Adán Vallecillo at the Artcut contemporary art triennial
Chile will be one of seven venues for the first International Triennial of Art of Catholic Universities (ART CUT), an unprecedented initiative promoted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See. Taking place throughout 2026 and 2027, the triennial will bring together contemporary art, culture, and academic reflection across three continents.
In Chile, the international exhibition will be presented by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, with Empathy Exercises: Weavings of the Living (Ejercicios de Empatía: Tramas de lo vivo), a chapter that explores the relationship between people and the natural world, inviting us to reconsider our perspective and recognize that we are part of a shared web that connects territories, ecosystems, and other forms of life.
Under the general curatorship of Nuno Crespo and the co-curatorship of Alexia Tala, the exhibition brings together more than 40 works by nearly 20 artists, including a work by Adán Vallecillo.
The work of Adán Vallecillo centers on a critical reflection on the social and environmental consequences of extractive economies in Honduras. Through painting, installation, and research-based processes, he examines how cycles of resource exploitation have shaped landscapes and imaginaries, placing the promises of progress in tension with their enduring effects on the territory.
The series Bonanzas Efímeras (2013–2026) is part of a long-term project that brings together painting, sociology, and dance, developed between 2013 and 2026. For the exhibition, the artist presents five paintings in which circular forms emerge as patches or repairs, evoking territories shaped by cycles of abundance and exhaustion. These abstract surfaces, developed within the intimacy of the studio, extend into a broader social context through field trips and research in emblematic mining areas of Honduras, including Mineral de Agua Fría, La Tigra National Park, and the Siria Valley.
The project also includes a video created in collaboration with dancer Irma Valladares and filmed from an overhead perspective, in which the body interprets, through spasmodic and tense movements, the effects of heavy-metal contamination. This performative dimension introduces an embodied reading of the territory, where exhaustion, toxicity, and resistance are inscribed both on the pictorial surface and in the body and collective experience.
(Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
The exhibition will open to the public on September 4 and will remain on view through November 22, 2026.