Projects
Sala de Estar consolidated in 2007, is not a physical space but one of lugar a dudas’ conceptual axes which integrates the programmes and spaces of the house in which the activities of lugar a dudas take place. These spaces have been structured as a response to the necessities and demands of the local context. The idea behind Sala de Estar is to find the right balance between practical and theoretical workshops that will stimulate both theoretical thinking and creative activity in order to attract both a more specialized public as well as people who are not directly envolved with art.
One of the recent workshops organized as part of the Sala de Estar programme was ‘Carpeta de Fotocopias’ (‘Portfolio of Photocopies’) led by Bogotá-based artist Juan Mejía. As the main objective of this workshop the artist would focus on the exploration of the serial publication as a tool for artistic experimentation.
Because of his artistic experimentation with editorial formats and his experience teaching the art of drawing, Juan Mejía focused on the production and edition of a series of ‘carpetas’ made out of photocopied material and revolving around one specific subject: ‘escape’.
The workshop participants spent three days drawing and the final product was the production of a portfolio of photocopies making reference in a somewhat nostalgic and ironic way to the editorial format proper to the graphic arts workshops that emerged in Cali in the mid 1970s.
In relation to this activity, curator Miguel González recounts in the book Apuntes para una historia del arte en el Valle del Cauca durante el siglo xx: “In the 1970s, thanks to the Graphic Arts Biennial, the interest in serial etchings increased, not only because of its accesibility and ease of acquisition but because it was regarded as a practice to follow and master. The Museum of Modern Art La Tertulia organized a course with Puerto Rican artist Lorenzo Homar to learn about serigraphy (silkscreen) as a discipline. These type of workshops multiplied throughout the city.” (own translation).
