Eugenio Viola to Depart MAMBO Following Board Termination
After seven years shaping the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá’s international profile, Eugenio Viola will leave in May 2026 following a board decision he links to concerns over working conditions.
Eugenio Viola will leave Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (MAMBO) in May 2026, concluding a seven-year tenure that expanded the institution’s international profile while coinciding with a period of internal recalibration.
On February 6, the museum announced that it had decided to terminate its relationship with Viola following what it described as a “comprehensive and ongoing review” of institutional operations. A search for a new artistic director is underway. The statement thanked Viola for consolidating MAMBO as a leading Latin American platform for contemporary art.
In statements to international press, Viola said the board ended his contract early not because of artistic or leadership deficiencies, but after he raised concerns in September 2025 regarding deteriorating working conditions within the institution. He stated that those concerns were shared by members of the team and that no formal internal review preceded the decision.
The museum has not publicly addressed the labor-related claims.
Since assuming leadership in 2019, Viola oversaw more than fifty exhibitions, strengthening the museum’s international visibility while maintaining a strong regional focus. His program included presentations by Voluspa Jarpa, Teresa Margolles, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, and Seba Calfuqueo, alongside a major exhibition dedicated to Colombian artist Óscar Muñoz. His curatorial direction engaged performance, political embodiment, and transnational dialogue as central frameworks.
The departure highlights a structural tension familiar to contemporary art institutions: the negotiation between curatorial autonomy and board governance during periods of financial and administrative adjustment. Across Latin America, privately structured museums continue to navigate sustainability pressures while seeking to preserve programmatic ambition. Leadership transitions in such contexts often clarify institutional priorities more than they alter artistic direction.
Viola has confirmed he will return to Naples while fulfilling existing international curatorial commitments. MAMBO continues its programming calendar as it enters a new phase of leadership selection.
The forthcoming appointment will not simply mark a personnel change; it will indicate how the institution calibrates authority between artistic vision and administrative oversight in its next chapter.
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