AppointmentFebruary 18, 2021
Juliana Restrepo Tirado, Director of the Museo Nacional de Colombia
On February 9, in an official statement, the Minister of Culture, Felipe Buitrago, appointed Juliana Restrepo Tirado as the new director of the Museo Nacional de Colombia.
Juliana Restrepo is a publicist from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Medellín) and a Master in Philosophy from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá), with a master's in Media & Communication at EGS (European Graduate School, Switzerland). For the past 13 years, she has been dedicated to cultural and project management. She worked at Publicaciones Semana, where she led the cultural unit 'Obra Semana,' Foros Semana, and Arcadia. She is currently an active member of the cultural committee of SURA.
From 2016 to 2019, she directed the Instituto Distrital de las Artes an entity attached to the Secretaría de Cultura, Recreación y Deporte of Bogotá, leading the programs for the development and promotion of the arts in Bogotá, including the Festivales al Parque, construction and opening of the New Cinematheque of Bogotá and the Galería Santa Fe, as well as the sustainability models of these two cultural facilities.
Between 2008 and 2016, she was in the direction of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM), where she carried out a transformation that included the change of headquarters in 2009, as well as the strengthening of the educational, curatorial, and management programs of the institution. Under her leadership, the institution managed to position itself as a city space, with a 270% growth in visitors, because of a new direction to the museum's vision, going from being an exhibition space to a place for the enjoyment of contemporary artistic expressions. This innovative approach allowed her to get closer to the idea of an inclusive and diverse cultural center, which incorporated artistic practices for the social appropriation of technology through art events.
She was the executive director of the 43 Salón Nacional de Artistas held in Medellín in 2013; she has been a panelist and moderator.
Juliana Restrepo's appointment comes after the resignation submitted by Daniel Castro Benítez to the museum's management in January and was accepted by the incoming minister, Felipe Buitrago.
Daniel Castro had been in office since August 2015. During his time at the institution, among other achievements, he carried out the Museum's Comprehensive Renovation Process, the joint administration of the counter-monument Fragmentos, espacio de arte y memoria, by Doris Salcedo; the reactivation of the publication Cuadernos de Curaduría and the virtualization of the offer of temporary and permanent exhibitions during the pandemic. He transformed the discourse and the museological approach by addressing the contemporary considering current problematics, opening spaces for inter-curatorial dialogues, and a new museography.
Between 2016 and 2017, he carried out important work with the Dirección Nacional de Patrimonio to consolidate a Special Management and Protection Plan (PEMP), a country pioneer, which will regulate a public-private alliance that will generate resources for the expansion of the Museo Nacional. This PEMP is very close to being regulated, so, for the first time since 1948, the year in which the museum moved to the Panopticon, there is a possibility of expanding the spaces of the institution.
Juliana Restrepo is a publicist from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Medellín) and a Master in Philosophy from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá), with a master's in Media & Communication at EGS (European Graduate School, Switzerland). For the past 13 years, she has been dedicated to cultural and project management. She worked at Publicaciones Semana, where she led the cultural unit 'Obra Semana,' Foros Semana, and Arcadia. She is currently an active member of the cultural committee of SURA.
From 2016 to 2019, she directed the Instituto Distrital de las Artes an entity attached to the Secretaría de Cultura, Recreación y Deporte of Bogotá, leading the programs for the development and promotion of the arts in Bogotá, including the Festivales al Parque, construction and opening of the New Cinematheque of Bogotá and the Galería Santa Fe, as well as the sustainability models of these two cultural facilities.
Between 2008 and 2016, she was in the direction of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM), where she carried out a transformation that included the change of headquarters in 2009, as well as the strengthening of the educational, curatorial, and management programs of the institution. Under her leadership, the institution managed to position itself as a city space, with a 270% growth in visitors, because of a new direction to the museum's vision, going from being an exhibition space to a place for the enjoyment of contemporary artistic expressions. This innovative approach allowed her to get closer to the idea of an inclusive and diverse cultural center, which incorporated artistic practices for the social appropriation of technology through art events.
She was the executive director of the 43 Salón Nacional de Artistas held in Medellín in 2013; she has been a panelist and moderator.
Juliana Restrepo's appointment comes after the resignation submitted by Daniel Castro Benítez to the museum's management in January and was accepted by the incoming minister, Felipe Buitrago.
Daniel Castro had been in office since August 2015. During his time at the institution, among other achievements, he carried out the Museum's Comprehensive Renovation Process, the joint administration of the counter-monument Fragmentos, espacio de arte y memoria, by Doris Salcedo; the reactivation of the publication Cuadernos de Curaduría and the virtualization of the offer of temporary and permanent exhibitions during the pandemic. He transformed the discourse and the museological approach by addressing the contemporary considering current problematics, opening spaces for inter-curatorial dialogues, and a new museography.
Between 2016 and 2017, he carried out important work with the Dirección Nacional de Patrimonio to consolidate a Special Management and Protection Plan (PEMP), a country pioneer, which will regulate a public-private alliance that will generate resources for the expansion of the Museo Nacional. This PEMP is very close to being regulated, so, for the first time since 1948, the year in which the museum moved to the Panopticon, there is a possibility of expanding the spaces of the institution.
