Atchugarry Museum of Contemporary Art Opens in Manantiales, Uruguay

Read the original version in Spanish here.

Published on July 07, 2026

On Route 104, km 4.5 in Manantiales, Uruguay, stands the new Atchugarry Museum of Contemporary Art (MACA), located on the grounds of the Pablo Atchugarry Foundation. Open to the general public, the building designed by architect Carlos Ott aims to promote the development of national artists while placing Uruguay on the map of major international exhibitions.

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The lifelong dream of Uruguayan sculptor Pablo Atchugarry was to create a museum for his collection of Latin American painting and sculpture. Through undulating forms, the museum—featuring a timber structure treated in France—connects with the vast gardens of the Atchugarry Foundation. The project covers approximately 5,000 square meters, and its construction, utilizing Red Grandis eucalyptus, aims to open up a wide range of new constructive possibilities brought by timber design to the country.

Housing four exhibition galleries, a 72-seat auditorium/cinema, a café, and a restaurant, the building is characterized by its curved profiles. Set within the International Sculpture Park alongside a large lake, MACA will house the permanent Atchugarry collection as well as pieces by American, Latin American, and European artists such as Julio Le Parc, María Freire and Costigliolo, Wifredo Díaz Valdéz, Joaquín Torres García, Raúl Pavlotzki, Miguel Ángel Pareja, Ignacio Iturria, Vik Muniz, Frank Stella, and Louise Nevelson, among many others.

The museum opens with a retrospective exhibition of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, on display until April 30. This collection of more than 50 works arrives in South America for the first time, presented as an overview featuring photographs, drawings, collages, and plans. Notably, the last exhibition of Christo and Jeanne-Claude opened in Paris, wrapping the Arc de Triomphe in 25,000 square meters of fabric and nearly 3 kilometers of red rope.

Additionally, the exhibition "Heliografías" by Argentine artist León Ferrari will be on view, alongside a series of films, workshops, lectures, and seminars.

Via Atchugarry Museum of Contemporary Art.