MDE15: Isola Utopia in Medellin

ANTI-OQUIA
Casa Tres Patios, Medellin, Colombia
Inaugurazione 6 Novembre 2015

MDE15: International Art Encounter of Medellín
October 2015–February 2016
www.museodeantioquia.co

Intersecciones entre arte + espacio público + trabajo comunitario + gentrificación + autogestión.

The MDE has been an important platform for exchange between Colombian and international art, organized by the Museo de Antioquia (Medellin, Colombia). It is an event that activates the city’s cultural life every four years and in 2015 arrives to its third edition, after MDE07 and MDE11.

For the 2015 edition, the theme of Local Stories / Global Practices has been conceived to create a space of reflection and engagement with the recent transformation of Medellin since the turn of the millennium. Medellin—considered to be a progressive Latin American city that has implemented innovative programs to stimulate social and urban transformations is part of a larger picture. While change and transformation in the city is real and tangible, the dynamics generated by these changes are particularly complex from an ethical standpoint. We propose to focus on these processes of change through commissioned projects, works of artists and artist collectives as well as other socially oriented initiatives, in order to understand their implications.

MDE15 inserts itself in the social fabric of the city while sharing stories, experiences and practices from elsewhere in the world. The stories that result from observations and from the direct experiences of people in communities often address the coping mechanisms that are required to survive and flourish amid those changes, which often occur at a pace that outstrips the citizens and society’s ability to assimilate them. Changes can illicit psychological, physical and social responses that range from issues of trust and security to economic well-being. It is in this context and in the context of an art world in which the definition of artistic practice is constantly being changed that the MDE15 unfolds.

MDE15 makes visible artistic processes that range from the production of conventional or exhibition work, to the results of community based practices that may not normally be considered suitable for viewing in traditional exhibition venues. One challenge of this curatorial project is to validate both types of practices while recognizing their differences and potential.

MDE15 opens a space for debate that aims at dealing with the unsaid and the less visible aspects of the everyday such as memory, the past and the persistence of structural problems. It also relies on the potential of art to harness the capacity of individual and collective imagination to re-signify complex situations.

Curatorial team
Artistic Director: Nydia Gutierrez, Chief Curator, Museo de Antioquia
Curators:
–Edi Muka, Curator of Public Art Agency, Sweden, former Director of Tirana
Institute of Contemporary Art
–Sharon Lerner, Curator of Contemporary Art, Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru
–Fernando Escobar, independent artist and researcher, Bogota
–Tony Evanko, Director of Casa Tres Patios, alternative art space, Medellin