To be a reference in the cultural field and inspire other art spaces

Francisco Suárez is the co-founder and actual director of the art residency No Lugar that operates since 2010 in Quito, Ecuador.

Designed as a cultural center with a dedicated space for the residency and an art gallery in the city, the project focuses on the promotion and dissemination of contemporary art at a local, national, and international level.

No Lugar is actually born from a group of newly graduated artists that were witnessing and experiencing the decrease of cultural spaces in the country, and they were eager to launch a platform for Ecuadorian emerging artists so that they can follow and develop their careers. “I think the work we’ve done at No Lugar has been interesting and important {…} because, during the time we have been working, we have always been generating an offer, and that offer helps within a rather small environment such as the Ecuadorian one. I believe that it is not a very big market because a lot of spaces disappears, whether it is public, institutional or private and independent, or whatever you want to call it. It is critical, I think it is. And, it is important that we have maintained an active agenda, we almost never stopped working,” confides Francisco Suárez.

Over the years, No Lugar has become not only a first base for many national artists, but also a meeting point of the cultural community through the numerous organized exhibitions, seminars, workshops, or residencies. “I think that yes, it has also laid a foundation for other people, I don't like the word inspire, but some took us as a reference to start their own projects,” indicates the founder.

Indeed, No Lugar has become a model for the promotion and production of contemporary arts, as well as in the mediation with the local audiences, making it a true Ecuadorian cultural reference. “I think that's also interesting, that you can leave a reference, that people can take you as a kind of model to also generate their own proposals. That help enrich the circuit, the artistic field, the cultural field,” concludes Francisco Suárez.