44 minute read
Yearbook 2020
2020 Yearbook: Culture as an enduring sign of hope
Culture is hope
María Amalia León President of the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation and director of Centro León
COVID-19 jolted our customs and traditions. The world moved indoors to prevent massive contagion of the virus and has, since then, been overwhelmed by loss, economic and social effects caused by lockdown. Our existence is a daily personal and collective effort to exist and coexist. Other than material resources, we need each other to live, we need affection to nurture our feelings and to move forward, to overcome the difficulties that we may find along the way. Culture is part of those feelings and actions shared by members of society. It creates a common language through which we can communicate. Culture helps us rise and keep walking on the path of life. Centro León was created as an institution for cultural service: through the arts, critical thinking, and socio-cultural activities, it has aimed to promote to a wide national and international audience the tangible and intangible Dominican heritage. This past year, more than ever, humanity as a whole and we as part of it, have required a breath of hope and solidarity. Cultural institutions around the world have understood their role during these uncertain and distressing times: to entertain, to guide, and to remind us better days are coming. Culture is hope. That is the educational mission presented to us, and we have lived up to it. Experiencing art and culture is a mean to bring together knowledge of the past, present and future. It is a way to build bridges between us and other latitudes. A way to nourish inventiveness, human creation, empathy, community, and solidarity. As a result of the country’s situation and the orders given to us by the authorities a few months into 2020, Centro León decided to cease its in-person activities. Even so, the Centro León team kept working from home. First, we took care of our colleagues and their families. We then followed closely each new situation, to inform our community and protect each other. We prepared cultural offers made available through various digital platforms. These activities, both recreational and educational, were drawn from our archives at Centro León: virtual visits to art exhibitions, live talks, and conferences on various subjects.
We were also able to carry on with our 28th Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes, with a selection of 20 artists and collectives whose works were showcased virtually, along with four jury members. We shared art and culture on billboards around the city of Santo Domingo for the exhibition Arte para Expresarte. We continued our collaboration with renowned Dominican intellectuals and artists. We kept producing and improving our social media content so that it could reach a wider audience. This 2020 Yearbook is a testimony of Centro León’s commitment to culture, its contribution to human improvement and its promotion of the virtues aiming at a common good. We hope that on following pages you may find encouragement for these uncertain times, and remember creativity is an anchor of light. Following the tradition of our founders — the León family —, Centro León understands we can overcome this crisis and work together towards a better nation, a better world. May solidarity be our hope, and may our hope be the most sublime work of art of our national culture.
Introduction
This 2020 yearbook is unique and extraordinary, just like the year described on these pages. The year was pierced by an unexpected pandemic, but these months gave us a chance to firmly hold on to art and culture. Bracing these human pillars, we faced and fought uncertainty and absence. Culture has been hope, and art has been unstoppable. This memoir summarizes 52 weeks of work that go beyond the institution’s walls and extends to a universal audience through our YouTube channel and our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Through programs such as Centro León at home, the remote version of our courses, virtual visits of permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as public art projects such as Arte para Expresarte, the artworks of the 28th Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes, and the timely management decisions regarding the museum and its facilities, Centro León has continued its mission together with its community of collaborators, artists, experts and of course, the audience.
1. Culture in time of the Pandemic
Culture and art turned out to be essential tools to walk us through the uncertainties of an ongoing pandemic. Centro León worked hard on its institutional mission, reconsidered its processes, and remained a place for gathering, despite lockdown and distance. A place for inspiration and a place for hope.
1.1 Centro León at home
Before the lockdown set by the Dominican government, Centro León had already closed its doors to the public. This decision was made because of the country’s situation, and it allowed us to jump ahead and continue our work from home. Only a small team in charge of maintenance and security worked on-site. We had to resort to our memory and creativity under these new circumstances. In March, we launched our program Centro León at home, a cultural offer available through various digital platforms, drawn directly from the archives at Centro León. The first phase consisted of virtual visits to exhibitions, recorded activities, and videos on artworks and archeological pieces. The second phase involved new virtual activities, taking advantage of the fact that we could invite experts from around the world onto the same platform. This gave way to the following live discussions: Introducing the Collections, Thinking about the Present, Musical Gatherings and Shared Patrimony. The first allowed us to present visual artworks with comments by their artists, archeological pieces and archival documents studied and showcased at Centro León. The second one discussed everything related to the pandemic and its consequences on modern-day society, the arts, culture, and
management of cultural institutions, among others. Music was the focus of the third activity, debating about music genres, movements, instruments, and education. The last series favored the interaction between our donors, the artists, and the museum.
