Introduction

 

Two years ago when doing art workshops in rural Ecuadorian communities, very hard to reach due to terrible road conditions, I used to ask myself what could be the most eficient way to do this. Computers and projection gear where out of the question because many of these communities don’t have electrical power, posters where enormous and hard to carry, books were small, sometimes too heavy and most times impossible to open all the way. Finally one morning the idea hit me: a box! a museum in a box!  this could be the answer. A small accordion book with images of 30 artists and their artwork, so it can be seen, touched, passed down to other people, and serve as an inspiration to create art from.

Then I started creating what would come to be this project inspired in a small chemistry lab I had when I was a child. The lab offers info at the same time that gives us the chance to experiment and provides the necessary materials to do it. This is what Museum in a Box brings to you, an accordion book, a catalog and a supplies box to experiment with.

Inside it you will find the artists and their artwork. There are many fine contemporary artists in the Ecuadorian art scene, many and with very distinct and rich work. Not all of them are here. This is a selection of work that has caught my attention through my years as an art teacher. I selected this artists thinking about the audience it is dedicated to: teachers and young students. I used two criteria: first, I wanted the artwork to be fun and inspire the audience to create from it, and second that the artists are emerging and or under-represented. There are obviously some exceptions that confirm the rule.

Some projects have been already “tested” in my various workshops in different contexts.  Some are new projects to be experimented by teachers in their own classrooms. I have made the effort of choosing artists whose work  is fun, whose practice has kept the ability of “wonderment” that I so admire in art,. These are artists who use imagination to create worlds that are both fantastic and unthinkable.

I present you then with an art lab where you can find artists and artwork, you will be able to experiment and play with, and hopefully create your own.