CERRILLOS SANTIAGO.- Curator and visual arts manager Beatriz Salinas Marambio has been selected as the first Director of the National Center for Contemporary Art Cerrillos, Chile, after winning a public contest held by the National Council of Culture and Arts.

The contest generated wide interest with more than 200 applications and, following a selection process of three stages, Salinas Marambio was chosen as Director of the National Center for Contemporary Art Cerrillos, located in a former airport in the south part of the capital.

Salinas Marambio, who holds an MA in Arts Management and Cultural Policy from Goldsmiths, University of London, assumed the post on May 26, 2017. On winning the public contest, Salinas Marambio stated: "It is a great challenge to start directing this space, that will be focused on developing an open and experimental space for contemporary art.”

"Our plan is to work in dialogue with the community, artists, institutions and other cultural agents in order to activate this space; it is a project with great potential, and we are very happy that the government has decided to develop a space like this in an area like Cerrillos,” she added.

Currently, the National Center is showing Lo que ha dejado huellas, exhibiting for the first time in Santiago the collection of Gabriela Mistral Gallery, a national collection of contemporary art formed in the last 20 years.

Since its opening last September the Center has received more than 14,000 visitors. In addition, it has started a program with students and neighbors from communities near to the area that it is located. The Center has also initiated an open call to the community to send their photographs, videos or memories related to the former Cerrillos airport.

Curator and visual arts manager, MA in Arts management and Cultural Policy, Goldsmiths College, University of London. She has worked in several institutions in Chile and abroad, specializing in production and management of contemporary art exhibition projects. She was Director of exhibitions and Member of the Curatorial Committee at the Museum of Visual Arts (MAVI), Chile, highlighting her exhibitions with artists such as Wolfgang Tillmans, Eugenio Dittborn, Bernardo Oyarzún, Joaquín Sánchez, José Pedro Godoy and Ricardo Yrarrazaval among others.

Her previous work includes projects with Can Xalant (Barcelona), The Substation (Melbourne), Museum of Contemporary Art MAC Niteroi (Brazil), Feria Ch.aco (Chile), El Museo del Barrio (New York), Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende (Chile), Diversity Art Forum (UK) among others. She is part of the board of the art book fair IMPRESIONANTE, and usual collaborator for Artishock and TONIC magazine.