009. Artforum's Sandra Antelo-Suarez described how art institutions had to be creative and contriubuted to lifting New York real estate values after 9/11, as well as how art in the Americas have previously been affected by disparities in the editorial process.

Dupuis explained that art publications which already had a successful digital strategy are benefiting from the crisis, and the group discussed how gallery openings and museums might adopt different positions when it comes to access. "It's really curious to see why some institutions have decided to open up now. So much of this content could easily have been online for a long time," said Vartanian.

As Artishock's Alejandra Villasmil could not join the panel live, you can watch her participation here.

In this mini-documentary, curator Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro and Americas Society Visual Arts Director Aimé Iglesias Lukin talk about Abrigo, the first solo exhibition of Paraguayan artist Feliciano Centurión in the United States.

The short film displays the full collection of Centurión's works in the New York exhibition, which features embroidery and painting on traditional blankets and other domestic items that the artist would buy in Buenos Aires' Garment District. Pérez-Barreiro explains how Centurión approached his identity and life experiences in a novel and political way, shaping art in Latin America in the 1990s. "He's talking about his identity as a Paraguayan immigrant into Buenos Aires, bringing these things that are invisible or considered bad taste and incorporating them very happily and confidently into his work," says the curator. For Lukin, Centurión's blankets serve as a metaphor for the entire exhibition: "[They are] the type of shelter, protection, and community that he was looking as an immigrant artist."

Centurión's works reflect his youth in the tropics, his love experiences in the Argentine metropolis, and spiritual reflections before his untimely death due to AIDS-related illness. "Even when he's diagnosed with AIDS and is facing the disease, he decides to make works that are not traumatic but are a testimony for the future, himself, his loved ones. That is what makes his work so powerful, informative, and at the same time very political," says Lukin.

• Learn more about Feliciano Centurión: Abrigo
• Read the exhibition catalogue for Feliciano Centurión: Abrigo.
• Watch the documentary Feliciano Centurión: Abrazo Íntimo al Natural, directed by Mon Ross (2016).

Documentary: Luisa Leme
Installation Images: On White Wall, Alessandra Medina
Soundtrack: Music of the Americas
"Caçuá," by the Hamilton de Holanda Quintet, performed at Americas Society in New York.
"Vals Op 8 N3," "Petit Pierrot," and "Bicho Feo" by Agustín Barrios Mangoré, performed by Tony Morris at Americas Society in New York.