LIMA.- MATE – Museo Mario Testino presents Draftsmen’s Congress, the work initiated by Polish born, Warsaw based artist Pawel Althamer. The work sees MATE’s Temporary Exhibition Space converted into an empty, blank white room which transforms through the gradual accumulation of drawings and paintings by visitors to the museum. Visitors are invited to leave their own personal mark on surfaces in the room using materials provided by the museum, creating an ever changing interactive installation over a three month period.

During the project, the artist’s aim is to connect the different groups of people and create an environment that promotes empathy and interpersonal exchange, combining the visual experience with socially suggestive messages. It is this approach that places Althamer at the forefront of current developments in contemporary art. Draftsmen’s Congress was first presented at the 7th Berlin Biennale (2012) and the New Museum in New York (2013). The project will be the first time Althamer’s work has been shown in Peru.

Since the early 1990’s, Althamer (b.1967 in Warsaw, Poland) has established a unique artistic practice and is admired for his sculptural representation and experimental models of social collaboration. His work is concerned more with generating human interaction and communication than producing final objects of art.

Althamer’s work has been featured in solo exhibitions in major museums such as Almech, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2011); Common Task, Modern Art Oxford (2009); Pawel Althamer and Others, Secession, Vienna (2009); and Centre Pompidou, Espace 315, Paris (2006). His work was included in Documenta 10 in Kassel in 1997 and several international biennales. In 2004 Althamer won the prestigious Vincent van Gogh award for Contemporary Art in Europe.

Draftsmen’s Congress can be visited from Friday 13th November 2015 until Sunday 28th February 2016 at MATE - Museo Mario Testino, Av. Pedro de Osma 409, Barranco. The entry fee is S/.3.00 and opening hours are Tuesday through to Sunday 10:00 until 19:00.

Pawel Althamer is a Polish contemporary artist who is dedicated to sculpture, performance, installation and “action art”. Althamer combines visual experience with socially suggestive messages. His practice is based on a participatory approach, creating art that can generate change.

Althamer has exhibited in important institutions such as the National Gallery Zachęta in Warsaw, the Centre Pompidou in France, the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi in Milan, among others. His work has been featured in major international group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 2013, the Gwangju Biennale in 2010, and the Istanbul Biennale in 2005.