Exhibitions
Art surrenders to play in Montevideo
The National Museum of Visual Arts offers a fresh perspective on artistic creation with "We Are Playing ," an exhibition on view from August 5, 2026, to February 28, 2027, featuring works by 72 artists and three collectives. The exhibition is based on a simple yet far-reaching premise: play is not only a form of entertainment, but also a way of connecting with the world, imagining possibilities, and constructing new realities.
Through different generations and artistic languages, the exhibition explores Uruguayan artistic production from the 19th century to the present day, revealing how play has been present in the imaginations of its creators. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, toys, objects, installations, and audiovisual pieces create a journey in which experimentation, humor, movement, and invention take center stage.
What happens when art plays by its own rules? Can a work of art become a space for inventing other realities? These are some of the questions explored in an exhibition that invites us to observe the creative act from a playful perspective. Artists appear as creators of worlds, but also as players capable of establishing rules, modifying them, or even challenging them.
The exhibition is structured around six thematic sections that allow for exploring play from different perspectives. "Creating Things to Play With" focuses on objects and creations specifically designed for the play experience, while "Visual Representations of Games" brings together works that make play both the subject and the image.
The tour continues with Leisure and Sports , dedicated to the physical and collective dimension of play; Caricatures and Doodles , which champions spontaneous drawing, humor and gestural freedom; The Rules of the Game of Art , focused on the norms, limits and conventions that condition creation, and finally Playing at Being Someone Else , which explores the possibilities of transformation, fiction and identity that play offers.
Homage to the Cube, 1969, Amalia Nieto.
The selection brings together fundamental names in Uruguayan art alongside more recent generations, establishing connections between eras and artistic languages. Among the featured artists are Pedro Figari, Rafael Barradas, Joaquín Torres García, Petrona Viera, Amalia Nieto, José Gurvich, Lacy Duarte, Ignacio Iturria, Linda Kohen, Clever Lara, Carlos Musso, Teresa Vila, Santiago Tavella, and Dani Umpi, among many others.
The project is curated by Roxana Fabius, María Eugenia Grau, and María Eugenia Méndez, who present play as an experience capable of generating meaning, exploring possibilities, and modifying our relationship with the environment. From this perspective, creating also involves playing: combining freedom and imagination with rules, limits, and decisions.
The visitor experience also takes center stage thanks to the exhibition design developed by architect Felipe Reyno. The spatial concept complements the curatorial narrative and seeks to enhance the relationship between the artworks and the public, reinforcing the participatory and dynamic nature of the exhibition.
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