Alfredo Rivera

Art and architectural historian Fredo Rivera ‘06 is Assistant Professor of Art History at Grinnell College, where he teaches classes on modern and contemporary architecture and urban visual culture, as well as the art of the Americas, with a focus on the Caribbean.  Professor Rivera’s current research includes art and architecture in modern Cuba, Haitian art, photography and visual culture, and the relationship of the art world and real estate development in contemporary Miami.

Rivera completed his dissertation “Revolutionizing Modernities: Visualizing Utopia in 1960s Havana, Cuba,” in July 2015.  He previously served as an Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (2011-2013).   He was also a Research Affiliate at the University of Miami School of Architecture (Spring and Fall 2010) as well as a Social Science Research Council DPDF fellow (Summer 2008).   Prior to arriving to Grinnell, Dr. Rivera was Visiting Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture at Florida Atlantic University.

Professor Rivera has worked on a number of exhibition projects, including working as a curatorial assistant and exhibition catalogue contributor for From Within and Without: The History of Haitian Photograph (Museum of Art-Ft. Lauderdale), co-curator of Nation on the Move – the Puerto Rican Diaspora: Photographs by Frank Espada (Duke University Libraries), and co-curator for Building Broward: A Guide to a Century of Architecture (Florida Atlantic Univerity & Broward Cultural Division).  He is currently working on publications regarding mid-century art and design in Cuba as well as scholarship on contemporary Miami and the politics of the global city.

In addition to his Ph.D., Rivera has a Graduate Certificate in Latin American & Caribbean Studies from Duke University (2015), a Masters of Art in Art History from Duke University (2010), and a Bachelor of Arts (Africana Studies and Art History, with honors) from Grinnell College (2006).