July 27, 2025 0 Contemporary art, Costa Rica Belinda San José Art Guide San José Art Guide: A Personal Guide to the City's Museums and Cultural Spaces San José is usually seen as a gateway to Costa Rica’s volcanoes, beaches, and biodiversity. People fly into SJO airport and find the quickest way out to the beauty spots. But if you pay attention, its museums and cultural centres are quietly doing something far more interesting than the guidebooks suggest. They’re shaping how Costa Rica sees itself, and how it wants to be seen. Although we live in Playas del Coco on the north Pacific side of the country, we travel to San José regularly, for studio visits, exhibitions, and to get our culture fix. When we first moved to Costa Rica, we didn’t expect the capital to become one of our favourite cities, but it has. The density of artists, curators, and independent thinkers is extraordinary and energising. We've been gathering our favourite places and lists of where to see art in San José and we're excited to share our San José Art Guide with you. Below is our personal guide on where to see art in San José, to the institutions we return to most, some of the most important spaces for seeing art in San José today. In no particular order! San José Art Guide 1. Museo de Arte Costarricense (MAC) | (Museum of Costa Rican Art) Location Museum of Costa Rican Art, exterior shot Housed in a former airport terminal in La Sabana Park, the Museo de Arte Costarricense is best known for its Salón Dorado, a gold-leaf mural room chronicling Costa Rica’s national history in a narrative frieze. MAC holds a large permanent collection of 19th- and 20th-century Costa Rican painting, along with regular temporary exhibitions that touch on national iconography, identity, and evolving approaches to figuration. It offers a historical overview, but also helps explain what has been institutionally recognised as "Costa Rican art." 2. Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo (MADC) | Museum of Contemporary Art and Design Location Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, exterior shot Tucked inside the National Cultural Centre (CENAC), the MADC is where more experimental and contemporary work finds a home. The museum regularly shows regional and international artists working in installation, video, performance, and conceptual modes. Its programming often explores gender, memory, migration, and decolonial thought. The architecture, a converted liquor factory, still carries the texture of the old walls, which suits the museum’s commitment to showing work that feels immediate and sometimes unfinished. When I want to see what artists in Central America are actually thinking about, this is where we go. 3. Museo Calderón Guardia | Calderón Guardia Museum Location Museo Calderón Guardia, exterior shot This museum sits inside the former home of Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia, a Costa Rican president best known for his mid-century social reforms. The exhibitions here often reflect the connection between art, history, and politics. Some rooms hold the collection of mid-century works donated by the Calderón family, while others present temporary exhibitions by living artists whose work addresses questions of civic life, memory, and visual culture. 4. Centro Cultural de España (CCECR) | Spanish Cultural Center Location Centro Cultural de España, Exterior shot The Cultural Centre of Spain in Costa Rica has become one of the most engaged and consistent venues for curatorial work with a social edge. Its recent programming has foregrounded feminist, queer, and performance-based practices, offering artists and curators space to test ideas outside the commercial gallery or major museum circuit. The CCECR is also one of the few institutions where emerging artists can participate in thoughtful, risk-taking exhibitions with a public platform. Their small but considered exhibition space often punches above its weight. 5. Museo del Jade y de la Cultura Precolombina | Jade Museum Location Museo del Jade y de la Cultura Precolombina, Exterior shot Run by the National Insurance Institute and located near Plaza de la Democracia, the Jade Museum holds one of the world’s largest collections of pre-Columbian jade objects. The architecture is stark and purpose-built, and the galleries are atmospheric, focused on archaeology, but presented with visual care. For contemporary artists, it is also a material reference point: carved stones, icon systems, and the formal language of abstraction long before the term existed. 