The Fundación Paiz para la Educación y la Cultura created in 1978 the Bienal de Arte Paiz (BAP) with the objective of improving and stimulating Guatemalan art.  The Bienal was established to promote a platform to display and acknowledge local artists abroad, as well as to consolidate the visual arts scene in the country. The BAP’s focus is to be an illustrative critical mirror reflecting social concerns through art, thus becoming a space of discussion and reconfiguration of proposals and tendencies.

The Bienal is international event that takes place every two years consisting of several big format art exhibitions. Local and international artists are selected to participate with samples of contemporary productions (photographs, paintings, performances, installations, sculptures, videos, interventions on public spaces, etc.); becoming points of interest by displaying the most advanced and representative samples of each country in order to generate controversy, discussion, analysis and theoretical debates surrounding contemporary art and having a dialogue with the themes selected by the curators.

Mission

Since 2006, the Bienal  focuses entirely on contemporary art and it is the only space in the country that has a wide enough range that permits the introduction of national and international artists in a context of global dialogue.  The accompaniment of a team of curators devoted to spread this work to a wider audience made this possible. Therefore, by becoming a platform for the display, creation and promotion of local art production, the Bienal de Arte Paiz became the most relevant visual arts event in Guatemala.

The XVII edition, “Seeing Is Believing”, incorporated international participants, becoming a fundamental curatorial turning point in the event’s history and nature. This decision, whose main goal was to position the Bienal globally, allowed Guatemala to connect with the world of international art. 

Every two years, The Bienal welcomes at least 40,000 visitors that enjoy the exhibitions at no cost for one month in both venues simultaneously. The BAP offers a great opportunity for Guatemalans to interact with contemporary art and to reflect upon the issues proposed in easy to access spaces.

The Bienal has a large educational program, which allows adults, young people and children to understand contemporary art through workshops, lectures and round tables with an interactive methodology.

The next edition, the 22nd Bienal de Arte Paiz, “lost. in between. together”, curated by Alexia Tala (Chile) with co-curation of Gabriel Rodriguez (Guatemala) intends to make this legacy grow, investing their wide experience in projects that have taken plane both in Latin American and Guatemalan contexts.

The Fundación Paiz para la Educación y la Cultura is a non-profit organization committed to the development and transformation of the Guatemalan society.

It was created more than four decades ago as a Corporate Social Responsibility organization, and is currently a family run entity. From the beginning, it has focused its work through educational, cultural and artistic programs that have an impact on the lives of more than 60,000 people every year.

The Fundación Paiz works endlessly contributing to change the way people regard themselves and their reality. Art and education are the basis from which dynamic proposals are built in common, inclusive spaces, thus contributing to improving Guatemalans life condition. 

Through artistic programs, aimed both at the larger public as well as for specific areas and groups, the Fundación Paiz provides a space for new visions and projects ensuring a big impact on individuals, the Guatemalan society and the Central American region, 

Since the Fundación Paiz was founded, it has given more than 8,500 education scholarships to youths in social vulnerability. Working jointly with international cooperation donors, it has also implemented programs aimed to improve training in life skills, technical abilities and employability, which have helped transform people’s lives, families and their environment.

General Curator

Alexia Tala Barril

Co-curator

Gabriel Rodríquez Pellecer

Production

Adrián Lorenzana de Gaitán

Lucrecia Barrientos de Gaitán

Josselyn Pinto

Project in Education

Maryarí Juracán

Lusa González Reiche

Staging

José Roberto Vásquez Pérez

Staging Assistant

Edson Díaz Pérez

Luis Picholá

Institutional Development Coordination

Ana Isabel López Samayoa
Amarilis Mejía Cuéllar

Logistics Support

Luis Pichola Rosales
Haroldo Campos López

Visual Image

Detánico & Lain

Karen Bethancourt López
JOB

Visual Image and Advertisement Coordination

Helena Galindo

Catalogue and Publications

Karen Bethancourt López
Antonia Ilić

Communication and Public Relations

Magui Medina

Communication and International Public Relations

Pickles PR

Audiovisual Production

Eduardo Moreno

Webmaster

Fernando Ávila

Social Media

JOB

Symposion Coordinator

Cecilia Vilela

PAIZ FOUNDATION

FOR EDUCATION AND CULTURE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President

María Regina Paiz Toledo

Vice President

Anabella Schloesser de Paiz

Secretary

Jacqueline Paiz Riera

Treasurer

Fernando Paiz Andrade

Members

Mónica Serra Paiz

Daniela Serra Santamarina

Nicole Paiz

Isabel Paiz de Serra

Rodolfo José Paiz

External Advisors

María Dolores Moreno

Hugo Quinto

Directorate

Executive Director

Itziar Sagone Echeverría

Programs and Project Coordinator

Ana Evelyn Castillo Marroquín

Institutional Development Coordinator

Ana Isabel López Samayoa

Coordination Management Support

Iris Figueroa Méndez

Human Talent Coordination

Gabriela Palacios Pérez

Life Training Program

María Andrea López Durán

Educational Support and Scholarship Program

Marta López González

Project Assistants

Mayarí Juracán

Armando Adrián Lorenzana González

José Roberto Vásquez

Accounting and Administration

Arnaldo Rafael Velásquez

Production Bienal

Miriam Lucrecia Barrientos

Individual Donors

Mildred Amarilis Mejía

Graphic Designer

Karen Bethancourt López

Administrative Support Personnel

Ángela Lorena Ovando Gil

Éricka Roxana Rodríguez Rueda

Logistics and Administration Personnel

Agueda Ivonne Amparo López Urizar

Computer Programming Support

Jorge Alberto Duarte Rossell

Accounting Support

Jorge Alberto Duarte Rossell

Data base and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Support

Noemí Ajpop Elías

Administration Assistant

Ester Elizabeth Ayala Randa

Treasury Assistant

Verónica Aguilar

Accounting Assistant and Receptionist

Luis Alberto Calderón

Logistics and Janitorial Services

Luis Pichola

Maintenance and Janitorial services

Gloria Villalta

Selfa Samayoa

Driver

Haroldo Campos