Chilean architect and academic Fernando Pérez Oyarzún has been named the new director of the Museum of Fine Arts of Chile. The announcement by the Ministry of Cultures concludes the open call organized by the National Cultural Heritage Service, which drew 58 applicants.
Pérez Oyarzún graduated as an architect from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC) in 1977 and earned a PhD in Architecture from the Barcelona School of Architecture (UPC) in 1981. He served as dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts at PUC between 1990 and 2000, where he has taught since 1974 and currently holds the rank of full professor. Additionally, he was director of the PUC School of Architecture from 1987 to 1990 and director of the university's Cultural Heritage Center. He has also served as a Visiting Design Critic at Harvard University in 1990, a Visiting Fellow at the Centre of Latin American Studies at the University of Cambridge in 1996, and the Simón Bolívar Professor at Cambridge in 2000. In 2007, he was a Research Fellow at the Swedish Center for Advanced Study.
However, the fact that Pérez is not an artist has raised concerns among organizations such as the Chilean Association of Painters and Sculptors (APECH), as reported by the digital news outlet El Mostrador and artists interviewed by the Chilean newspaper La Tercera.
Following the announcement, Pérez—who also organizes the "La Ciudad y Las Palabras" seminar series through the PUC Doctorate in Architecture and Urban Studies—told the latter publication:
This article was written by Nicolás Valencia. The translation is powered by AI.
