Opening | Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, San José

A personal look at a dynamic opening at MADC, one of Costa Rica’s leading spaces for Latin American contemporary art.

Last week we returned to Costa Rica from the UK and, aside from reuniting with our town of Playas del Coco, we relished an immediate weekend trip to San José. It reminded us how much we enjoy the city! We were particularly happy that we were able to attend the afternoon opening of Mimian Hsu, Elia Arce, Roberto Carter and Pável Quevedo Ullauri at the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo (Museum of Contemporary Art and Design - MADC.

The energy during the exhibition opening was electric. The museum was packed: friends, artists, collectors, curators and curious visitors gathered in the repurposed space that once housed the Fábrica Nacional de Licores (FANAL) and is now one of the major hubs for Latin American contemporary art.

Courtyard outside Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo

Converting the 19th-century liquor factory into a cultural complex makes the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo one of the most atmospheric venues in Costa Rica and Central America. The building retains traces of its past with its rough stone walls, steel beams, and a distinctive openness that lends itself to experimentation. The architecture and the art share the same language of process and reinvention.

Pável Quevedo Ullauri at the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo

Against this textured backdrop, Roberto Carter and Pável Quevedo Ullauri presented En las entrañas del ser habita la tierra (the earth dwells in the depth of being) . This section is a collaboration between painting and moving image that explores the territory between disciplines. Carter’s canvases, set directly against the museum’s weathered walls, seemed to absorb the building’s history, grounding them in its narrative.

The surfaces pulsed with depth and shadow, some figures emerging and dissolving in the subtle gesture and layers of colour and form. Quevedo’s video works expanded that world, pulling visitors into other worlds creating with fields of movement and light. Both artists explore psychological depth and the terrain of inner landscapes mirrored through form, and movement

Roberto Carter at the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo

Another artist pairing, between Mimian Hsu and Elia Arce, occupy the first space as you enter the museum. Their show Lenguajes errantes unites two Costa Rican artists whose lives have been marked by migration. Their works are presented as parallel narratives (separate yet in dialogue) reflecting on identity, displacement and empathy across cultures.

Hsu’s installation, a suspended network of delicate metallic threads and clustered orbs, immediately drew attention. Visitors were encouraged to touch the work; when they did, it responded with soft, resonant sounds, turning the act of viewing into one of shared listening. It was mesmerising! The piece shimmered gently as people moved beneath it, conversations falling into an almost reverent hush.

Arce’s contribution, in contrast, was more direct and performative. Her installation space became a site of interaction, a kind of living conversation about how identity is constructed and perceived. Throughout the opening, groups gathered around the work, testing its possibilities and discussing its meanings. Both artists approach belonging as a process, a concept especially resonant in a region where migration continues to influence collective experience.

Mimian Hsu at the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo

Aside from the work impressing us, it was the atmosphere in the museum that stood out. There was a genuine sense of community and celebration for the artists showing their work in such a reputable venue. San José has a real creative buzz and this event was a reminder to us that Costa Rica's contemporary art scene has a character entirely its own: deeply connected, intellectually alert and increasingly visible within the Latin American context.

In a country more often marketed for its natural beauty than its cultural life, events like this help to reframe the narrative. They show a city engaged with the complexities of modern existence, with artists responding to questions of identity and imagination. MADC’s curatorial vision continues to give these conversations a platform and we were thrilled to be a part of it.

Elia Arce at the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo

Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo

The Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo remains one of our favourite venues because of the dialogue between the building’s industrial past and the ideas that fill it today. These exhibitions, by Roberto Carter and Pável Quevedo Ullauri, Mimian Hsu and Elia Arce, affirmed that Costa Rican and Latin American art remains an evolving conversation, one that finds its truest form in moments like this.

When you are next in San José or thinking about a weekend getaway sometime, go and check out the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo - you won't regret it.

MÍRAME Contact Information:

Email: [email protected] Follow: Facebook | Instagram