New winds in the National Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DiCul) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by career diplomat Alejandra Pecoraro. In line with the international imprint that President Javier Milei and Chancellor Diana Mondino are giving to the country, the area became dependent on the Secretariat of International Trade Relations, headed by Marcelo Cima. This also means a change of course.
Unobjectionable sources from the Foreign Ministry consulted by Clarín stressed: “Until now DiCul has worked on disseminating the offer. From now on we will work on the demand. We will be like a headquarters with 150 branches, which is the number of our embassies abroad.”
The question then was whether inviting an artist or a writer to a Fair or a Festival or a Biennial would be a kind of bow mask to sell olives or accept Argentine wines around the world. “No, because the Foreign Ministry already has a trade promotion area, as well as a cultural industries area,” the spokespersons responded.
The president, Javier Milei, and the chancellor, Diana Mondino. Photo: EFE
What will the approach to Argentine culture, literature, art, education and science be like abroad, then? “For example,” the sources said, “in April we will have the presence of the artist Luciana Lamothe at the Venice Art Biennale. We are going to take advantage of this event to coordinate with a dozen cities to open a market for Argentine art. And we will do this with the writers, the scientists, because DiCul will have three coordinators. One in culture who will be Gonze Entenza, one in education who will be María del Carmen Pasarin, and Malén Vázquez in science.”
Pecoraro He will not speak to the media until his appointment is effective, although he is working at DiCul, where he has been working since Ambassador Sergio Baur was in charge of the Directorate, at the time when Jorge Faurie was chancellor, during the government of Mauritius. Macri.
She then continued in the management of Juan Falú, who resigned “overwhelmed” after the break of the pandemic, as she expressed to this medium, and was virtual second in DiCul in the period of Kirchnerist Paula Vázquez. The functionaries, excited about the new imprintthey pointed out that in educational matters they will encourage more students from abroad to come to study at our universities (there is already a very high number).
“The objective is the general promotion of Argentine culturewhy what is not known is not sold“, they stated. DiCul already has a planned plan, according to informants, but for the moment and until the new names in charge are made official, they will not announce it.
Given that the objective was not completely clear, one of the sources exemplified: “Did you see that movie with Audrey Hepburn? What do you remember most?” To which we responded: Nothing. “The Vespa!” exclaims the source. “After that film, quantities of Vespa motorcycles were sold.”.
So, going back to the beginning, the concept is that Culture will be an instrument that will open markets for other products that are not necessarily cultural. Which is equivalent to saying, not only cultural industries, but it will be marketing of other businesses. Culture will be something like the Irizar icebreakerwill make its way through the icebergs of the world economy, so that Argentina – embodied in the private sector – can place its products in the international market.
The artist Luciana Lamothe will be the Argentine representative at the 2024 Venice Biennale.
Strategies, planning, coordination with other areas and promotion are the new terms with which DiCul takes the field to play a decisive championship, after two administrations – those of Juan Falú and Paula Vázquez – that atomized the meaning of this historical direction.
It only remains to know what budget will be managed. Extended from 2023 to date, The devaluation has consumed a good part of the allocated resources. And, as they point out Clarion some spokespersons from the art world, “the assembly of Luciana Lamothe’s work (competition before a Jury of notables) in the Argentine Pavilion at the Venice Biennale must be paid for.”
With this new commercial imprint, DiCul plans to send Argentina to the most important art Biennial in the world, with the intention of “generating an expansion of Argentine art.” The question that still has no answer is how it will be articulated, taking into account that the event in Venice has always been a showcase for the chosen artist, but not for the entire Argentine art scene.
2023-12-22 02:42:37
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