Del océano al verso. Las caracolas de Pablo Neruda

Parque Forestal and MAC Quinta Normal, the museum has oriented its activity towards the generation of knowledge from the arts, and the development, study, integration and circulation of contemporary artworks. These goals materialize through national and international exhibitions, the safekeeping of its collection and archive, extension activities, and through diverse forms of communication, such as catalogues, podcasts and audiovisual capsules. Likewise, it counts with two specialized units: EducaMAC, dedicated to formation and mediation programs, and Anilla MAC, focused on the promotion of crossings between technology, science, art and society. Since its creation, MAC has systematically formed an important repository of both national and international art made up of more than 3.600 pieces, including engraving, sculpture, drawing, watercolor, photography, performance art, installation and video. On the other hand, the Museo de Arte Popular Americano Tomás Lago (MAPA) was born in the 1930’s as a response to the interest of intellectuals and politicians in folk art. Thanks to the joint efforts of the Comisión Chilena de Cooperación Intelectual, the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores and Universidad de Chile, it was possible to present the Exposición de Arte Popular Americano (1943), an exhibition which gathered a selection of folk art and craftwork pieces from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and, of course, Chile. The exhibition was a milestone, for the first time artisanal traditions were recognized as art works, calling into question distinctions between artist and artisan and, by doing that, giving value to the knowledge and practices passed on and updated by artisans from every corner of the continent. It was this event which birthed the MAPA collection, a repository that today holds more than 8.000 pieces in different 14 universidad de chile