Exhibitions
Matter, memory and territory: the MAC inaugurates its first exhibition cycle of 2026
On April 24th, at 7 pm, the Quinta Normal branch of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of Chile will open its first exhibition cycle of 2026 with an ambitious inauguration featuring eight new exhibitions. Seven of these were selected through a public call for proposals, solidifying a program that champions the diversity of perspectives and languages in contemporary art.
The exhibition proposes a dialogue between concepts such as matter, body, time, and memory, and invites visitors to explore different approaches to the artistic experience from sensory, political, and historical perspectives. Adding to this framework is "Sensitive Matter ," an educational curatorial project developed by the EducaMAC department, which will be presented in the Mediation Room. This project coincides with two key milestones: the 200th anniversary of Nicéphore Niépce's first permanent photograph, and the 50th anniversary of the museum's Photographic Archive, underscoring the importance of the photographic archive as a tool for knowledge and creation.
Among the highlights is "The Ear of Wheat and the Gold ," an artistic investigation by Cecilia Hormazábal, on view until August 24th. The work delves into the fragmented memory of the Chanchomallin reduction, near Carahue. It revisits a crucial episode in Chilean history: the occupation of Mapuche territories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the subsequent imposition of a system of reductions that confined communities to limited plots of land, profoundly altering their social and economic organization.
Through analepsis—a narrative device that introduces fragments of the past into the present—the exhibition articulates a visual reflection based on three ways of seeing characteristic of Mapuche culture: image, text, and archive. From this perspective, the project not only reconstructs a historical memory but also proposes new ways of narrating it, integrating the Mapuche worldview as its central axis.
The result is a space where past, present, and future are in constant dialogue, generating an experience that transcends the exhibition itself to become a reflection on how we inhabit and understand the world. With this inaugural season, the MAC Quinta Normal reaffirms its role as a critical and experimental platform where contemporary art connects with history, education, and the multiple layers of collective memory.
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