“The exhibition includes paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, engravings, and videos that offer new interpretations and questions about the myth. Since the invasion of Europeans to the Americas, rumors spread quickly about a kingdom filled with gold, driving conquistadores to find it. Despite never being found, the mythical El Dorado defined the continent as an empty land up for grabs. 

El Dorado: Myths of Gold brings together artworks and artists that engage with the myth to evaluate its continuity into the present, sometimes offering a critical view and a path of resistance.” — Americas Society 

“Through their use of gold, both physical and metaphorical the artists in this exhibition emphasize to us the ambivalent power of myth in conditioning who we are as a region, opening space for us to resist extractive systems and to reconsider what we are seeking,” writes the exhibition curatorial team. 

Installation views of “El Dorado: Myths of Gold” at Americas Society. Photos: Arturo Sánchez.

The exhibition is co-curated by Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Director and Chief Curator, Art at Americas Society; Tie Jojima, Associate Curator, Manager of Exhibitions, Art at Americas Society and Edward Sullivan, the Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of Art History, New York University.

It was organized in collaboration with Fundación PROA in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Museo Amparo in Puebla (Mexico), the exhibition will take place in two parts: part I from September through December 2023 and part II from January through May 2024.