Waterweavers: The River in Contemporary Colombian Visual and Material Culture
On view at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery April 11–August 10, 2014
Explore this interactive map to discover the relationship between the artworks on view in Waterweavers and seven rivers in Colombia (Amazon, Bogotá, Cahuinarí, Cauca, Magdalena, Putumayo, and Ranchería). It’s your choice to navigate using the points on the map, or to make selections from the “List of Artists” tab on the top right. The “Exhibition” tab activates the artworks in Waterweavers within the map; the “Images of the River” tab activates photographs of the rivers; and the “Map” menu allows users to select different map views.
In Colombia, a country whose complex topography has historically caused waterways to be the only means of transportation between many communities, rivers have both united and separated people. Today, when most of the population lives in cities, rivers continue to serve as the sole access to remote areas, but they also play a new role, as the axis for a different type of economics: the black market (in drugs, minerals, guns, money, and so on), which fuels the armed conflict that has plagued Colombia for decades. Waterweavers, the exhibition, considers these issues from very different points of view as it presents a territory laden with conflict while showing the creative output that nevertheless thrives in the midst of—or in response to—hardship. Using the the river as a conceptual device to explore the intersections in Colombian contemporary culture between design, craft, and art, Waterweavers investigates the intricate ways in which culture and nature can intertwine across disciplines. Drawing, ceramics, graphic design, furniture, textiles, video, and installations evoke a concept informed by social, political, and ecological strife in Colombia.
Please visit the BGC Website for further information about visiting the gallery, the exhibition catalog, and gallery programs.
Waterweavers was curated by José Roca with Alejandro Martín, and organized by the Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York City. Unless otherwise noted, the text on this site is excerpted from Waterweavers: A Chronicle of Rivers, edited by José Roca and Alejandro Martín, and published by the Bard Graduate Center, New York City. All photographs are provided courtesy of the artists, unless otherwise credited in the image captions, and are protected by copyright. Interactive design by Alex Hills and Kate Dewitt, BGC. Funding for Waterweavers is generously provided by Vivian Haime Barg, Alberto Mugrabi, and Leon Tovar Gallery. In-kind support provided by Christie’s and Phillips. Special thanks also to Cristina Grajales Gallery.
