Leslie Ramos

lr476@cam.ac.uk

College

Downing College

Research

My research focuses on the presence of contemporary art from Latin America within the context of the Venice Biennale. The Venice Biennale has exerted considerable influence on the contemporary art world since its foundation in 1895, to such an extent that to understand the workings of the Biennale’s exhibitions is to understand, in part, a major structural underpinning of the contemporary art world.

There is, however, limited discourse surrounding its direct influence on peripheric art ecosystems, such as the Latin American art world. In particular, my research investigates the intersections of the past forty years of Latin America’s art history with the biennial system, from the extent to which the Venice Biennale advocates, validates, and affects the production, diffusion and promotion of art from the region, to the deeper intricacies of the interplay between Biennale participation and the geopolitical cultural history of Latin American countries.

Supervisor 

Dr Geoffrey Kantaris