CIMUSET 2026, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Science and Technology, is coming to Mexico for the first time, with León, Guanajuato, hosting its 53rd edition. This historic milestone positions the country, the state, and the municipality as international leaders in science, innovation, and scientific communication.
Explora will serve as the global meeting point for museums and science centers, bringing together leaders, specialists, and new generations to share ideas that shape the future. A unique, unrepeatable, and unmissable event for attendees and aspiring participants seeking inspiration, connection, and the opportunity to be part of the transformation in how we experience science.
Keynote Presentations
ALE DE LA PUENTE (México)
Ale de la Puente is an artist with a multidisciplinary background that includes industrial design, jewelry making, textiles, shipbuilding, navigation, astronomy, physics, and philosophy. Her work explores notions of time and space through a wide range of media, from installations and sculptures to drawings, photography, and video. She also undertakes art and science expeditions in search of symbolic natural phenomena, examining how we assign meaning to them and how we relate to them.
In this context, Ale de la Puente has collaborated extensively with scientists in the development of her work. She has created art projects in partnership with the Institute of Astronomy and the Institute of Nuclear Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, the Roscosmos State Space Corporation in Moscow, Russia, and the KOSMICA Institute in Berlin, Germany. Throughout her career, she has worked not only with astrophysicists, engineers, and mathematicians, but also with carpenters, composers, writers, blacksmiths, philosophers, mezcal producers, gardeners, musicians, and poets, among many other collaborators who have played an important role in her artistic practice.
Most recently, she participated in the Studio Quantum residency in Johannesburg, the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Artist at Sea residency during an oceanographic research expedition in the Gulf of California, and the Rabbit Island Residency on Lake Superior, USA.
She has been a member of Mexico’s National System of Art Creators (Sistema Nacional de Creadores) on multiple occasions. She received an Honorable Mention at the Collide@CERN Ars Electronica competition and has been recognized by the ACT (Art, Science, and Technology) program of Mexico’s Ministry of Culture and UNAM, the Multimedia Center at CENART, Fundación SIVAM, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, among others.
Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Recent highlights include Turbulencias del vacío (Turbulences of the Void) at Casa de México in Spain, and the exhibition and intervention project April 5, 15,232, which comprised three exhibitions and eight concerts presented in Mexico City, León (Guanajuato), Querétaro, and most recently, San José del Cabo, BCS.
Martha Marandino
Martha Marandino holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the University of São Paulo, as well as a Master’s and a PhD in Education. She currently coordinates the Research Group on Non-Formal Education and Science Communication (GEENF), a leading group in the study of science education and learning processes in museums and other non-formal learning environments.
Her academic career has focused on science education, public communication of science, and museum education. Throughout her career, she has developed research projects and publications, and supervised undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral theses, making significant contributions to strengthening research and educational practices related to science communication and public engagement.
She has also played a prominent role in the fields of science and museum education. She served as Deputy Coordinator of the Museum of Education and Toys at the University of São Paulo. In addition, she has served as President and Vice President of the Brazilian Association for Biology Teaching (SBEnBio), as well as Vice President of the Brazilian Association for Research in Science Education.
As part of the CIMUSET 2026 Annual Conference, Martha Marandino will deliver a keynote lecture reflecting on the role of museums in the contemporary context. Her presentation will critically examine their colonial history while exploring the possibilities these institutions have to contribute to building a more critical, participatory society that is open to dialogue among diverse forms of knowledge.
Salvador Acevedo
Mr. Acevedo has over 20 years of experience helping organizations link their design and innovation strategies with various cultures within the US. Being bilingual and bicultural gives him the ability to recognize the cultural markers that signal inclusion, and he’s committed to open opportunities for all. For the last 20 years, he’s been professionally invested in helping organizations increase diversity, deepen inclusion, and advance equity in a broad range of fields, from arts & culture to informal science education and urban planning. Using frameworks such as human-centered design strategy, systems thinking, and strategic foresight, he helps organizations design a more equitable future.
In 2020, Salvador co-led an evaluation of the California Arts Council’s grantmaking strategy, which identified inequities in funding for the arts in the state of California. He is a founding faculty member of the Leaders of Color Network, managed by Creative West (formerly WESTAF) with the goal of increasing POC leadership in policy and arts administration. He’s an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, teaching in the Museum Studies Graduate Program. He contributed a chapter on museum program design for the book “A New Role for Museum Educators,” published in 2023. He’s also a Fulbright Program specialist with an assignment in Quito, Ecuador in July 2025 in which he developed an organizational assessment and strategic plan process for Fundación Museos de la Ciudad.
Mr. Acevedo is invested in understanding the forces that shape the future of the arts field and how we can realize an inclusive and equitable one. He is a regular speaker at conferences and is a TED Talk speaker with the talk I’m Mestizo .