Other virtual meetings Lockdown brought new topics and experts to the audience’s homes, through the program Centro León at home. The Signs of Identity Exhibition: what we were and what we are, was a conversation meant to comment on the central subjects of the anthropology gallery at Centro León, its educational purpose, and its book. Archeologist Manuel García Arévalo and historian María Teresa Ruiz de Catrain had a dialogue with María Amalia León, director of Centro León, and Carlos Andújar, curator and advisor of cultural projects at Centro León. During the 23rd International Book Fair of Santo Domingo, Centro León broadcasted its virtual talk about the novel Los entresijos del viento, winner of the Premio Nacional Feria del Libro. Its author, Freddy Bretón Martínez, talked about his work with members of the jury, María José Rincón, Ilonka Nacidit Perdomo and the former director of the Book Fair, Ruth Herrera. Centro León also took part of the official activities of the 2020 Patron Saint Santiago Apóstol el Mayor Celebration, joining the discussion 525 years of culture in Santiago de los Caballeros. About the creation and patron saint celebrations of the city, historians Mu-Kien Sang Ben and Edwin Espinal discussed the cultural development of Santiago de los Caballeros during five centuries of history. Cave paintings and its patrimonial value were discussed with archeologists Adolfo López, Daniel Garrido Pimentel and Marcos García Diez. The discussion was conducted by sociologist Carlos Andújar. Specialists shared their perspectives on cave paintings and their patrimonial value, as well as what could be achieved in the Dominican Republic. The city of Santo Domingo was discussed following the documentary on Santo Domingo’s beginnings, directed by Huchi Lora and director and producer José (Pinky) Pintor. They talked about the creative process of Santo Domingo, first in America, along with Josefina Navarro, senior vice-president of Corporate Communications and Social Responsibility at the BHD León bank, sole investor on this film. Banco Popular Dominicano organized a virtual talk with Manuel García Arévalo, historian and author of the book Tainos, art and society. María Amalia León, María José Rincón and Christian Martínez joined the conversation, moderated by José Mármol, executive vice-president of Public Relations and Communications of the Popular Group. Architecture was also on the agenda during the talk between architects Víctor Durán, Julio Peña and Risoris Silvestre, titled Architecture of Sugar Cane Plantations in the Dominican Republic 1890-1950. The awards ceremony for the 27th Edition of Radio Santa María’s Short Stories Contest was broadcasted live across Centro León’s social media platforms and the La Vega radio station. Sponsored by the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation, Radio Santa María awarded 8 Dominican writers. The book compiling this edition of the contest was presented a few months later at an event with the participation of all the institutions who organized the contest, the four first winners, and writer Máximo Vega, in representation of the jury. Dominican Craftsmanship: empowerment and tradition brought together Sélvido Candelaria, Franklyn Sánchez, and José de Ferrari. They shared their experiences with the development of craftsmanship in the Dominican Republic, the artisans, and their products.
Social gatherings at Plenamar The online magazine Plenamar put in motion a series of social gatherings at Centro León, under the name of “Social Gatherings at Plenamar”. The first one, Thinking from inside the Island and beyond the sea brought together the founders of Plenamar to discuss their first year of cultural work. The second one announced the details for the International Week of Poetry, which took place between the days of October the 19th and the 25th, 2020. The audience was able to meet the national and international poets who gathered at the 9th edition of this poetic event.
Caribbean Conferences In October, Centro León and the Center for Caribbean Studies of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra initiated a monthly series of virtual conferences, broadcasted on the YouTube channels of both institutions, and on Centro León’s social media platforms. The first conference, Arab Presence in Santiago de los Caballeros in the early 20th Century, addressed the research made by Professor Wilson Enrique Genao for his Ph. D. thesis. As part of these series, Dr. Delia Blanco presented her program The Caribbean: Dream or Reality. The conference focused on Emerging Literary Writings from the Caribbean, and examined the new literary genres and languages emerging in the Caribbean. The third, an architectural conference: Dr. Virginia Flores Sasso discussed the impact of prefabricated wooden architecture in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean during the 19th and 20th century.
1.2 Thinking about the Present
To encourage reflection on a variety of subjects during the pandemic, Centro León organized a series of dialogues titled Thinking about the Present. Each session brought together experts of numerous disciplines, who shared their perspectives about the present with the audience of Centro León at Home program. Seven sessions were held between May and September 2020. The first dialogue was between historian Roberto Cassá and anthropologist Carlos Andújar. They discussed natural, social and epidemiological disasters throughout Dominican history, in relation to COVID-19. Both Cassá and Andújar went over the Greek Pest of 430 BC, the Black Pest of 1348, the First and Second World War and the Spanish Flu of 1918, as well as other national incidents, such as smallpox during the Spanish Conquista of the Caribbean and national earthquakes like the one in Jacagua, Santiago, in 1562. The second session was a conversation between artists Johan Mijail, Madeline Jiménez Santil, and curators Yina Jiménez Suriel and Luis Graham Castillo. The topic: Inhabiting Uncertainty, subjectivities, practices, and scenarios, allowed them to discuss contemporary artistic and sociocultural production in relation to COVID-19, in today’s artistic circuit. Curators Emilio Valdés, Gabriela Rangel, Yina Jiménez Suriel and Luis Graham Castillo addressed the subject What will we do to reinvent ourselves? during the third session of the series. They analyzed the new reality of cultural institutions and the impact the crisis had on how art is appreciated and enjoyed during and after COVID-19. During the fourth encounter, Dr. Andrés L. Mateo discussed the impact culture had in times of crisis with Carlos Andújar and Luis Felipe Rodríguez, experts from Centro León. Mateo stated that the social, political, and economical transformations we are about to live are many and unavoidable. He mentioned a series of philosophers and contemporary thinkers who are trying to generate ideas that will help explain and give meaning to the current situation. For the fifth segment of these series, sociologists Dagoberto Tejeda and Carlos Andújar discussed The Pandemic and Cultural Carriers. Tejeda noted that, despite the pandemic, many traditions and ceremonies were postponed to 2021 but others were celebrated among small groups of people. As an example, he mentioned the Guillén brothers in Yamasá and the tradition of the black San Antonio: how the family carried out their rituals in an intimate and simple way. The next subject was Art Education in Times of the Pandemic, with educators Scherezade García, Guadalupe Álvarez and Elías Roedán. Both, artists and professors explored the challenges they faced as art instructors during the pandemic. They also mentioned how this was a chance to review methods and techniques to interact with students, institutions, and media. The exhibition of Arte para Expresarte was ideal to celebrate the seventh session of Thinking About the Present. Noel Giraldi, director of Cartel, chatted with Sara Hermann and Luis Felipe Rodríguez from Centro León, the reason behind this initiative, with 300 billboards throughout Santo Domingo. They discussed how its main objective was to portray art as an experience that could encourage critical thinking, while exploring their own preferences and bolstering their talent and creativity.
