Tupac Inca Yupanqui Cultural Center
Contemporary Peruvian Art and Cultural Center
We've just (Oct 25) updated the
event schedule to include
end of October and November, 2011 events.
The
Casa de la Cultura Tupac
Inca Yupanqui in Cusco Peru is a contemporary art
and cultural center acknowledging the Incan past while
emphasizing the contemporary art and culture of Peru.
It is located at Calle Arequipa/Q’hapchik'ijllu 159
just 2 blocks from the Plaza de Armas in Cusco
including the Cathedral and Compañia de Jesus
(pictured here) ... almost in the center of town and
part of the monumental district. The cultural center
is part of our house
Casa Tupac Inca Yupanqui
which besides the cultural center and our apartment
includes the Fractal Dragon Art Gallery, Dragon's
Palate Restuarant, and a stores compatible with the
concept of a cultural center.
Fractal Dragon
Art Gallery (pictures) in Cusco, Peru. The
Fractal Dragon Art Gallery (web
site) in presents contemporary Peruvian art...
paintings, ceramics and sculpture for viewing and for
sale. The gallery currently comprises three rooms in
the first floor of the house, and three large
galleries, an office and gallery store on the 2nd
floor of the house. The director of the gallery is
Elena Mendoza Altamirano who also serves as director
of the Cultural Center.
Dragon's Palate -
Restuarant & Beer Garden (photos).
Dragon's
Palate Restuarant (web page) - together with the
art gallery we use the theme of a Dragon; furthermore
'palate' is a homonym with an artist's palette (OK...
explaining the obvious, but the play on words is not
so obvious in Spanish). The restaurant has 4 dining
areas: the Mandelbrot cafe (fractalicious) with direct
access to the street, the patio/beer garden with WiFi
access, the more refined artsey dining room with
seating for 35 persons, and the widescreen
TV/Movie/directTV room. The menu offers both a fusion
of Peruvian and International fare including
appetizers, soups, salads, pastas, main courses and
desserts with a nice selection of hot and and cold
drinks with local beers and wines.
Casa Tupac
Yupanqui (pictures). Our physical 'house' has a
title dating back to 1732 with the some parts of the
house perhaps constructed even earlier. It is located
on the city block which made up the imperial palace of
the Tupac Inca Yupanqui in pre-Columbian times. The
architecture is a mix of colonial and republican. The
house is two story adobe construction with walls one
meter thick, roofs of antique ceramic tiles and a
modest patio surrounded by the four wings of the
house. The spacious galleries on the 2nd floor are
shared between the art gallery and cultural center.
The patio is shared by all members of our community.
We also maintain part of the 2nd floor as our
apartment.
It was a difficult task fixing up
an antiquity while maintaining architectural and
cultural integrity within some kind of reasonable
budget during a world-wide economic crisis. We’ve
finished work on the antique part of house (not that
such work is ever really finished) and had an official
opening with invitees from many of the venues in Cusco
on September 1 of 2009.
The mission of the cultural
center is to promote contemporary art and culture of
Cusco (and the rest of Peru and South America in that
order). We host workshops, presentations and
exhibitions in the plastic/visual and performing arts
in our exhibition halls and smaller workshop spaces.
Members of the Cusco community and visitors to Cusco
interact with the contemporary the art and culture in
Cusco and with the various artists and performers
resident or visiting Cusco. With our emphasis on
‘contemporary’ you won’t see copies or re-enactments
of colonial or pre-Columbian dances, music, or art,
but you may see the fusion of contemporary art with
our colonial and pre-Columbian inheritance.
Please visit our Facebook page to see or comment on the
latest events in the cultural center.
