New York Latin American Art Triennial (NYLAAT)

The projection of contemporary Latin American art on the international scene has always relied on different platforms for its consolidation. In this case, the New York Latin American Art Triennial (NYLAAT), one of the most relevant in recent decades, has allowed the inclusion of Dominican figures such as Ezequiel Taveras, who assumed the role of Chief Curator, accompanied by Alexis Mendoza (Cuban artist), members of the jury for the 2025 edition of this event.

From its origin as a biennial in the Bronx in 2008 to its subsequent transformation into a triennial, NYLAAT has promoted a cultural dialogue between the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States, facilitating a space where identities, memories, and discourses on migration, technology, territory, and sustainability converge. Its decentralized approach, which integrates venues at institutions such as the Lehman College Art Gallery and the LMCC Art Center on Governors Island, allows for a broad view of the Latin American art scene, showcasing both the diversity and political force, as well as the poetic nature of visual creation in the region.

In this context, the participation of other Dominican artists such as Mary Frances Attías with her work "La Colmena Humana" or "The Human Hive," supported as "A proposal that seeks to generate conversations about the collateral consequences of gentrification processes through art, focusing specifically on those effects that develop in the vicinity of the Ozama, one of the main waterways of the Dominican Republic. This river, which owes its name to the Taino Indians, flows into the Caribbean Sea after dividing the city of Santo Domingo and bordering the historic center, known as the Colonial City, one of the main tourist attractions for locals and visitors.
This polyptych shows different perspectives or points of view of the environment, exhibiting its transformation in the face of the phenomena occurring around it. Development processes generate changes in the urban and architectural heritage of cities that imply the displacement of the inhabitants who traditionally occupied these spaces, creating a new demographic regrouping and, therefore, a new visual symbolism of progress reflected in society. This work proposes that the human community, through its perspective, contributes to the city's reflective capacity, influencing design, planning, and construction, as an evolutionary or, at times, a regressive impulse.

Despite an increasing emphasis on the importance of a comprehensive approach and inclusion, these practices offer a vision of "revaluation" where the pursuit of economic sustainability prevails over social issues, generating new situations of marginalization and displacement.

This influence, along with Carmen Lizardo, also Dominican, and the participation of other artists with Caribbean roots such as Ángel Urrely, Linet Sánchez, and Winslon (all Cuban), takes on special relevance, as it reaffirms the presence of the Caribbean within the map of contemporary Latin American art and contributes to positioning artistic production on a global scale, linking local sensibilities with the continent's aesthetic and social issues.
A great opportunity that underscores the vitality of a scene that not only seeks visibility but also influences current debates about identity, memory, and urban transformation.

NYLAAT Manifesto: The Organizing and Curatorial Committee of the New York Latin American Art Triennial (NYLAAT) is proud to announce the exhibition at Hostos Art Gallery. The 2025 New York Latin American Art Triennial (NYLAAT) revives the historical dialogue between art and architecture, transforming it into a tool for social reconstruction. Although this fusion dates back to antiquity, the avant-garde has reinvented it as an engine of collective identity—a vision that resonates strongly in contemporary Latin America. Recent architecture synthesizes indigenous roots, colonial legacies, and modernist innovation, creating living monuments of cultural resilience. NYLAAT 2025 interrogates these hybrid spaces, where artistic interventions activate architecture's potential to shape emotions, community, and political consciousness. The Triennial responds to urgent urban dialogues: climate precarity, gentrification, and the paradoxes of globalization. Artists and architects collaborate to decode cities through radical visual strategies – mapping from aerial, street, and underground perspectives.

These works challenge the passive consumption of space, proposing instead participatory architectures that question who shapes the civic imagination. Installations, performance, and structural design, NYLAAT 2025 offers alternative models for the union of art and architecture: where materials speak to displacement, facades become canvases of protest, and plazas become sites of collective memory. This is not aesthetic experimentation per se, but an urgent exploration of how built environments can redistribute social power.
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