1.3 Introducing the collections
As part of the Centro León at home program, Centro León created the series Introducing the Collections, gatherings designed to share expertise on the visual arts, archeology, and ethnography collections available at Centro León. The first virtual meeting by curators Sara Hermann and Yina Jiménez, and artist Citlally Miranda contemplated the artwork Amar Re, which was added to the Eduardo León Jimenes Visual Arts Collection in 2019 and is now part of the permanent exhibition Genesis and Trajectory. Having Miranda’s work in our gallery is part of our curatorial goal to showcase the existence of Dominican contemporary art throughout the Collection, as well as the presence of women artists in the context of Dominican art, specially from the second half of the past century onwards — addressing its concepts and highlighting its use of mixed-media. The second gathering, Scientific Study of the Collection of Archeology, with archeologist Roberto Valcárcel Rojas and sociologist Carlos Andújar. Varcárcel explained how archeological objects always have something to say, as technology and analytical tools evolve. They also explained how Centro León studies and safeguards archeological pieces, as part of a research program looking to deeply understand the origin of these highly historically valued pieces, as well as understanding how they were made. Mónica Ferreras was the guest of the third session of the series. This Dominican artist, currently living in Switzerland, discussed with curators Sara Hermann and Orlando Isaac her work in the Eduardo León Jimenes Visual Arts Collection, as well as her trajectory. The artworks Mirándote espero a que me lleves I and Mirándote espero a que me lleves II, were inspired by Ferreras being denied a visa to go to an artistic residence abroad. The second one was awarded at the 23rd Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes in 2010. It is now showcased in our permanent exhibition Genesis and Trajectory. Researcher Soraya Aracena shared her views about archives on Dominican Popular Culture Doctor Rafael Cantisano. Alongside sociologist Carlos Andújar, cultural programs advisor at Centro León, Aracena highlighted the doctor’s contributions to folkloric medicine, his up-and-coming studies on anthropology in rural communities of Puerto Plata and its cultural management, shown in the propulsion and development of the La Isabela Bahía Club and the La Isabela Bahía Festival, a pioneer in spreading of Dominican music. The Fradique Lizardo Archive of Dominican Folklore was addressed as part of a virtual debate between anthropologist Edis Sánchez and Andújar. The experts commented on the diversity of the thousands of documents brought to light, as well as the other thousands pending classification, such as correspondences, manuscripts, research files, newspaper cut-outs, photos, recordings (Dominican folkloric music, field research, interviews, etc.) and ethnographic objects. Photography is an important part of our museum’s collection. Historian Orlando Inoa and sociologist Carlos Andújar discussed the Bernard Diederich Archive of Photography during the sixth installment of these series. They went over the country’s historic highlights captured by the New Zealand photo-reporter, who passed away in Haiti in 2020, where he had been living for several decades. The Bernard Diederich Archive of Photography encompasses the death of Trujillo as well as the several times Joaquín Balaguer assumed the presidency of the country — rural and cultural Dominican expressions, and popular Dominican experiences. It consists of 3,000 photographs that are today considered anthropological and historical documents. On another note, artist Pascal Meccariello was invited to talk with Sara Hermann, chief curator at Centro León, about his artworks in the Eduardo León Jimenes Visual Arts collection. The event, broadcasted on our social media platforms, allowed everyone to take a look at Pascals work: Los secretos mejor guardados y Trampa para lágrimas. The first one was awarded at the 19th Edition of the Eduardo León Jimenes Art Contest.
1.4 Musical Gatherings
Virtuality brought with it new ways to experience music. Since we could not offer live music at Centro León, we decided to talk about music. These musical gatherings brought together a variety of Dominican and foreign experts, from around the world, to talk about
music genres, artists, movements, etc. Between May and December, 14 sessions were broadcasted live through our social media platforms, conducted by musicologist Tommy García. The first session focused on Bachata, a Patrimony Living Among Us. José Antonio Rodríguez, Carlos Andújar and Luis Felipe Rodríguez talked about this musical genre, which was just recently declared as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Dominican Song, present and future, was the subject addressed during our second gathering between musician Josean Jacobo and singer Maridalia Hernández, who commented on the current status of the Dominican song and how it could reinvent itself. To celebrate Luis Días’s birthday, the third gathering was dedicated to the Dominican singer and songwriter. Musicians Miguel Mañaná, Manuel Tejada y Juan Francisco Ordóñez, former bandmates of El Terror, shared anecdotes, candid memories and unknown facts about Luis Días, going back to the early stages of his musical career in the 70’s. Musicians Edis Sánchez, Isidro Bobadilla and Edgar Molina discussed Dominican percussion. This fourth gathering served as a way to trace the evolution of percussion elements in our country, from the Tainos and the introduction of African instruments, up to the fabrication of Dominican instruments in several regions of the country. Another gathering honored singer and songwriter Víctor Víctor, who passed away a few weeks earlier due to COVID-19. Víctor Víctor, a tribute among friends brought together Freddy Ginebra, Maridalia Hernández, Janio Lora, Marel Alemany, Jochy Sánchez, Vicente García, Pavel Núñez and Rafelito Mirabal, who shared memories and commented on his legacy. In August, teachers and musicians Javier Vargas, Alaima González and Josean Jacobo talked about teaching Dominican music. One of the conclusions from this sixth gathering was that, despite having very good music students and excellent musicians in the Dominican Republic, it does not seem to be enough. That same month, singer and songwriters Claudio Cohen, Janio Lora and Xiomara Fortuna met to talk about Dominican singer-songwriting. As a way to approach what has come to be known as the alternative scene, musicians Cecilia Moltoni, La Marimba and Luitomá shared their experiences during the eighth session of our musical gatherings. Moltoni noted that the movement’s origin was in “its fusion, (…) it’s all about the fusion, the rhythms, uncovering and mixing those Dominican and Caribbean roots with a new language, a universal one”. During the month of October, we organized two gatherings to reminisce the seven editions of the International Congress of Caribbean Music, Identity and Culture. First, we invited researchers Darío Tejada, Julie Sellers, Carlos Andújar and Tommy García, with Luis Felipe Rodríguez as moderator. Then, researchers José Guerrero and Benjamín Lapidus joined García and Rodríguez. Both gatherings left us with precious testimonies, anecdotes, and lessons about the subjects that were addressed as well as the professional and personal discussions between the participants, speakers, musicians, and audience. Later on, the musical gatherings addressed the subject of Teaching Popular, Traditional and Folkloric Music, in a conversation between musicians Mártires de León, Ricardo Monzón and Leo Colón. The guests addressed the gaps in classic academicism and its focus on reading music, as opposed to popular and folkloric music, which tends to have an oral and aural tradition. As part of the National Day of Merengue, we held a gathering titled Tambora, Güira & Accordion, with researchers and historians Rafael Chaljub Mejía, Luis Felipe Rodríguez and Tommy García, about the origins, evolution and future of our national rhythm. December’s session discussed Education and Community. Benjamín de Menil, director of the Bachata Academy, and Oscar Stagnaro, professor at Berklee College, shared their experiences about encouraging a sense of community through music education. Stagnaro, who comes from Peru, has met with other Latin American professors to fuel his research on Latin American music and culture, through innovative programs at Berklee. De Menil established his academia in Cabarete to motivate a sense of community to his students in this small seaside town.
