First thesis of MUN's Master's Degree in Curatorial Studies
Dailey Fernández, a graduate of the first graduating class, defended a paper on participatory practices in modern and contemporary art.
The MUN 's Master's Degree in Curatorial Studies has taken another step forward: graduate Dailey Fernandez has become the first to earn a doctorate degree at the University. The thesis, entitled "The phenomenon of participation as a social and aesthetic problem in the Ibero-American sphere. A case study of the Community of Navarra", was supported by Fundación Caja Navarra.
Directed by master's professors Lourdes Flamarique and Nieves Acedo, the work addresses the participation of the public in modern and contemporary art. It studies the origin and evolution of this condition of art in the context of Latin America and Spain. It also focuses on the cultural environment of Navarre, from the Pamplona Encounters of 1972 to the present day.
The new doctor speaks of "the topicality of the theme of participation, as the axis of cultural and institutional policies", and also as the purpose of many contemporary artistic practices, "which seek to offer a meaningful aesthetic experience to the spectator or audience involved".
Nieves Acedo, director of the Master's program and co-director of this thesis, assesses it as "a profound work, which has tried not only to propose a map and a narrative of participatory art practices, but has sought to place them in the theoretical framework of the modern ideal of participation-action, and to show their dynamism in the territories studied (Iberian Peninsula, Latin America and the Caribbean), in multiple and bidirectional connection with the history of participatory art in Northern Europe and America".
Dailey Fernández explains that her time at MUN's Master's Degree in Curatorial Studies helped her define her interests in the curatorial field, as well as the research topic she has dedicated herself to. Also "to have a deeper look at the current art system".
Regarding the value of doing a doctoral thesis for a professional in the art world, he comments that the contributions are multiple: it allows to delve into topics of interest and current affairs of the art world, to know the ins and outs of issues that cross their lines of work, to question and rethink the practices of the profession and the field, as well as to meet artists, critics, curators or managers linked to the research topic.
Dailey Fernández holds a degree in Art History from the University of Havana. During her years as a predoctoral fellow, she has taught in the Master's Degree in Curatorship, in collaboration with curator and critic Gerardo Mosquera, in the subject "The role of art in the political community".