Doris Salcedo protests against President Iván Duque for disrespecting the countermonument

The president held a political event in the Fragmentos art and memory space last Sunday in downtown Bogotá that affected the exhibition of a work by a Belgian artist. In the Presidency they say that they only used a public good.

In a dialogue for El Espectador, the Colombian artist Doris Salcedo denounced that “Fragmentos, a space for art and memory, was used by Iván Duque in an inconsistent and authoritarian manner, disregarding all international norms on conservation of works of art and copyright in museums. and exhibition spaces ”.

Salcedo made the pronouncement as a result of the political event that the President of the Republic held last Sunday in that place, located two blocks south of the Casa de Nariño by the seventh race, in the center of Bogotá. That day Duque reported through his Twitter account, regarding the national strike that completes two weeks in Colombia: “We share with religious leaders, who in their social and faith function work for the well-being of the country. We highlight their support for the institutionality and dialogue, the rejection of violence and the request for blockades to be lifted ”.

Doris Salcedo, who led the construction of the place and carried out the work that presides over it since 2018, a floor cracked by marks made by the victims of violence on the thousands of melted rifles of the demobilized FARC guerrilla, claims that this meeting be held he did “without consulting the Fragments advisory committee.” He insists: “Presidency made an arbitrary use of the space, which at this moment exhibits the very valuable work of the artist Francis Alÿs.” It is “Salam Tristesse: Iraq 2016-2020”, a sample of the work that the Belgian Alÿs, as a war artist, did in Iraq in the last four years. Explore social collapse, meaninglessness, and war drama.

He warns that “in the face of the aggression suffered”, the artist “has demanded to dismantle the exhibition of his work”, which is why the Colombian artist, internationally recognized for exhibitions in the most important halls of America, Europe and Asia, as well as For awards such as the Velázquez de las Artes Plásticas (2010), he stressed: “It is important to note that Fragmentos is a space that has a dual character. It is a museum of contemporary art, but it is also a space dedicated to dialogue. This second use as a space for dialogue can only be given when there are no works of art exhibited there ”. (We recommend: Read an interview with Doris Salcedo, made by Nelson Fredy Padilla, in which he explains the construction process and the meaning of Fragmentos).

A source from the Casa de Nariño told this newspaper that President Duque all he did was use a space run by the Ministry of Culture and the National Museum, “designed precisely for social dialogue”, and that he does not know the impact caused on the work of the aforementioned Belgian artist. In December 2018, Duque did not attend the inauguration of said art and memory space, since then a symbol of the peace process signed with the FARC.

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Salcedo’s protests were joined by other artists and experts on cultural issues. For example, the Mexican art critic and curator Cuauhtémoc Medina defined the episode as “The occupied museum” and noted via Twitter: “In violation of conservation norms, Iván Duque occupies a room of Fragments for a political-religious meeting.”