1.5 Shared Patrimony: Donations of 2020
After designer Jenny Polanco’s family donated a series of visual artworks through her foundation, Centro León initiated a series of
conversations titled Shared Patrimony, as a way to announce our new acquisitions and donations. Donators and the artists talked about their motivations, their contributions, and the characteristics of their artworks. In October 2020, we presented the series of collages created Quisqueya Henríquez which were donated to our collection through the Jenny Polanco Foundation. Dr. María Amalia León, president of the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation and director of Centro León; Luis Carlos and Carla Quiñones Polanco, president of the Jenny Polanco Foundation and CEO at Jenny Polanco SRL, respectively; Sara Hermann, chief curator at Centro León, and artist Quisqueya Henríquez were part of this event. Luis Carlos and Carla Quiñones Polanco looked back at their relationship with Dominican contemporary art and explained how the Jenny Polanco Foundation continues their mother’s legacy in supporting culture: fashion, visual arts, and craftwork. Artist Quisqueya Henríquez explained how Fragmento Criollo explores the figure of the baseball player. Henríquez believes it is important for this artwork to be part of Centro León’s collection because it is a significant element of the Caribbean cultural identity, both insular and continental.
Other donations in 2020 Also, Centro León introduced new artworks to the Eduardo León Jimenes Visual Arts Collection. Ivelisse Altagracia Gatón Díaz de González and Julio Manuel González Gatón donated 6,907 analog 35mm color slides, which belonged to Julio González. Same way, artist Jorge Adrados Martín donated his artwork Sin Título.
1.6 My Neighborhood Celebrates Christmas 2020
Christmas came around in the middle of the pandemic, so Centro León decided to renew its program My Neighborhood Celebrates Christmas, introducing a new community contest: Take a Picture of your Neighborhood at Christmas, where the community took pictures of the way they celebrated Christmas amidst these exceptional circumstances. The communities delivered: people were able to capture this historic, social and cultural moment, demonstrating the way the pandemic affected important traditions such as Christmas. We received 13 entries from 11 neighborhoods in Santiago de los Caballeros, represented by the neighborhood’s associations or their corresponding community organizations. Alongside the community contest, the program included a course on photography with cellphone cameras and on creating photography projects. The awarded sectors of the 2020 Edition of the Take a Picture of your Neighborhood at Christmas Contest were announced at the beginning of January 2021. The first place went to 15th Street at Los Ciruelitos, the second place was Los Pepines, and Villa Verde came third. The awards in cash were given as follows: first place RD$ 55,000.00; second place RD$ 35,000.00; and third place RD$ 25,000.00. The jury was composed of photographers José Enrique Tavárez, Roberto Pérez and José Manuel Antuñano. They considered the way the festivities were captured in the context of the pandemic, the respect of sanitary protocols, as well as the decorations and family relations.
Creativity and community Centro León has celebrated My Neighborhood Celebrates Christmas since 2006. This social program encourages community participation, seeing Christmas as an opportunity for neighborhoods to ponder on the value of working together to improve their own surroundings through creativity and traditions associated with Christmas festivities. Decorate your Neighborhood, a contest where the neighborhoods decorate their streets and communal spaces. In earlier editions, the program included courses on making decorations out of recycled material, as well as tours around the awarded sectors for anyone interested in the contest.
Christmas: lockdown and solidarity “We want to thank Centro León, not only for keeping Christmas alive despite the circumstances: receiving the money brought
us a lot of joy, because even though I know money often drives people apart, it was received as a blessing and a joy”. Mercedes Román, from Villa Verde, told us they used the money to visit each house and sharing a traditional asopao with the whole neighborhood. “Seeing older people say, upon receiving the present, “but I didn’t participate, I didn’t do anything”, and being able to tell them “Of course you did, just by putting on some Christmas lights you helped our neighborhood look prettier”.
2. Learning through virtuality
Education has always been an essential part of all our programs and projects here at Centro León. The pandemic challenged us to rethink the way we offer our courses, adapting their contents to the new possibilities remote education had to offer.
