David Ayala-Alfonso is a curator, writer, and researcher living and working in Mexico City.

He is a guest curator for the traveling program of Independent Curators International and for various organizations in Canada and the United Kingdom; Area Leader, Theory, in the Master’s Degree in Production-Research in Visual Arts at ENPEG-La Esmeralda; mentor for various residency programs; and editor, author, and advisor for multiple publishing projects in Mexico, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

His research focuses on the cultural, ecological, and political implications of heritage extraction and species trafficking, cultural practices organized around food and hospitality, and the study of artistic and non-artistic processes related to the material trajectories of the subsoil. He also maintains a critical writing practice focused on the study of curatorial aspects of exhibition and more-than-exhibition projects in different parts of the world. Ayala-Alfonso has published books and articles on criticism, curating, visual culture, critical heritage, new materialities, art history, critical urbanism, art and education, and art in the public sphere; he has also presented his ideas at numerous international conferences and lectures. His work as an artist, curator, writer, and editor has been shown and published in different places in the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

Ayala-Alfonso has received various awards, including the Fulbright Grant, the Museology Research Award from the Ministry of Culture of Colombia; the AICAD post-graduate Teaching Fellowship, the ICI-Dedalus Award for Curatorial Research, and the Early-concept Grant for Exploratory Research at SAIC. He holds an MA in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Specialization in Art Education from the National University of Colombia, and he has done different curatorial residencies in France, Colombia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
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