43rd (Inter)National Artists Salon
With the presence of Colombia's Minister of Culture, Mariana Garcés, the 43rd (Inter)National Artists Salon (43SNA) was officially presented on July 9th. Its curatorial team is comprised of Oscar Roldán Alzate, Javier Mejía, Mariángela Méndez, along with international critics and curators Florencia Malbran (Argentina) and Rodrigo Moura (Brazil).
This year, and after 73 years in existence, the Salon will bring together in Medellin, between September 6th through November 3rd, nearly 100 Colombian and international artists around the topic Saber Desconocer ("To Know To Ignore"), posited as a dual exploration both of the tradition, the territory, and the knowledge developed in a given site, and the need to escape a given context and launch into a search for the unknown.
According to Jaime Cerón, visual arts coordinator at the Ministry, the way the salon was conceived this year emerged from a consideration of the gaps in previous editions; what it proposes, says Mariángela Méndez, artistic director, is "not a new Salon, but a return to the arts' traditional format: the exhibition." Additionally, the prefix "inter" is added to its name as an approach to the event's international character and in recognition of the ample international presence it will feature.
The exhibition will be held in 5,300 square meters, distributed in three spaces: the Museo de Antioquia, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, and the Antioquia building, former site for Naviera Gran Colombiana now in the process of being remodeled. The public will also encounter works of art in such public spaces as the Medellin Botanical Gardens.
The exhibition will feature 96 artists, 62 from Colombia and 34 from abroad, the latter representing 24 different countries (mostly from Latin America but also China, Afghanistan, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal).
Among the Colombian artists participating in the Salon are: Libia Posada, Nicolás Paris, Lucas Ospina, Wilger Sotelo, Gabriel Sierra, François Bucher, José Antonio Suárez Londoño, Mateo López, Clemencia Echeverri, José Olano, Óscar Murillo, Germán Botero, and María José Arjona. Among the international artists: (Guatemala), Ernesto Neto (Brazil), Donna Conlon (USA), Radamés Figueroa (Puerto Rico), Glenda León (Cuba), Cildo Meireles (Brazil), Mario Opazo (Chile), Demoan Flores (Mexico), and José Castrellón (Panama).
Parallel to the exhibition will be seminars, diploma-granting courses, and academic activities, as well as the publication of an official catalog for the Salon's 43rd edition.
