The reopening of Sala Mendoza with the show Once tipos del 11 was not only an occasion to approach the proposals of 11 Venezuelan artists of the moment; it also made it possible to contrast, at a time when historical revision and analysis are imperative, two periods in the country’s life and culture. Curated by María Elena Ramos, Rafael Santana, and Costanza de Rogatis, Once tipos del 11 follows a concept developed at the same Sala Mendoza (helmed at the time by Lourdes Blanco) in the 1970s. Between 1973 and 1981, Sala Mendoza presented six editions of the show Once tipos, inviting for each the participation of eleven artists paradoxically connected through the diversity of their proposals, concepts, media, and techniques. Emerged initially with the intention of displaying a group of young artists who illustrated the multifariousness of the Venezuelan art scene at the time, Once tipos became a mandatory point of reference for contemporary art in the country—both because of its novel concept and the relevance acquired in Venezuela’s art circles by many of the artists who participated, and because it signaled, in effect, “the birth of a new museographic practice associated more with the investigation of and essayistic writing about new hypotheses based on fieldwork,” as Rafael Santana states in one of the texts included in the catalog for the show under review. In that sense, Once tipos del 11 is not just a tribute, but an opportune reminder of a period marked by cultural vitality, openness, and artistic pluralism, whose representatives were welcomed into public and private domains. The show included works by Miguel Amat, Marcela Armas, Ángela Bonadies, Nayarí Castillo, Elías Crespín, Suwon Lee, Richard López, Cipriano Martínez, Daniel Medina, Juan José Olavarría, and Juan Requena, brought together under a curatorial concept that braids two recursive terrains of contemporary art: the topic of memory, and the incorporation of extra-artistic motifs into the work of art. Katherine Chacón in Art Nexus. Sala Mendoza Universidad Metropolitana Edificio Eugenio Mendoza Goiticoa, P.B. Urbanización Terrazas del Ávila Caracas, Venezuela www.salamendoza.com
