Since 2004 the SE VENDE Collective, later SACO Cultural Corporation, has created and managed projects autonomously and collaboratively in Antofagasta (Chile), seeking to insert the Atacama Desert as a focus of interest for the field of art and transdisciplinary research, energizing, nurturing and professionalizing the local scene.

Its priority is to establish horizontal meeting points to generate a circulation between art and the community, deepening creative processes as tools for informal education, "out of the box", promoting the transfer of knowledge, interculturalism and exchange of ideas, designing models of social transformation through art with concrete actions, both in cities and in smaller towns.

Their actions take place in the driest desert on the planet, a territory marked by mining monoproduction and the abandonment of social and cultural policies. A "sacrifice zone" generated by the difficult working conditions, pollution, environmental problems and migratory phenomena that have occurred over the last two decades in a territory of more than two thousand kilometers where there are no museums or art schools.

After its first nine versions, the Contemporary Art Festival was transformed in 2021 into the SACO Contemporary Art Biennial, without losing its status as an international event located in the dry but privileged periphery, far from the country's capital, which allows it to dialogue with the rest of the world.

MUSEUM WITHOUT MUSEUM
Building imaginary exhibition spaces where contemporary art is presented as an utopia in the middle of the driest desert in the world, transforming schools, universities, anthropological sites and museums into contemporary art spaces.

SCHOOL WITHOUT SCHOOL
Development of educational projects inside and outside the classroom in a territory where the formal pedagogical offer of the arts ranges from non-existent to scarce. The school without school is based on these ideas that work from the absence to generate a proposal of activities and projects that brings art closer to the community.

TERRITORY / RESIDENCIES
The coast of the Pacific Ocean, the driest desert in the world and the most pristine skies of the continent make up a unique landscape that contextualizes the work of the Biennial. Artists and curators from different countries and continents face for the first time the landscapes of the Atacama Desert, discovering in the apparent absence a whole range of concepts, ideas and unique proposals on the planet. The main lines of residency work are: art&astronomy, art&archaeology, art&geology, art&industry, art&environment, art&education, art&migration and art&technology.

Discover how the three approaches unfold at:

SACO1.0 - Flood  ►

SACO Bienal de Arte Contemporáneo
Location of the ISLA residence center and SACO office:
General Lagos # 0874, Sector Playa Blanca
Antofagasta, Chile
Website | Email | Location on map

Press contact:
Carlos Rendón - Email

Connect with SACO:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram