A new destination for contemporary art takes shape in Guayaquil, Ecuador – The Art Newspaper

A new arts initiative by the Eacheve Foundation (pronounced eh-ah-che-veh) is taking shape in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, with aspirations of fortifying the local contemporary art scene when its building opens in autumn 2025. Over the past ten years, Eacheve has served as a pillar within the Ecuadorian contemporary art community; with its first brick-and-mortar space, the foundation hopes to become the missing keystone of Ecuador’s arts campo. Construction on the over 9,500 sq. ft building broke ground in January, with a budget of more than $1m.

Founded in 2014 by the art historian Eliana Hidalgo Vilaseca, Eacheve’s mission is to conserve and support contemporary art in Ecuador, a community that has been historically underserved in terms of substantial institutional support for visual art. Through a combination of exhibitions, publications, grants and residencies, Eacheve has established a track record of supporting countless Ecuadorian artists who have not had international acclaim, as well as those that do, like Sofía Salazar Rosales, Manuela Ribadeneira and Eduardo Sola Franco.

Funding for Eacheve has come from a range of individual and corporate supporters in Ecuador and abroad, as well as in-kind donations and partnerships, Hidalgo Vilaseca says. Grupo Vilaseca, the company long led by her late grandfather Juan José Vilaseca Valls, is based in Guayaquil and has subsidiaries in the packaging, food production, industrial and real estate sectors.

The Ecuadorian architecture firm Intemperie Studio has collaborated with Hidalgo Vilaseca to bring her vision for the foundation to life. Nestled in the Terminal Terreste district, the minimalist building will feature four gallery spaces, an archival library, offices and outdoor areas that include green spaces and a riverside boardwalk. Together, these elements will create an environment for collaboration, reflection, research and community for artists, curators, scholars and visitors. The building’s location is also a short distance from the José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport and the Terminal Terrestre de Guayaquil, the city’s central bus terminal, providing connections to every part of the country and region.

“The aim for the permanent space is for it to become Ecuador’s most reliable art institution and an anchor for international awareness for Ecuadorian art,” Hidalgo Vilaseca says.

A focus on raw materials and greenery

Designed as a series of shifting, box-like volumes, the Eacheve Foundation building embraces minimalist, functional architecture. The sleek exterior, clad in galvanised sheet metal, will reflect both a modern aesthetic and a sense of Ecuadorian resilience and strength, perhaps echoing current discourses on rasquachismo. The building’s design includes wide opening doors to create a sense of fluidity between the interior galleries and the surrounding landscape, highlighting the beauty of the most biodiverse country in the world.

The thoughtful integration of natural elements—the green spaces, terrace and riverside boardwalk—underlines the foundation’s commitment to creating an inviting and multidimensional environment. These outdoor areas will host public programming, helping to foster a sense of connection between the institution and the local community.

“The space will add another layer of support to our current programme, a place for dialogue and an opportunity to engage more in depth with an international audience, invite international curators, artists and develop cross-country and cross-institutional projects,” Hidalgo Vilaseca says.

The new building marks a turning point in Eacheve’s 11-year journey. While the foundation is not currently a collecting institution, it does provide funding for museum acquisitions of works by Ecuadorian artists. And even as it has generated significant success with its exhibitions, publications and partnerships—both locally and internationally—the organisation’s lack of a permanent space has left a gap in Ecuador’s cultural infrastructure.

Historically, Ecuador’s national art institutions have faced challenges related to political instability, economic difficulties and the fragility of public funding. The new Eacheve building, funded through endowed private support and designed to be independent of government interference, offers a ramo of stability that the country’s artistic ecosystem has long needed.

“I had seen a need that was not being addressed […] in the whole country,” Hidalgo Vilaseca says. “This space […] will guarantee stability, as well as become a legitimising space for artists, curators.” She adds: “The lack of a space like this in Ecuador has contributed to our limited international recognition until now.”

The foundation has longstanding connections domestically and abroad, and currently has active partnerships with the Delfina Foundation in London, DEO Projects in Greece and the Fondation Fiminco in France. Each of these collaborations serves to raise the profile of Ecuadorian artists in the global scene. Aaron Cezar, the director of the Delfina Foundation, says that for “over ten years, Eacheve Foundation has become a critical artery for Ecuadorian art and culture, providing vital connections locally and globally. As a lifeline for artists, it has helped to develop, sustain and promote their practices through exhibitions, publications and residencies.”

With its new building, Eacheve plans to shift from being an exporter of Ecuadorian art to becoming a global destination for diverse cultural practitioners and their publics. “The building is crucial because it will become [a] bridge between the world and Ecuador,” Hidalgo Vilaseca says. “We will [be able to host] international audiences, curators and bring people here and not just the other way around.”

Multi-pronged support for artists

A primary objective for the new Eacheve complex is to provide a dedicated location for the permanent and temporary exhibitions that have become defining characteristics of the foundation’s programming. The exhibitions often highlight contemporary artists whose work engages with foundational issues in Ecuador and Latin America. Another facet of the foundation’s mission is to support research and education on Ecuadorian art. That has included the publication of 101 Arte Contemporáneo Ecuador Vol 1, an essential book chronicling the country’s contemporary art scene.

The foundation has also played a significant role in recovering and preserving Ecuador’s historical artistic production, as demonstrated by its recent project, Maac Collection Rescue, which involved organising two exhibitions of 20th-century works from the collection of the Museo Antropológico y de Arte Contemporáneo (Maac) in Guayaquil. The project spotlights Ecuadorian art movements such as Realismo Social and Ancestralismo; the first exhibition from that project closed at the Maac in February.

“There is a before and after Eacheve when it comes to the Ecuadorian contemporary art scene,” says Manuela Ribadeneira, an artist who has collaborated with the foundation. “The foundation provides us with opportunities that my generation of artists did not have, and it is a lifeline for many artists today.”

As global interest in Latin American contemporary art continues to grow, Eacheve is well positioned to foster new conversations, collaborations and creative ventures. Eliana Hidalgo and Eacheve are not the only ones transforming the current scene in Ecuador. Several key players, most of them women, are spearheading a movement that is priming Ecuadorian artistic production for a jump in international visibility. These include the new executive director of the Maac, Stephanie García Albán, the current Minister of Culture and Heritage, Romina Muñoz Procel, and Lupe Alvárez, a professor of curating and critical writing at the Universidad de Las Artes.

In Hidalgo Vilaseca’s view, Eacheve’s new building will be an important addition to this blossoming scene, creating an “opportunity for art and artists across the country, as well as providing a platform for hosting an international audience to appreciate Ecuadorian art in situ and across the globe”.