2.1 Preventive Archeology Program
The educational agreement between the French Embassy in the Dominican Republic and Centro León were set in motion in 2020, during the pandemic, starting with the program Study on the Native Societies of the Caribbean. Between July 27th and August 21st, 57 participants had the chance to approach this subject from a historical perspective, exploring prehistoric archeology, historic archeology, underwater archeology, among others. The professors were: Dr. Roberto Valcárcel, professor at INTEC and assigned researcher at Centro León; Dr. Corine Hofman, the outgoing dean at the Archeology Faculty of Leiden University, and chief of the project NEXUS 1492 with the support of the European Union in the Dominican Republic; Dr. Benoit Bérard, archeology professor at the University of the Antilles, Martinica; and Dr. Jean-Sébastien Guilbert, archeology professor and expert in underwater archeology. Adolfo López, José Guerrero, Manuel García Arévalo and Jorge Ulloa, archeologists living in the Dominican Republic, and Dr. Stéphen Rostain, expert on Caribbean societies and researcher at the Center for Scientific Research in France (CNRS) were experts who shared their knowledge throughout a series of conferences during the program. From September 7th to October 7th, 110 students took the course Museography Today, taught by Virginio Gaudenzi, director of exhibitions at the Museum of Mankind in Paris, and an expert in museography; and Stéphen Rostain from the CNRS. The objective of this course was to demonstrate the importance of museography when conceiving a museum: its audience, the educational aspects, the museographer as an expert, etc. Guest speakers for this course included Luisa de Peña, director of the Memorial Museum of Dominican Resistance; Francis Duranthon, director of the Museum of Natural History in Toulouse and director of the Museums and Monuments of Toulouse, France; Gamal Michelén Estefan, vice-minister of Cultural Heritage in the Dominican Republic; Magdalena Ruiz Marmolejo, Conservator of Patrimony, Museum of Mankind in Paris; Alexy Cordones, museographer, Funds for the Protection of the Ciudad Colonial in Santo Domingo, and the Cathedral Museum; and Luis Felipe Rodríguez, Cultural Programs manager at Centro León. The third course was an Introduction to Caribbean Archeology, from October 12th to November 6th. 112 participants attended the classes of Dr. Benoit Bérard, University of the Antilles, Martinica; Dr. Antonio Curet, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian; Dr. Corinne Hofman, Leiden University, Netherlands; and Dr. Paola Schiappacasse, University of Puerto Rico. This course featured conferences given by 8 national and international specialists: Stéphen Rostain, Reniel Rodríguez, Jorge Ulloa, Jaime R. Pagán Jiménez, Andrzej Antczak, Roberto Valcárcel, Jean-Sébastien Guibert and Pauline Kulstad.
2.2 Courses and Workshops in 2020
Before and during the pandemic, Centro León continued to offer courses on different subjects. Both our in-person and virtual modalities had an audience interested in a variety of subjects related to our collections and activities. Between January and March, we offered 14 courses and workshops, with 544 participants of different ages. A total of 16 teachers addressed the following subjects: fashion, art, education, music, painting, fashion drawing and photography. These courses took full advantage of the many spaces in our institution and were related to the permanent and temporary exhibitions at Centro León, for example our exhibition Being Oscar de la Renta was related to the following courses: Dressing Up My Dolls;
Recycled Fashion; Fashion Design; Image Consulting; Fashion Illustration and Representation; Recycled Fashion: use those jeans; and Basic Needlework for Kids.
Education and Virtuality Between the months of May and December, we offered a total of 19 virtual courses via zoom and Google Classroom, where 227 participants explored subjects such as contemporary art, watercolors, photography, painting, storytelling, oral expression and literature, learning from 12 professors and experts. Some of the courses were: Watercolor sketches, Painting at home, Course on contemporary art, Rubik’s Cube workshop, Painting our artists, Basic watercolors for the whole family, Course on better publications, Between tales and songs workshop, and Christmas Prints for the Family.
Craftwork and Development Centro León continued supporting artisans in Santiago de los Caballeros through our Craftwork Program, despite the limitations. We offered two remote courses alongside the Ciudad Corazón Craftsmen Association: Innovation and Craftwork Undertaking, and Comprehensive Management for Craftwork Businesses. Both courses were taught by Leonardo Valverde, economist and expert in Development Management at MIPYMES. 128 artisans joined him on Zoom throughout the months of August and November.
3. 28th Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes
“Art never stops” was the institutional slogan to show our commitment under the new circumstances. The 28th Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes could not have taken place without the commitment of the jury, the artists, the team at Centro León, and the audience, who followed the event through our digital platforms.
3.1 Selected Artists
Despite the pandemic, Centro León resumed its main activities, which included our visual arts contest, in existence since 1964. In April, we announced the artists and works that would be part of the 28th Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes, selected by a hardworking jury composed of Gabriela Rangel, Gerardo Mosquera, Raquel Paiewonsky and Sara Hermann. The in-person meetings were rescheduled and took place remotely, due to COVID-19. The artists selected were: Andrea Ottenwalder, Awelmy Sosa, Charlie Quezada, El Editor Cuir and Johan Mijail, Ernesto Rivera, Franz Caba, Guadalupe Casasnovas, Johanna Castillo, Joiri Minaya, José Morbán, Juana y si no su hermana, Julianny Ariza Vólquez, Lizania Cruz, Mc.kornin Salcedo, Melissa Llamo, Milena de Milena, Raúl Morilla, Suspicious Package, Tomás Pichardo Espaillat and Yoel Bordas. Just like past editions, after the public announcements were made, the artists worked alongside the curators designated by Centro León to develop and create their artworks.
About the jury Gabriela Rangel (Venezuela). Director of the Latin American Museum in Buenos Aires (MALBA). She studied both Communications and Film and earned a master’s degree at the Center for Curatorial Studies of Bard College, in New York. Among 2004-2019 she was the director of the Visual Arts department at Americas Society, the oldest art program dedicated to Latin America in New York. Gerardo Mosquera (Cuba). Curator, art critic and historian, as well as an independent writer. He is the co-founder of Havana’s Biennial. His most recent exhibition is currently at the Bronx Museum, New York. This is his third time as a jury of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes. Raquel Paiewonsky (Dominican Republic). She studied art in New York between 1991 and 2001. Since 2008, she is part of the Quintapata collective, alongside Belkis Ramírez, Pascal Meccariello and Jorge Pineda. She has been awarded at several editions of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes and at the National Biennial of Visual Arts of Santo Domingo. Her work was showcased at the Biennale in Venice, and she earned an art residency in Berlin in 2015, with the support of the Davidoff Art Initiative. Sara Hermann (Dominican Republic). Art historian, currently chief curator at Centro León. She directed the Museum of Modern Art
of the Dominican Republic. She is a member of the Arts Initiative of the International Counsel for the Arts of the Caribbean. She is the founder and manager of the program Curando Caribe, launched by Spain’s Center for Culture in Santo Domingo and Centro León. The 28th Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes was sponsored by the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation and the Cervecería Nacional Dominicana.
