Más Arte Más Acción
/Bogotá, Colombia. 2011/

Más Arte Más Acción (MaMA) is a non-profit organization working since 2011 that generates interdisciplinary artistic projects with artists and writers that question social and environmental issues and often involve processes with local communities in the Colombian Pacific. With its network of organizations, sponsors and media, the foundation stimulates cultural exchange and dialogue, we seek to contribute to the consolidation of artistic practice and critical thinking in Colombia.

The Chocó jungle is the source of inspiration for this project. The Base in Chocó, created in collaboration with Atelier Van Lieshout, offers the opportunity to work in an extraordinary place, in order to consider key issues, including the loss of biodiversity, food production, exponential population growth, urbanization and human consumption.

RE: BANDERA emerged as a relevant event to mark the 500th anniversary of the creation of the term utopia by Tomás Moro. Artist and curator Santiago Rueda and Olga Robayo, director of the artists-in-residence space El Parche, joined the MaMa team to select 26 Colombian visual artists, and invite them to create a flag that represents their own utopias and visions within the current Colombian context. The project was conceived at a moment of hope when the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the insurgent group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) seemed to be coming to a successful conclusion. The flags were installed at a highly visible crossroads in Bogotá and stood as a symbol of possibility for a new era of peace.

Today, the flags are tattered and worn after having been exposed to the harsh contamination of downtown Bogotá. Nonetheless, together with MaMa, we decided to show the flags in their current state as a metaphor of the difficulties and obstacles the implementation of the peace process is facing due to active opposition from a new right-wing administration, extreme-right wing political forces, dissident insurgents, and the devastating number of assassinations of civil rights leaders which has reached over 300 in the past months.

For the presentation of RE:BANDERA in Amsterdam, we have selected 12 flags, designed by the following artists, that will be installed in the public space: Fernando Arias, Iván Cardona, Antonio Caro, Chócolo, Wilson Díaz, Nadia Granados, Ana María Millán, Edinson Quiñones, Miguel Ángel Rojas, Santiago Rueda, Saga Uno and Jaime Tarazona.