Today we held the public activities of the SPU in Bogotá, under the splendid scenery of the Quinta de Bolivar, with a special tribute to El Libertador. Before a small audience, a stellar cast of Colombian curators spoke around issues of historic and cultural heritage in museums and their relationship with contemporary art. The participants included Jaime Iregui, Jose Roca, Jaime Cerón, Constanza Torquica and William Alfonso Lopez Rosas. In Bogota there has been a recent debate around the opening of historic museums to allow contemporary artists to interact, which in turn has led to the debate on what is the true mission of these spaces. We spoke about institutional critique and its new phases, the notion itself of heritage and the role of historic interpretation on the everyday life of a country.
At the unfinished workshop here, the director of the Quinta de Bolivar, Daniel Castro, brought up the topic of individualism as a key factor in Colombian society, who, according to his view, is a great obstacle for making a joint progress in society. In this discussion, the idea of individualism came back as we spoke about the way people react to the never-ending war and drug problem in Colombia, and how these factors all contribute to the social behavior of the average Colombian.
The day ended with the performance of the Panamerican Anthem and the unveiling of a plaque that commemorated the passage of the SPU through Bogotá, performed before the monument of Bolívar. The ceremony slightly lifted our spirits after two days of speaking, and experiencing, problems related to the social unrest of the city. We finished the day with a visit to a downtown bar and a toast of Colombian aguardiente.
I am now getting ready to go to Caracas, a stop that had been left behind.
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Hoy tomaron lugar las actividades de la EPD bajo el espléndido escenario de la Quinta de Bolívar, donde le hicimos un tributo a El Libertador. Ante un público reducido, un grupo de curadores colombianos hablaron de cuestiones de patrimonio y de la crítica institucional. Había encontrado resistencia cuando propuse originalmente el tema de la violencia en Colombia, debido a que es tal cliché; sin embargo, este surgió de cualquier manera cuando se comenzó a hablar de individualismo y de los factores sociales que impiden el progreso en Colombia. El día terminó con la ceremonia y la ejecución del himno panamericano. Acto seguido, los artistas colombianos me llevaron a un bar del centro a celebrar y a olvidar mi computadora robada entre tragos de potente aguardiente.