Lima’s Museum of Contemporary Art – MAC – offers visitors exhibitions of modern and contemporary art by both local and foreign artists. Opened in 2013 in Lima’s bohemian neighborhood of Barranco, the museum originates from a private initiative of collectors, researchers and artists who in the 1950s formed the Institute of Contemporary Art – IAC.
Over the years, the IAC began a collection of important Peruvian and Latin American art, which, by the end of the 1980s, became the inspiration to create the museum. Until that moment, the only museum of such stature that existed in Lima was the Art Museum of Lima – MALI.
Thanks to the support of Peruvian and Latin American artists who contributed works for different auctions, the IAC raised funds to build the museum in a public space donated by the Municipality of Barranco.
A Contemporary Art Museum in a Hipster Neighborhood
With a neighborhood controversy over the use of the space that would be occupied by the museum, the building was erected in one part of the space while another part became a public area. The museum exhibitions find their homes in three main glass structures, surrounded by a mirror of water that separates the buildings and creates the feeling of islands.
Rather than focusing on hosting a permanent exhibition, the museum offers temporary exhibitions in a diverse and constantly renewed program that includes proposals exploring the MAC collection, which has works by Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró (Spain), on loan from the Ministry of Culture, Víctor Pasmore (England), Jesús Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez (Venezuela), Álvaro Barrios (Colombia) and Peruvians such as Juan Javier Salazar, Claudia Coca, Moico Yaker, Miguel Aguirre, Alfredo Márquez, among others.
Since its creation, the MAC has been offering thought-provoking samples of modern and contemporary art. Among them have been exhibitions that addressed issues of gender identity, feminism and discrimination, which, as could happen in any other museum in the world, in 2017 provoked a protest of young people against blasphemy in modern art. In such contexts, this space acquires even more value, and the curatorial proposals of the exhibitions are showing success on sensitive issues while revealing a silent and latent tension in the very traditional community with a tendency toward censorship.
Why Should Visit MAC Lima
A visit to the museum invites one to spend a moment of leisurely rest in the park cafeteria. La Bodega Verde offers a handmade menu of organic and healthy ingredients with 40 types of tea and infusions. We also recommend you check out the museum’s programming, which offers an active agenda of art talks, film screenings, concerts, art fairs, among other activities for adults and children alike.
Museum of Contemporary Art – Lima Av. Grau 1511, Barranco, L04, Peru Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. General admission: S / .10 Children, students and seniors: S / .6
Web Address: www.maclima.pe
