In a city with no institutional or governmental support for contemporary art, the dynamism of Guatemala City’s artistic community is fueled by independent spaces, collaborative work, and a DIY spirit. Piedrín is a blog written from Guatemala City about contemporary art in the Americas. Looking at two experiences of outsiderness—the role of Central America in critical writing about contemporary art, and August’s role as a U.S.-trained writer, critic, and curator working there—the blog is fully bilingual in English and Spanish, and includes reviews of exhibitions, interviews with artists, reflections on studio visits, project profiles, and thematic essays.
Laura August is a writer and independent curator based in Guatemala City and Houston. She is working on a book about Kansas artist James Dean Pruner, titled Tell it to the Horses: The Life, Art, and Radical Community of a Kansas Painter. Her essays have appeared in numerous artist monographs, and her art criticism has been published in Art Forum, Artishock, Art Lies, Art Review, and Arts + Culture Texas, among other international publications. She is the co-founder of the apartment gallery and residency Yvonne in Guatemala and of the Houston-based project Francine. In 2016-2017, she is a writing fellow at the Core Critical Studies Program at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.