MARIANO UGALDE
Mariano was born in the city of La Paz and has lived between the US and Bolivia ever since, making La Paz his current permanent residence since 2015. In 2008, he started directing Salar Gallery, a contemporary art space showcasing some of the regions’ top talent. He has participated in over 100 art fairs in all major art capitals around the world and has been successful in introducing the roster of artists the gallery represents to international audiences placing their works in private collections and public institutions’.
In 2010, he started Salar Art+Travel (SAT) which originally catered to the Gallery’s international clients that wanted to visit Bolivia. In 2015, the company became an independent Luxury Destination Management Company which develops and operates one-of-a-kind tailor made trips all throughout Bolivia. Over the years SAT has hosted a number of high profile clients and has worked with industry leaders in luxury travel worldwide who rely on SAT for their most complex and challenging clients. Further SAT has been entrusted with operating press trips for the leading specialized publications such as Vanity Fair, Conde Nast, Travel+Leisure, Fodor’s among others all of which listed the country in their must- visit places.
Mariano is highly committed to promoting the country's rich cultural landscape and works closely with the cutting edge gastronomy players to create conceptual dining experiences for its clients through pop-ups in remote places in collaboration with the leading performers and artists.
He is currently working on an ambitious museum project that will further promote tourism in the country and will help local communities in an effort to consolidate the destination.
Which are your three favourite cultural destinations (established or new ones)?
My favorite cultural destinations are New York, London and Miami. There is a special magic about NY and London’s cultural scenes which have been long established and of course are destinations where you can spend an entire week exploring its offerings and yet only see a fraction of it. Home to some of the best museums in the world along the leading contemporary art galleries these cities make the perfect destinations for any art lover. I also include Miami in this list even though it is not usually put in the same category, it is a place that I called home and got to know very well and in the last ten years has become the de facto cultural capital of Latin America mainly due to Art Basel. It is also an example of how a city can be transformed through art, architecture, design, gastronomy and services. Miami is also home to some of the greatest art collections in the world that are open to the public and all within 5 miles from each other.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE EMERGING CULTURAL CITIES IN THE WORLD AND WHY?
Sao Paulo, Lima, Bogota and La Paz. My favorite cultural cities happen to be our neighbors and my very own city as it got to a point after traveling far and away that we realized that we had much more things in common with these cities and that there was no need to cross continents to get a culture fix. I look at these cities as vibrant cultural capitals that have nothing to envy other cultural hubs around the world and are exciting places to discover. In La Paz we are going through what Lima went through 15 years ago when it was merely a transit city where people would go to take their connecting flight to Cusco and now you have people staying in Lima for a week and is still not enough time. In La Paz we had people arriving to take their connecting flight to Uyuni which is the country's main tourist attraction and would spend a day or maybe two at the most as there was not much to do. Now that has changed and La Paz has become its own destination and people are eager to discover this hidden gem of a city that has long been the underdog in the tourism game in and has been shadowed by the larger neighboring cities for quite some time. It is no coincidence that La Paz was named the coolest capital in Latin America by Travel+Leisure and that is something that makes me extremely proud and happy to be here during these exciting times.
Tell us about a cultural project with great potential for social impact.
There are two projects that come to mind and that are close to us. The first one is Bernardo Paz’ Inhotim in Brasil that has proven to be an extraordinary project that has already had a tremendous impact on local communities and that continues to grow year after year. The second project is Callao Monumental in Lima which consists of the restoration of a historic district that had been long abandoned and taken over by crime and gangs and now has been transformed into a lively art community similar to that of Wynwood in Miami but with its own distinct character.
What has been your most memorable recent cultural experience?
A place that marked my life and that I recently revisited is Glenstone in Maryland which is a place that keeps inspiring and surprising. My first visit was in 2008 and it was one I will never forget as I had to first apply for a visit which was eventually granted, I then arrived to this surreal space that is only 30 minutes away from DC that blends art, landscape and architecture like no other place I had seen. Since then, I have visited the museum pretty much every show ending with the much anticipated expansion which included the addition of a 170,000-square-foot building called the Pavilions, designed by Thomas Phifer. Despite the massiveness of Glenstone, it has always been a very intimate experience to visit it as often times it would be just you and the curator or docent guiding you in the museum because of the way the visits are setup. Talk about being able to social-distance in over 200 acres.
Describe the perfect cultural day of the city you live in.
The perfect cultural day starts with early breakfast at Atix (Bolivia's first Art Hotel and member of the Design Hotels Group). Then we take the teleférico (the largest urban cable car system in the world) on to the central station located in downtown La Paz where we visit the on-site museum which makes the perfect introduction to La Paz. We then continue with museum visits to MUSEF and to the National Museum of Art followed by lunch at Ali Pacha. Afternoon visit to the cemetery, local markets, artist’s studios and designers’ ateliers, pre dinner cocktails and private gallery visit. Dinner at famed Gustu restaurant ending with a night cap at 591 bar.