3.2 Dominican Art Never Stops
Celebrating the 28th Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes meant Dominican artists were able to continue working. Due to COVID-19, the opening date of the exhibition, which was originally scheduled for October 2020, was moved to 2021. After the announcement in April 2020, the selected artists developed their artworks and creative process consulting the curators assigned by Centro León. The change of schedule gave artists time to deliver works of a higher quality. During their creative process, they were able to access useful bibliography and obtain materials that were difficult to acquire due to successive lockdowns, the closure of non-essential business, and curfews set by the government. The artworks started to arrive in December 2020 and were assembled by early January 2021, following the instructions of the artists, curators and the museography team at Centro León: Alfonsina Martínez, Inmagela Abreu, Joel Butler Fernández, Laura Bisonó, Paula Flores, Víctor Martínez, Winston Rodríguez and Yina Jiménez. In addition, the process was limited by social distancing in the workplace and travel limitations, due to a changing curfew limiting the coordination to transfer the works to Santiago from other parts of the country and the world, which implied a great effort from the team at Centro León and the artists.
4. Exhibitions
The pandemic changed the exhibition landscape at Centro León. Gallery walls disappeared to reach a universal audience. Art traveled wherever people were, online or out in the streets. Accessing art and culture was now just one click away.
4.1 I see you, I see me
The first exhibition of 2020 was also the only in-person exhibition that took place that year at our facilities in Santiago de los Caballeros. Centro León, the LiLeón Foundation, and the Embassy of Italy in the Dominican Republic started the year with our first and only in-person exhibition of 2020: I See you, I see Me, by the artist Lidia León. Open to the public in the gallery La Aurora at Centro León in Santiago, the exhibition showcased an allegorical piece based on the shape of an egg and imbued with historical and philosophical references. Visitors saw themselves reflected in a large mirror and were given the opportunity to recognize themselves and rediscover their identity. The exhibition included a photographic tribute to artist Maurizio Rossi: black and white images of Venetian settings such as the background of the San Marco basin with the Bell Tower, the Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, the Square and San Giorgio Maggiore. During the opening of the exhibition, a book of the same name was presented by curators Roberta Semeraro, Iris Peynado and Marianne de Tolentino. The publication was sold at our store at Centro León. In addition to its time in Santiago, the exhibition offered other activities in Santo Domingo. Curator Roberta Semeraro gave a conference about the Venice Biennale between the years 1895 and 2019 and opened the exhibition A Tribute to I See You, I See Me, at Quinta Dominica, which showcased the work of Venetian photographer Maurizio Rossi.
Aware of the new role digital media had in the access to art and culture, Centro León offered virtual tours to its permanent and temporary exhibitions. On March 20th, the Dominican government set its first lockdown. The following day, our institution offered a virtual visit to the exhibit Being Oscar de la Renta, as a new way to visit Centro León without leaving home. During the exhibit, of the Dominican designer, the audience could witness cherish 50 dresses designed
by De la Renta, among other museum objects. This exhibition was sponsored by Grupo Puntacana, Cervecería Nacional Dominicana, Citi Private Bank, Banco Popular Dominicano, Editora Listín Diario, Visa Internacional, Aeropuerto Internacional del Cibao, Synergies Corporation, Fundación Propagás and Excel. In March, the permanent exhibitions of visual arts and archeology were also adapted to this new virtual arena. The sixth edition of the Dominican art show Genesis and Trajectory brought together 16 new artworks, showcased in our Visual Arts Gallery for the first time. The selection boldens the significant presence of contemporary art in the Eduardo León Jimenes Visual Arts Collection, as well as the way Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes has changed throughout the years. The virtual tour through Signs of Identity allows the audience to explore a selection of pieces from the institution’s archeology and ethnography collections. The layout and the way it engage all our senses, portrays what it means to be Dominican, within its Caribbean, American and global context. The exploration starts with the emergence of the island and culminates in a complex in an account of our multicultural present. The gallery is sponsored by the Banco Popular Dominicano. The 360º virtual tours make the exhibitions travel beyond their physical locations, thus achieving one of the goals of Centro León: to lay out, research and showcase our art and anthropology collections, delivering a plural representation of Dominican and Caribbean identities.
4.3 Art to express yourself
Through billboards placed along the streets of Santo Domingo, the exhibition Art to Express Yourself featured artworks from the Eduardo León Jimenes Collection of Visual Arts and the Centro León Archeology Collection. With all museums closed during the pandemic, any passer-by in Santo Domingo could enjoy the paintings, drawings, photographs and Taino pieces from Centro León, in Santiago de los Caballeros. The billboard art prints, showcased across the Santo Domingo district during the months of September through November 2020, where available on podcast in the Raíces Radio Station app. Consequently, these billboards allowed for the artistic and archaeological expressions of our Dominican identity. The initiative, developed by Cartel and Centro León alongside the National District City Council — with the collaboration of the ad agency Pagés BBDO —, showcased Taino pieces and works by Dominican artists such as Ramón Oviedo, Soucy de Pellerano, Tony Capellán, Ricardo Toribio, Jorge Severino, Fernando Peña Defilló, Jorge Pineda, Danilo De Los Santos, Rosa Idalia García, Wali Vidal, Patricia Encarnación, Odette Goico, Quisqueya Henríquez, Cristian Martínez (Crismar), Jacinto Domínguez, Daniel Henríquez, Jesús Natalio Puras Penzo (Apeco) or Heriberto Pieter Benett, Wifredo García Domenech and Domingo Batista, among others. The artworks were paired with thought-provoking phrases that delivered messages of hope and optimism, such as: “Culture is hope”, “Transform what you feel”, “Hope multiplies”, “Happiness is on the way”, “Celebrate and take care of life”, “We are what our stories tell”, “Our goodness is also Taino”. A digital catalog with the geolocations was available for download on our website, centroleon.org.do, so that everyone could know where the billboards were located in Santo Domingo, with additional information on the works and the artists.
