Octavio Zaya
Encyclopedia
Octavio Zaya is an art critic
and curator
, born in Las Palmas
(Canary Islands
), and living in New York City
since 1978. He is Director of Atlántica, a bilingual quarterly magazine published by CAAM http://www.caam.net/(Las Palmas, Spain); he is Curator at Large and Advisor of MUSAC MUSAC(León, Spain);and a member of the Advisory Board of Performa http://performa-arts.org/ (New York). He is on the Editorial Board of Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art http://www.nkajournal.org/ and a NY correspondent for Flash Art.
He was one of the curators of Documenta 11 (Kassel
, 2002), as part of the group directed by Okwui Enwezor
. He was also one of the curators of the first and second Johannesburg Biennials (1995 and 1997. The large list of exhibitions he has curated include In/Sight, African Photographers 1940 to the Present (Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1997, and Versiones del Sur. Latinoamerica at Centro de Arte Reina Sofia http://www.museoreinasofia.es/index.html [ (Madrid, 2000) . He was one of the curators of Fresh Cream (Phaidon Press, London, 2000) http://www.phaidon.com/, has authored more than a dozen books on artists, and has contributed to numerous other books and catalogues.
He recently curated important exhibitions on Cerith Wyn Evans and Paul Pfeiffer works, for MUSAC.
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
and curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
, born in Las Palmas
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria commonly known as Las Palmas is the political capital, jointly with Santa Cruz, the most populous city in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and the ninth largest city in Spain, with a population of 383,308 in 2010. Nearly half of the people of the island...
(Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
), and living in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
since 1978. He is Director of Atlántica, a bilingual quarterly magazine published by CAAM http://www.caam.net/(Las Palmas, Spain); he is Curator at Large and Advisor of MUSAC MUSAC(León, Spain);and a member of the Advisory Board of Performa http://performa-arts.org/ (New York). He is on the Editorial Board of Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art http://www.nkajournal.org/ and a NY correspondent for Flash Art.
He was one of the curators of Documenta 11 (Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, 2002), as part of the group directed by Okwui Enwezor
Okwui Enwezor
Okwui Enwezor is an Igbo Nigerian-born American curator, art critic, writer, poet, educator, and specializing in art history. He lives in New York.- Biography :...
. He was also one of the curators of the first and second Johannesburg Biennials (1995 and 1997. The large list of exhibitions he has curated include In/Sight, African Photographers 1940 to the Present (Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1997, and Versiones del Sur. Latinoamerica at Centro de Arte Reina Sofia http://www.museoreinasofia.es/index.html [ (Madrid, 2000) . He was one of the curators of Fresh Cream (Phaidon Press, London, 2000) http://www.phaidon.com/, has authored more than a dozen books on artists, and has contributed to numerous other books and catalogues.
He recently curated important exhibitions on Cerith Wyn Evans and Paul Pfeiffer works, for MUSAC.