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In memoriam. The renowned author, art critic and curator passed away in the evening of May 7th 2008 in Mexico City.
May 2008The renowned author, art critic and curator Olivier Debroise died from a sudden heart attack in the evening of Mai 7th 2008 in Mexico City.
Debroise, born in 1952 in Jerusalem and French citizen, lived in Mexico since 1970. He became one of the most influential personalities of the Mexican art scene, due to his numerous articles and publications on modern and contemporary art in Mexico, his commitment as curator and co-curator of diverse exhibitions, as well as co-organizer and participant of several symposia.
His last large exhibition project, curated together with his friend and colleague Cuauhtémoc Medina, was "La era de la discrepancia. Arte y cultura visual en México, 1968-1994" (The Age of Discrepancies. Art and Visual Culture in Mexico, 1968-1994), shown in 2007 at the Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Artes (MUCA) in Mexico City. Other important exhibitions under his direction, respectively his decisive conceptual participation were: "Modernidad y modernización en el arte mexicano", Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City, 1991; "The Bleeding Heart / El Corazón Sangrante", ICA, Boston, 1991; "David Alfaro Siqueiros: Retrato de una década", Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1997.
Olivier Debroise was co-initiator, and from 1993 until 1997, director of CURARE, the art critics' and art historian's association founded in 1991 in Mexico City, dedicated to interdisciplinary research and analysis of Mexico's visual culture, which publishes the magazine of the same name.
Since 2004, Olivier Debroise was in charge of the collections of contemporary art of the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), building up the collection, which will be shown in the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, once the new edifice is finished.
Olivier Debroise
* 1952 Jerusalem
+ 7th May 2008,
Mexico City