Dialogues and public art To deepen this dialogue between the artists, their work, and the audience, Centro León arranged three virtual activities, broadcasted on our social platforms. The project managers, archaeologists, artists and curators, gave their impressions of the exhibition and talked about the many ways public art can be used. “How can culture put us in motion and move us?” was a question posed by Sara Hermann, chief curator at Centro León, during one of these meetings with the featured artists.
4.4 Plasteozoic Era: an eco-dystopian animation
This year, World Environment Day found us battling a pandemic. We had to, again, turn to new media to reflect on these issues. The Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Spain and the Propagás Foundation, with the support of Centro León, presented the virtual
exhibition The Plasteozoic Era: an animated eco-dystopia, by the Dominican collective Pictoria Newhouse. The exhibition, which had already been displayed at Centro León in 2018, was now hosted on our website centroleon.org.do. The audience could browse through a series of 23 animated photographs warning us about the deterioration and lack of protection of our planet’s natural environments. The work was created by Dominican visual artists and architects Guadalupe Casasnovas and Victoria Thomen, members of the Pictoria Newhouse collective. Additionally, the exhibition was also showcased at laeraplasteozoica.com, the Propagás Foundation (fundpropagas.com) and the Dominican embassy in Spain (embajadadominicana.es) websites. The Pictoria Newhouse collective presents a journey through a dystopian world in which landscapes are inhabited by the only survivors of an ecological disaster: inflatable plastic animals. By inserting these figures into natural environments, replacing the species they represent, the artists insist on the devastating impact that this material has on nature. The exhibition, which also features a book for consultation on its website, has previously travelled to São Paulo, Brazil; Rome Italy; and Santiago, Dominican Republic. In 2019, it was exhibited in the tropical gardens of Atocha Train Station, in Madrid, for the 78th Madrid Book Fair, which featured the Dominican Republic as its spotlight. With this digital version, the series explored new techniques, such as animation, enhancing the audience’s visual and cognitive experience.
5. Museum Management
Centro León was the first cultural institution to close its doors due to the imminent spread of COVID-19 in the country. Our priority was the safety of our collaborators, visitors and suppliers. Within the framework of this decision, the museum’s management, its programs, its infrastructure and plans shifted to remote work, virtuality and preventing contagion.
5.1 Before… 2020 in-person
Before March 2020, our scheduled in-person activities were held at Centro León, without masks and hand sanitizers. The Centro León Film Club presented its usual screenings, including the customary Dominican film season in February. At the Hermanos León Asensio Auditorium, La isla rota (2018) by Félix Germán and El Proyeccionista (2019) by José María Cabral were screened and commented by their directors alongside José D’Laura, professor of the Film Club.
Carnavalito The Carnavalito is our quintessential family date of February. This year, around 270 carnival-goers shared a fun-filled afternoon in our gardens where children and adults enjoyed the various traditional characters of our Dominican carnival. The Children’s and Youth Costume Contest of traditional characters of the Dominican carnival celebrated its third edition, with the participation of 12 individual characters and 3 comparsas. The jury composed of María Luisa Asilis and Luis Felipe Rodríguez, managers at Centro León and Rafael Almánzar, folklorist researcher and King Lechón of the 2020 Carnival of Santiago. The awarded contestants represented traditional characters of the Santiago Carnival such as Roba la Gallina, Merchants, Indians, Nicolás Den Den, Se me muere Rebeca, among others. This family initiative held on Saturday, February 22nd was sponsored by Malta Morena, Ferretería Ochoa, Grupo Rica, Asociación Cibao de Ahorros y Préstamos, Baltimore Dominicana, Helados Bon, Ocean World and Grupo Bocel.
From Russia with Love For the first time in Santiago de los Caballeros, the legendary Mariinsky Orchestra gave a concert featuring a diverse classical repertoire. On Saturday night, March 7th, Anton Gakkel, first cellist and conductor, directed the iconic Russian orchestra in the gardens of Centro León. Forty world-class musicians performed a diverse classical repertoire: Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninov, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Ludwig Van Beethoven, and Igor Stravinsky, among other composers. Romance of the young gypsy from the opera Aleko, performed by tenor Sergey Skorokhodov, and the Star Song from the opera
Tannhäuser, performed by baritone Vladislav Kupriyanov, moved thousands of people from Santiago, Moca, Mao, Puerto Plata, Sosúa and La Vega, who attended this classical evening. The concert featured pianist Daniil Trifonov, who showed his virtuosity with Rachmaninov’s pieces How painful it is, Opus 21 no. 12 and Spring Waters, Opus 14 no. 11. The award-winning artist also showed his talents with Tchaikovsky’s Serenade of Don Juan and Beethoven’s Concerto No. 1 in the key of C major for piano and orchestra, Opus 15. From Russia with love was held at Centro León, in partnership with the Sinfonía Foundation, and sponsored by Sberbank, Yoko Ceschina, the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation and Mrs. Veronica Atkins, director of the Metropolitan Opera of New York. Mrs. Atkins attended the concert with Dr. María Amalia León, president of the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation, and Margarita Miranda de Mitrov, president of the Sinfonía Foundation.
