The Tate Museum in London has appointed an associate curator of Latin American art, based in Mexico City. Cuauhtémoc Medina is to be the first Tate curator to work outside Britain, although the post is part-time, one day or so a week. Born in 1965, Dr Medina is an independent critic, curator and historian. His exhibitions include “20 million Mexicans can’t be wrong”, opening on 21 January at the John Hansard Gallery in Southampton, following its showing at the South London Gallery. The curatorial appointment is to help the Tate broaden its collection beyond its traditional focus on Europe and North America. The Tate has also just established a Latin American acquisitions committee. The museum already has around 20 pre-1960 works by Latin American artists (including Rivera, Lam and Soto, and a dozen contemporary works (including Gabriel Orozco and Doris Salcedo), but it wants to expand the collection. In a separate initiative, the Tate is also planning to send its first show to Latin America; a major exhibition of British paintings, sculpture and photography from the 1960s to the present, which will go to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in 2003-4.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Tate Latino'