The book Este museo no es un museo (This Museum Is Not a Museum) tells the story of the Museo del Barro and its history, which dates back more than 50 years of creative work, the establishment of cultural spaces, and the development of thinking about symbolic production in Paraguay. Based on extensive archival research, along with testimonies and the author’s experiences in close proximity to the museum project, the book also seeks to answer who the institution owes its existence to and how it has become a space for celebrating difference.

Lia Colombino was born in Asunción in 1974. She holds a master’s degree in Museology from the University of Valladolid. She participated in the seminars Identities in Transit and Cultural Criticism Studies at the Space/Criticism Seminar (2001-2008). She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Arts at the National University of the Arts in Buenos Aires (in partnership with the National University of Misiones, Argentina). She has been the director of the Museum of Indigenous Art at CAV/Museo del Barro since 2008, and coordinator of the Espacio/Crítica Seminar from 2009 to 2017. Since 2009, she has been a member of the Southern Conceptualisms Network. She is co-founder of Ediciones de la Ura, a transdisciplinary collective. She has coordinated Abrapalabra-Writing Workshop since 2000, as well as Tragaluz/Espacio Transversal, where workshops, courses, and meetings are held. Since 2018, she has held the position of director at the Instituto Superior de Arte “Dra. Olga Blinder” of the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Art at the National University of Asunción. She has curated exhibitions and coordinated art and literature projects. She has written for the media and specialized publications and has given talks and lectures both in Paraguay and abroad.