5.2 Cultural management amid a pandemic
COVID-19 challenged Centro León to reinvent itself, in order to explore new ways to fulfill its institutional mission: to promote creativity and respect, to improve sustainability through education, and to promote and spread our culture. Our task was to keep in touch with our audience through new media platforms, so that access to culture could deliver hope. To achieve this, we replanned our monthly cultural activities, and proposed an alternative to this new reality: Centro León at home. Simultaneously, our research into visual arts, archeology and ethnography continued for as long as virtuality allowed it. For example, with the support of our Media Library’s team, expert Edis Sánchez was able to classify the Fradique Lizardo Dominican Folklore Fund through the digitization of the materials. Our Film Club sessions turned into recommendations shared on our social networks, sponsored by Edenorte. José D’Laura recommended 20 films spanning different periods and genres, between the months of May and December. Preservation One of the challenges we faced during this pandemic was to keep our standards for the preservation of Centro León’s collections and exhibitions. At the time of its indefinite closure, the institution had three permanent and one temporary exhibitions. The Preservation team arranged in-person shifts to control the temperature and humidity of our galleries and warehouse, as well as carrying out preventive maintenance and preservation measures following the international standards adopted by the museum. Taking down the exhibition Being Oscar de la Renta was also a challenge. Remotely, and with the support of Molly Sorkin, curator of the Oscar de la Renta Archive, our team carefully stored the dresses and other loans before returning them to their place of origin. The task was completed successfully and in compliance with the preservation and security protocols, despite international mobility restrictions (closed borders, airports, and maritime cargo transport).
Adaptation of the infrastructures During the months we were closed, our Maintenance team not only performed their everyday tasks, but also dedicated themselves to tasks that were impossible to achieve with personnel and visitors inside the building. The different areas were then prepared to receive visitors at reopening: installing glasses to separate employees and visitors, signs indicating the correct social distance on floors, stairs, seats and elevators, adding soap and hand sanitizer units to all areas, and reinforcing the methods of disinfection in interiors and exteriors.
See you soon, Oscar Through a virtual conversation titled “See you soon, Oscar”, the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation, Centro León and Grupo Puntacana officially closed the exhibition Being Oscar de la Renta after 4 months of in-person and virtual visits, between November 22nd, 2019, and September 2020. The activity was broadcasted on our social media and on Centro León’s YouTube channel. In addition to presenting the results and achievements of the exhibition, the participants shared their testi-
monies and their gratitude towards the thousands of in-person and virtual visitors. At the end of the evening, we presented the documentary Being Oscar de la Renta: The Process, which featured the testimonials of the team of experts in charge of the exhibition, and a video summarizing its dismantling process.
Curating the Caribbean reinvents itself Days before closing due to the pandemic, Centro León and the Cultural Center of Spain in Santo Domingo decided to introduce a new modality to the sixth edition of their program Curating the Caribbean: the 2020 Stimulus Fund, offering international residences, research support and mobility. Nevertheless, the state of emergency decreed by the governments of the Dominican Republic and Spain delayed the process, and it had to be postponed. The call was relaunched in November. Dominican researchers and curators, children of Dominicans residing abroad, and foreigners residing in the Dominican Republic, were invited to send research project proposals addressing lesser-known aspects of the movements, activities, works and artists in the region, analyzing the unexplored links between these and their context. In December 2020, a team of experts from Centro León and the Spanish Cultural Center in Santo Domingo, decided to award Scholarship Funds for Researchers in Art and Archeology Heritages to the research proposals presented by Gabriel Quiñones, Fátima Portorreal, Adolfo López, Rab Messina, and Ibeth Guzmán. Their research must be carried out between the months of January and June 2021.
5.3 We are Centro León: inward actions
The collaborators make our work possible. The measures for prevention began on the first weeks of March 2020. On March 16th, before closing, our Planning and Management unit set in motion a survey to coordinate remote work and schedule the shifts of those who were required to come in-person. Our Technology Unit adapted our infrastructure and provided permanent support so the community could stay connected while working from home, in addition to managing the live broadcasts and the Centro León at Home program. At the same time, we developed the general measures to prevent contagion and manage the museum from home. We also planned our eventual reopening, taking into account the measures taken in similar institutions. Each unit prepared a complementary protocol, according to their needs and using the same references. This document was continuously edited according to the country’s condition, and we now have an experience that will serve as a model in future similar situations.
Health as a priority We focused our preventive measures not only towards physical health, but also towards mental health. The collaborators received daily messages to both inform and motivate, on topics such as work, health, culture, art, among others. Additional specific actions that helped us cope with the situation were: anticipated salary to avoid overcrowding, collective transportation for employees throughout 2020, free psychological support, home cleaning kits, personal protective equipment to use inside and outside the institution and adapting of our facilities.
Remote education The personnel who, due to the nature of their responsibilities, could not work remotely nor in person, were given specific training encouraged by Centro León. Many collaborators followed this recommendation and made the most out of online access to courses, seminars, movies, books, and other training resources.
5.4 The return: reopening and stages
Upon completing our first stage towards reopening, the return was carefully planned, paying attention to the changes of the state of emergency and curfew hours, and the restrictions receiving people in public spaces. Our store was the first to open in May, offering pick up and home deliveries. This way we could deliver a variety of craftwork, artworks, and other exclusive creations beyond Santiago and across the country.
By the end of September 2020, we coordinated the step-by-step return of the personnel who worked remotely, as well as reopening the store and the cafeteria for take-outs and home deliveries. As a preliminary step to this progressive return, Centro León performed virus detection tests on all its collaborators. There were 0% positive cases. Rotations of personnel were arranged for each week, taking into account their location within the facilities, their level of responsibility, and excluding any personnel that could be at risk. During this period, employees came to work for only half-day shift, so they could have lunch at home and follow the social distance measures. The Store and Cafeteria started receiving customers during the next stage, but only the tables in the Patio Caribeño were set up, in order to respect social distancing. The shifts were extended to 5 PM, under the same conditions as the first stage. The measures taken to receive people at the museum included placing carpets with disinfectant at the entrance, taking temperature, using hand sanitizer before accessing the facilities, the mandatory use of mask and at least two meters of social distancing.
Those who never left Our Security Department never left, it carried on its essential task throughout the pandemic, committed to their responsibility to watch over our valuable collections at Centro León. The Maintenance Unit maintained its regular shifts, so that the facilities were kept in optimal conditions for the reopening.