6. Museo Nacional de Costa Rica Location Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, Exterior shot The National Museum, located in the old Bellavista Barracks, is more archaeological and anthropological in tone, but it often includes temporary exhibitions of Costa Rican visual artists. The architecture has an internal courtyard and butterfly garden, which is worth a visit on its own. There is something grounding about seeing art in a place once used as a military site, now repurposed for cultural memory. 7. TEOR/éTica | Theory/Ethics Location TEOR/éTica, Exterior shot A privately run, independent space that has become one of the most influential contemporary art platforms in the region. TEOR/éTica is a hub for residencies, publications, and research. Their exhibitions tend to prioritise conceptual depth and process, and they support curatorial and artistic practices that fall outside traditional exhibition-making. If you want to know where future conversations in Central American art might be heading, this is a good place to start. 8. Galería Nacional Location Located within the Centro Costarricense de la Ciencia y la Cultura (also home to the Children’s Museum) the Galería Nacional is one of the few state-run art venues that prioritises accessibility and public visibility. While it doesn’t operate with the same curatorial independence or conceptual focus as TEOR/éTica or MADC, it plays a key role in Costa Rica’s art scene by offering exhibitions that include retrospectives, group shows, student work, and thematic surveys. It often hosts artists from outside the capital and gives space to regional voices that might not otherwise be represented in San José. The exhibitions change frequently and range in tone from civic and commemorative to experimental, depending on the curators and the season. 9. abra.espacio Location abra.espacio, Interior shot Located in downtown San José, abra.espacio is an independent, non-profit art space founded by Montserrat Mesalles. Housed in a distinctive 1970s building, it offers a sharp, minimal exhibition programme with a strong focus on conceptual rigour and curatorial clarity. Exhibitions are spare, deliberate, and often research-driven. The space has also participated in international collaborations. It’s a small space, but consistently thoughtful. 10. salita_temporal Location Founded by Luciano Goizueta in 2019, salita_temporal is a small, theatre-like project space that fuses curating and artistic practice. The room, just 2.60m x 2.30m x 4.30m, is open on one side—like a stage—inviting the public to observe each installation or intervention in passing. Since its founding, it has hosted over two dozen short-term projects by artists and cultural producers across disciplines. A digital clock on the outer wall originally counted down to the space’s demolition, but now tracks time in reverse, marking the days it has unexpectedly outlived its scheduled end. Around the City Here are a few of our favourite stops, beyond the galleries: Franco (Barrio Escalante): for excellent coffee and breakfast. Try the dirty chai latte and the huevos rancheros. Cafeoteca (Barrio Escalante): for locally roasted coffee and an ever-present mix of artists, writers, and students. Check out the artworks on display! Lolo's Pizza (Barrio Escalante): our top place to grab food when we want something casual, quick, and reliably fun after a day of exhibitions. It’s quirky as hell with Lolo the owner being charming and attentive. He has an old CD player and mostly plays British bands from the 1980s. Café Negroni (Escazu): stylish, tucked away, and consistent—Negroni is where we head for a slightly slower pace and a longer sit-down. In our experience, the negronis are reliably good, the lighting is low, and the playlist rarely misses. Le Bistrot de Paris (La Sabana): A refined, light-filled terrace setting offering modern Costa Rican cuisine and tapas. The blend of antique furniture, leafy patios, and curated seasonal menus gives it a charming, reflective afternoon feel. Ideal if you’re seeking calm elegance. It's not overly fancy, but distinctly stylish and relaxed. Sikwa (Los Yoses): Sikwa is frequently noted for its inventive use of indigenous ingredients and jungle-to-table cooking. Chef Pablo Bonilla collaborates with local communities to bring regional flavours to modern dishes, all served in a relaxed, design-forward space. It's a compelling example of how contemporary cuisine can reflect Costa Rica’s diverse culinary heritage. Whether you're visiting for a weekend or live here year-round, these spaces remind us that Costa Rica’s capital is a destination for thoughtful, inventive, and evolving visual culture, and not just a stopover on the way to the beach. Contact us for more information and advice on San José. MÍRAME Contact Information: MÍRAME Fine Art Email: [email protected] Follow: Facebook | Instagram San José Art Guide
