Feria Viva el Arte reaches 20th anniversary in Costa Rica

Feria Viva el Arte reaches its 20th anniversary in 2026, marking two decades as one of Costa Rica’s primary platforms for cultural diffusion, encuentro, and the commercialization of art and design. nacion.com and gamcultural.com report that the milestone event will bring together more than 30 visual artists and designers for a special commemorative exhibition. This project was gestated two decades ago on the initiative of Guillermo Alonso Guzmán, president of Grupo Auto Mercado, and under the coordination of Ana Beatriz Sánchez Malavasi. It was born in 2006 as a Gathering of Painters at Plaza del Sol, and in its first edition it was called the I Gathering of Painters, offering artists a space to exhibit and commercialize their work directly with the public, without intermediaries, while forming part of the official program of the International Arts Festival.

Twenty Years of Cultural Presence in Costa Rica

Over the years, the initiative expanded its scope to include sculpture, photography, and printmaking, before officially integrating design in 2012. The success of those early editions led to growth and formalization, with artist studios producing live integrated in 2008 and the name changing to Viva el Arte in 2009. In that same year, a group of 30 participating artists created a collective artwork on a triptych of cartwheel wheels inspired by the Sarchí style, which was donated to the Juan Santamaría School in Curridabat, with the support of the Municipality of Curridabat, the Ministry of Public Education, and Jiménez & Tanzi. Later, in 2013, the space filled with ink and paper as printmakers performed exercises showing firsthand how different stages of the printing process are carried out, and in 2014 artists and visitors created a collective mosaic with vitreous techniques for Ciudad Hogar Calasanz. Furthermore, the incorporation of an open call and the curation of María Alejandra Triana from 2015 to 2022 marked a stage of maturation that transformed the structure and incorporated varied exhibitions and activities for each edition, such as displays dedicated to abstract art, illustration, drawing, traditional masquerades, and the National Theatre.

Exhibition Dates and Venue Details

The commemorative XXVII edition runs from October 16 to October 18, 2026, at Plaza Mayor, following a prior anniversary edition held from May 15 to May 17, 2026, at Plaza del Sol, according to reporting from nacion.com and gamcultural.com. Admission to the public is free, and the experience requires no prior planning or reservations. Besides finding a variety of techniques, works, and prices, visitors can meet the artists, converse about their processes, and establish bonds beyond the purchase.

Curated Selections and Historic Milestones

Alongside these contemporary showcases, the anniversary events feature a retrospective exhibition built from two decades of photographs, posters, and documents drawn from the fair’s own archives.