AgroArt (https://agroart.iica.int/), for its initial exhibit, contains 30 paintings by Gaby Grobo and Manuel Cancel of Argentina, Francisca Lohmann of Chile, Jorge Checo Blanco of the Dominican Republic, and Sila Estigarribia of Paraguay. It is the first museum to specifically showcase agriculture and rural life.
San Jose, 22 October 2020 (IICA). Within the framework of the 78th anniversary of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), which is being celebrated this month, the AgroArt / Museo de Arte Virtual del IICA, was opened. This museum is a space for dissemination and integration of the artistic expressions of the Americas emanating from the rich and varied diversity of its rural areas.
Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA, simbolically cut the ribbon at the virtual opening attended by Christian Guillermet-Fernández, Ambassador and Vice-Minister for Multilateral Affairs in the Ministry of External Relations and Worship of Costa Rica (where the Institute is located); Octavio Lister, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic and President and Dean of the GRULAC Group of Ambassadors of Latin America and the Caribbean; and Esther Kuisch Laroche, Director and Representative of the Multicountry Office for UNESCO in Costa Rica.
Also participating in the event was the President of the Community Outreach Association of IICA, Amanda Fernández; and the Argentine artist Gaby Grobo.
AgroArt / IICA Virtual Art Museum is showing, initially, 30 paintings from five artists: Grobo and Manuel Cancel Gaby Grobo and Manuel Cancel of Argentina, Jorge Checo Blanco of the Dominican Republic, Francisca Lohmann of Chile, and Sila Estigarribia of Paraguay.
“Agriculture is its diversity, its territories and its people. It is the customs, knowledge and traditions that give life to the rural areas in the Americas. That is why we are trying to showcase, with AgroArt, the art that is inspired by agriculture in the region, and hope that this will become a sounding board for the cultural expressions of rural life in the hemisphere”, stated Otero.
Amanda Fernández noted that “Through various means, IICA is supporting culture and education so that connectivity can reach the country dwellers. We believe that AgroArt is the first virtual museum in the world that specifically shocases agriculture and rural life”.
The Deputy foreign minister of Costa Rica, Guillermet, stated that “we hope that this new artistic space will contribute to friendship, integration and a deepening of the cultural identity of our peoples”.
Ambassador Lister congratulated IICA for the innovative way in which it has projected the relevance of the agriculture sector for feeding the world. “I invite all the ambassadors in other countries to provide works of art from their artists, to rehabilitate the forgotten image of the men and women in the countryside”, he commented.
According to Kuisch Laroche “Agriculture is the origin of much of human knowledge. AgroArt is an extraordinary contribution to culture from the virtual world”.
The artist Gaby Grobo, whose works are part of the inaugural exhibits in the virtual museum, pointed out that Argentine countryside, which she is a product of, is the inspiration for her paintings.
“I paint what I see and what I know. It is my way of paying tribute to the land and the place we come from, and where we are headed”, she stated
AgroArt, the IICA Virtual Museum AgroArt: https://agroart.iica.int/.
Opening ceremony: https://www.facebook.com/436831050034/videos/634658333865493.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/469028763
For more information:
Institutional Communication Division
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
