Upper East Side, New York
Group Exhibition
El Dorado: Myths of Gold, Part I
Americas SocietyOlga de Amaral, Denilson Baniwa, Bruno Baptistelli, Andrés Bedoya, Charles Bentley, Juan Brenner, Fernando Bryce, Wendy Cabrera Rubio, Leda Catunda, Chiriquí artist, Coclé artists, William Cordova, Juan Covelli, Covens & Mortier, Theodor De Bry, Dario Escobar, Scherezade Garcia, Anna Bella Geiger, Mathias Goeritz, Joaquín Gutiérrez, Thomas Hariot, John Harris, Pablo Helguera, Ana Mercedes Hoyos, Alfredo Jaar, Nancy La Rosa & Juan Salas Carreño, Lambayeque artist, Jaime Lauriano, Mariano León, Hew Locke, Karen Lofgren, Juan Pedro López, Liliana Maresca, Esperanza Mayobre, Sara Mejia Kriendler, Ana María Millán, Marta Minujín, Herman Moll, Priscilla Monge, Santiago Montoya, Carlos Motta, Eamon Ore-Giron, Rubén Ortiz Torres, Ebony G. Patterson, Rolando Peña, José Antonio Peñaloza, Armando Queiroz, Ronny Quevedo, Mazenett Quiroga, Quimbaya style artist, Freddy Rodríguez, Carlos Rojas, Miguel Ángel Rojas, Luis Romero, Harmonia Rosales, Johann Moritz Rugendas, Tiago Sant'Ana, Julia Santos Solomon, Vicente Telles, Pedro Terán, Ernest Charton de Treville, Moara Tupinambá, Veraguas artist, Laura Vinci, Alberta Whittle Americas Society presents El Dorado: Myths of Gold, a new exhibition exploring the myth of El Dorado from the pre-Hispanic period to the contemporary era. The two-part show is co-curated by Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Director and Chief Curator, Art at Americas Society; Tie Jojima, Associate Curator, Manager of Exhibitions, Art at Americas Society; and Edward Sullivan, Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of Art History, New York University. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, engravings, and videos that offer new interpretations and questions about the myth. Since Europeans’ invasion of the Americas, rumors spread quickly about a kingdom filled with gold, driving conquistadores to find it. Despite never being found, the mythical El Dorado defined the continent as an empty land up for grabs. El Dorado: Myths of Gold brings together artworks and artists that engage with the myth to evaluate its continuity into the present, sometimes offering a critical view and a path of resistance. “Through their use of gold, both physical and metaphorical, the artists in this exhibition emphasize to us the ambivalent power of myth in conditioning who we are as a region, opening space for us to resist extractive systems and to reconsider what we are seeking,” writes the exhibition curatorial team. Organized in collaboration with Fundación PROA in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Museo Amparo in Puebla (Mexico), the exhibition will take place in two parts: Part I from September through December 2023 and Part II from January through May 2024. El Dorado: Myths of Gold will be accompanied by a published catalogue and a reader featuring texts about El Dorado by leading scholars. Americas Society will also present a series of public programs, including an academic symposium, in conjunction with the exhibition. The presentation of El Dorado and related programming has been made possible by generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional support was provided by Furthermore, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund. Americas Society thanks Fundación PROA in Buenos Aires and Museo Amparo in Puebla for their collaboration in this project.