Tribute to Fred Sandback - A propos of Pedestrian Space
Intervention made with acrylic thread.
Museo de Arte, Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, 2026.
The Art Museum at Universidad Nacional, located inside the campus in Bogotá, has been closed since May 2022. The roof's insulating layer was melted by tear gas canisters fired by police in many occasions at protesters, among them students, and pieces of the paint covering the inside are now constantly falling off.
I made this intervention, departing from the concept of Pedestrian Space proposed by Fred Sandback, a space occupied by the walker and by the sculpture when it descends from the podium. My sculptures, Sandback said in 1973, have to do with complex, three-dimensional spatial situations. I regard them as my particular way of complicating and articulating the given situation, the existing space.
The Art Museum at Universidad Nacional is in the middle of political conflict, not only related to the government and the decisions related to public education, but also to the internal tensions of power inside the University; in this sense, with the Tribute to Sandback - A propos of Pedestrian Space, I'm interested in drawing attention to the way the actual state of the space of the Museum is a reflection of economic, ideological and political conditions. If Sandback´s sculptures had in general one line defining clearly the shapes he proposed in the space, in this intervention I wrap the space around the columns and cross the central patio, in order to create disorganized figures that superpose and cross in the space; the lines made with acrylic thread, the same kind the artist used for his pieces, prevent visitors from circulating freely and create violent tensions in the central part of the Museum
Imágenes: https://mariaclaracortes.wixsite.com/proyectos/tribute-to-fred-sandback