Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art // Marvelous Survival: 20 Years of SITAC
“Ten years ago I produced a SITAC and still I have not recovered.” tweeted Eduardo Abaroa, artist and director of SITAC 9, The Theory and Practice of Catastrophe. As it turns out, he is far from alone in that sentiment.
In that amorphous collectively-agreed-upon fiction that is referred to colloquially, if imprecisely, as the Mexican contemporary art world, the Simposio Internacional de Teoría sobre Arte Contemporáneo, (SITAC) conference, is an undeniably important fixture. The occasion of 2020 marking the 20th anniversary of SITAC, and this anniversary coinciding with a world-wide pause in in-person art events due to the Covid-19 pandemic, offered a unique opportunity to reflect on the conference’s legacy as an agent of internationalization and institutionalization of contemporary art in Mexico. By swapping out the usual theme-driven theory focus for a dynamic more akin to a reunion—or what I’d venture panelists might liken to group therapy—this year’s conference was in effect an exercise in collective remembrance. With roughly 8 total hours of Zoom, YouTube, and Facebook sessions divided over three days largely dedicated to the rearward gaze, the conference highlighted the utility of institutional memory amid a zeitgeist of perpetual catastrophe.
