The NEXT Award is presented for the section curated by Florencia Portocarrero which is based on a selection of galleries that stand out for their unique potential. Instead of conceiving curation as a unidirectional process of artworks selection, the curator advocates a methodology rooted in dialogue, allowing the artistic proposals to reflect the interests and the most recent experiments of creation.
In this edition, the section also critically addresses the "emerging artist¨ category, highlighting the need to reconsider the limited support to art within the region. Consequently, the prestigious jury comprised by curators Beatriz Lemos (Coordinator Curator of Inhotim), Laura Hakel (Curator of the Collection and Artistic Projects of the Ama Amoedo Foundation and ISLAA Curatorial Fellow at the New Museum, New York, USA), alongside artist Gilda Mantilla (Los Angeles, 1967), critically resolved to jointly award the prize upon two galleries: Salón Comunal (Bogotá, Colombia) and Remota (Salta, Argentina).