Curating Time

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About

Time is the substance I am made of.

Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river;

it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger;

it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.

Jorge Luis Borges, 'A New Refutation of Time'.

Dear visitor,

This website aims to virtually display some of my curatorial work to connect with institutions, art organisations, and cultural spaces as well as creative practitioners, researchers or individuals who might share interests and values. More information about my research can be found in the research section.

About me

I am an art historian, curator, writer and researcher, working as Curator of Programmes at the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) in London, U.K. My current research interests are focused on artistic and curatorial approaches to the body and embodied power.

I was born and lived in Mexico until I moved to London in 2012. In Mexico, I completed a BA in Art History at Universidad Iberoamericana and I worked in curatorial and research positions in Curare Critical Space for the Arts in Mexico City and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca. I also lived in Lisbon, Portugal, where I worked with the curatorial team of Carpe Diem Arte & Pesquisa: an artistic/curatorial research and experimentation initiative.

In London, I completed an MA in Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art followed by a PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths University. My 'theorypractice' thesis, Curating Time, explores paradoxes, resistances and perversions in three counter-temporalities. It regards contingency, anachronism and flirtation as commonly overlooked or disregarded temporalities, sympathetic to counter-positions of those who are in situations of vulnerability or have less power with regard to the ones who govern. However, my intention has been to awaken their subversive power, by re-covering their value, re-claiming their function and re-writing their meaning.

Over the past decade, I have curated numerous independent projects in partnership with museums, art festivals, commercial galleries and not-for-profit organisations across the UK and internationally. Some examples include the exhibition Against Time at Glasgow International, Scotland; the Mail Art project Correspondence at Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art, Oaxaca; the residency/exhibition By Indirections Find Directions Out at Yamakiwa Gallery, Japan; the moving-image programme Cuts to Violence at FUSO Anual de Videoarte, Lisbon. Before my current position at the CAS, I was Public Programme Curator of NN Contemporary Art in Northampton. The projects section of this website includes information about past collaborations.

In terms of my written work, I have published articles, exhibition reviews, artists’ profiles, and other texts related to art criticism and theory in various international magazines and journals. Most recently, I wrote a review of the 59th Venice Biennale The Milk of Dreams curated by Cecilia Alemani, published by Routledge in the academic journal The Senses and Society; an article about Fabián Cháirez’s paintings of indigenous and transgender bodies shown at the UK Mexican Arts Society, London, published in La Tempestad; a review of Marysia Lewandowska's feminist histories in the exhibition It’s About Time, curated by Ralph Rugoff during the 58th Venice Biennale, published in the Journal of Curatorial Studies. I have also interviewed Paula Rego, Carolyn Christov Bakargier, Sophie Calle, and other international artists and curators. The text section contains some examples of these and more publications.

I have acted as Visiting Curator at Delfina Foundation, and Visiting Curator/Lecturer at the post-academic multidisciplinary residency Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht. I have been a juror of international art competitions, such as Apexart in New York City, Arte Jovem in Portugal, and the Programme for Creativity and Artistic Development in Oaxaca; and I was the advisor of young artists' portfolios around the Art Residency Project in Playa del Carmen. I have been awarded an Interdisciplinary Residency at Hospitalfield, Scotland, funded by Hope Scott Trust; and undertook a writer's residency at Carpe Diem Arte & Pesquisa, Lisbon. I participated in the Curators' Programme of Estampa Art Fair, organised by Hablarenarte, Madrid, and in the Curatorial Exchange: London to Athens, organised by NEON and Whitechapel Gallery. I was a member of the Student Forum of the ICA, London; joined the Curatorial Study Group of the Liverpool Biennial The Stomach and the Port curated by Manuela Moscoso, and I am part of the Feminist Duration Reading Group led by Helena Reckitt.

As part of my academic trajectory, I have developed teaching experience at the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths University, Chelsea College of Arts and the University of Northampton. I have also acted as Guest Speaker at York St John University and Leeds Arts University.

I hope you connect with some of the ideas I present on this website. For any further information, you can reach me by sending a message through the contact section or an email to paulalzambrano[at]gmail[dot]com

Thanks for visiting,

Paula