Octavio Zaya
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Octavio Zaya is an art critic and independent curator, who was born in Las Palmas (Canary Islands), and has lived in New York since 1978. Currently an Advisor for MUSAC (Leon), he is also an advisor of Perfoma (New York). He is co-director of Atlántica, a bilingual quarterly magazine of art and culture; belongs to the editorial board for NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art; and is a US correspondent for Flash Art .
Zaya was one of the curators of Documenta 11 (Kassel, 2002), as part of the group directed by Okwui Enwezor. He was also one of the curators of the first and second Johannesburg Biennials (1995 and 1997). His other exhibitions include Interzones (Copenhagen, 1996), In/Sight, African Photographers 1940 to the Present (Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1997), The Garden of Forking Paths (Copenhagen, Stokholm, Helinski, 1998), and Interferencias (Canal de Isabel II, Madrid, 1998;; Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Sevilla; Universidad de Salamanca, 1998) and “Eztetyka del Sueño” (with Carlos Basualdo, MNCARS, Madrid, 2001), one of the 5 exhibitions of Versiones del Sur, which he conceived and coordinated for Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. In 1997 he was the curator for Latin America at ARCO and from 1998 to 2001 he was one of the curators for the international Project Rooms program of the Madrid Art Fair, which he joined once again in 2006. He also curated solo exhibitions of Shirana Shabazi (2004) and Fernando Renes (2005) for TRANS>area, New York.
He was one of the curators of Fresh Cream (Phaidon Press, London, 2000) and originator and director of Files (MUSAC, León, 2004). Mr. Zaya has also authored numerous books and essays on contemporary and emerging issues and artists, including Shirin Neshat, Cai Guo-Qiang, Zelethu Mthethwa, Candice Breitz, Milagros de la Torre, Zhang Huan, Yutaka Sone, Juan Muñoz, Zarina Bhimji, Tania Bruguera, Barry McGee, Laura Lima, Rona Pondick, Damian Ortega, Fernanda Gomes, Carmela García, Bjarne Meelgard, William Eggleston, Shoja Azari, Gregory Green, Shahryar Nashat, Lovett & Codagnone, Slava Mogutin etc.
During 2005 Zaya presented several exhibitions, including After the Revolution (Contemporary Artists from Iran) (Koldo Mitxelena, San Sebastian), Carmela García: The Hole in Space, curated for the Government of Canary Islands (CAAM, Gran Canaria; and Centro Juan Ismael, Fuerteventura, 2005), and Shirin Neshat: The Last Word (MUSAC, 2005 and CAAM, 2006). This past summer he organized Inside-Out: Contemporary Artists from Israel (MARCO, Vigo, 2006). Recently he inaugurated Candice Breitz: Multiple Exposure (MUSAC, 2007) and currently he is preparing a large selection of works by Cerith Wym Evans (MUSAC, 2008), an exhibition on the video works of Jesper Just and a large selection of the phographs by Ellen Kooi, both for La Casa Encendida (Madrid, Spain, 2008). In addition, Octavio Zaya is curating, as co-director, the 1st Biennial of Photography in Petach-Tikva, Israel (April 2008) and other exhibition projects for European institutions.
