"El Museo Fue Del Barrio" Flow States – LA TRIENAL 2024

 I do not particularly like El Museo del Barrio. Last year I wrote a paper where I critiqued theI do not particularly like El Museo del Barrio. Last year I wrote a paper where I critiqued the institution, and this most recent exhibition makes me sure of my critique. 

In my paper I examined how the museum was moving away from its original artistic purpose, for the aim to become a national institution. El Museo was created to give voices to the Nuyorican community of Spanish Harlem, to see themselves reflected in the artwork presented, and to give opportunities for the artists of said communities to have their work exhibited. As of recently, El Museo has paid less and less attention to the neighborhood it resides in, in favor of receiving international acclaim like its many museum counterparts. Through their exhibits, they chose to highlight artists that already have a space for themselves, making it so that their own minority of artists aren’t even shown in the museum created for them. This move has been met with protests from members of the community asking whether the museum should continue with its broadening efforts or solely focus on the hyper specific Latino New York experience in their exhibitions. 

Alina Perez, Family Romance, 2024, charcoal on paper

Their most recent exhibition, Flow States, showcases their desire to further themselves from the Nuyorican community. The exhibition focuses on the diasporic flow of Latino artists based in the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Of the artist’s featured, very few were based in New York or even from El Barrio. Why should the museum continue to call itself El Museo del Barrio, if the artists highlighted are not from El Barrio and the museum no longer reflects the Latino community in New York?

~Jay Vargas-Garcia *