Abolir el Desierto (Abolish the Desert)

The Fundación Bienal de Arte Textil (BAT – Textile Art Biennial Foundation) is a platform for textile artists from Chile and around the world. Since 2019, it has established itself as a space for exhibition, reflection, and creation in contemporary textile art.

Through exhibitions, seminars, and public engagement activities, BAT fosters dialogue among artists, curators, researchers, and audiences, promoting the exchange of knowledge and experiences. Additionally, through initiatives such as regional itineraries and international collaborations, BAT goes beyond a biennial event, contributing to the visibility and permanent recognition of textile art worldwide.

About the Curator

Matías Allende Contador (Santiago, Chile) holds a PhD in Latin American Studies from the Universidad de Chile. He is a contemporary art curator whose research focuses on the connections between Latin American popular culture and contemporary art from the 20th century onward.

Allende has extensive experience in the museum field: he served as a researcher and content producer for the collection of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC – Museum of Contemporary Art) at the Universidad de Chile and worked as a curatorial assistant at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires (MNBA – National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires). He is the principal author of Catálogo Razonado. Colección MAC (Reasoned Catalogue. MAC Collection, MAC), editor of Especulaciones sobre el mundo desde América Latina (Speculations on the World from Latin America, CECLA-Vortex, 2022), and has published articles in various specialized journals.

He is currently conducting postdoctoral research in Paris, supported by the Deutsche Forum für Kunstgeschichte (DFK-Paris) and the Institut National de l’Histoire de l’Art (INHA) of France. At the same time, he serves as General Curator of the Chilean Textile Art Biennial (BAT).

About the Collectors

• Edward Luckett Shaw (United States, 1936 – Chile, 2022) was an American-born collector, writer, art critic, photographer, educator, curator, translator, and cultural manager. He studied Latin American History at Princeton University. Shaw lived in Argentina for three decades, working as a journalist for the Buenos Aires Herald during the 1980s and co-founding the Centro Cultural Borges (Borges Cultural Center) in the 1990s.

• Bernardita Zegers (Chile, 1951) is a painter and collector of Chilean textiles and art. She studied Theatrical Design at the Universidad de Chile. Her work is known for its use of mixed techniques with embroidered objects, and her pieces have been exhibited in multiple venues and exhibitions. In 2018, Zegers and Shaw donated a significant collection of artworks, objects, books, and textiles to the Universidad de Talca.