I studied Sociology in Chile, where I became particularly interested in the Sociology of Art. In 2001, I moved to Belgium to pursue a Master’s degree in International Relations. I have lived in Brussels ever since, apart from a three-year period when I returned to Chile. I currently work at the Brussels Parliament, where I focus on the social, economic, and political implications of technological change.
Between 2010 and 2013, I was Head of International Relations at Chile’s Department of Libraries, Archives and Museums (DIBAM). I helped organise Chile’s participation as Guest of Honour at the Guadalajara and Turin Book Fairs, and in 2013 I was involved in Vanitas: Joel-Peter Witkin at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago, as well as Libro Abierto, a series of conversations at the National Library of Chile marking its bicentenary.
In 2023, after returning to Belgium, I founded Björk-ö Project together with Chilean photographer and writer Patricio Salinas A. The project is a platform dedicated to artistic creation and critical thinking, bringing together contemporary photography, art, literature, and ideas. Our activities include exhibitions, artistic residencies, and publishing projects.
Since 2024, I have been studying analogue photography at the Académie des Arts d’Ixelles in Brussels.
In November 2025, I edited and published our first book, 563: Walter Benjamin and the Aesthetics of Collapse. The book brings together photography and critical reflection around Walter Benjamin’s work, memory and the experience of collapse. Among other projects, we are currently working on our second publication, a French translation of Smiljan Radić’s Every So Often a Talking Dog Appears and Other Essays, which will be published in 2027 in collaboration with Éditions Peuplier (France).
Email: p.abarcadelafuente@gmail.com
Patricia Abarca de la Fuente 