The Zurich, Switzerland-based Daros Latinamerica Collection—with Europe's largest collection of Latin American art since 2000—has chosen March 23rd, 2013 as Opening Day for Casa Daros, its new Rio de Janeiro location.
For this important event, the Collection will present an exhibition titled Cantos Cuentos Colombianos, featuring ten mid-career contemporary Colombian artists, who, for their impressive trajectories and diversity of their techniques, represent the current state of art on Colombia.
The participating artists include: Fernando Arias, María Fernanda Cardoso, Óscar Muñoz, Juan Manuel Echavarría, Doris Salcedo, Miguel Ángel Rojas, Nadín Ospina, José Alejandro Restrepo, and Rosemberg Sandoval.
Cantos Cuentos Colombianos was originally presented in Zurich in two phases: October 2004–January 2005, and January–April 2005. It was the first exhibition of contemporary Colombian art seen in Europe. The show features a great variety of techniques, including installation, video, photography, objects, performance, and sound works, all from the Daros Latinamerica Collection.
Even before its opening, Casa Daros has developed a series of activities that began in 2007, with the presence of artists and professionals from various fields. The Casa Daros Symposium, held in October 2007, brought together artists, curators, critics, journal editors, and professionals in the Latin American art circuit. Among others, the roster included Luis Canmitzer, Celia Birbragher, Fernando Cochiaralle, Iole de Freitas, and Ricardo Basbam, who, alongside collection curator Hans Michael Herzog and Eugenio Valdés Figueroa, worked on the conceptual foundations and future proposals of Casa Daros.
Combining art, education, and communication, this institution opens a space for diffusion and study in a neo-classical building that has been declared part of Rio de Janeiro's cultural and historical patrimony, thanks to the protection and efforts of the Daros Collection.