It’s art month in Bogotá, and for three days, from October 27 to 30, the capital hosts the 12th edition of the International Art Fair of Bogotá (ARTBO), one of the most important contemporary art fairs in Latin America.
This year 74 galleries from 28 different cities from across the world have been invited to present their works, with 500 artists in attendance, as well as buyers, curators, and publishers. After more than a decade of opening up the Colombian capital to art, this year’s fair brings back respected galleries as well as newcomers Peter Kilchmann (Switzerland), Galerie Jérome Poggi (France), Rafael Pérez Hernando (Spain), and Johannes Vogt Gallery (United States). In addition, Latin American galleries El Apartamento (Cuba), Walden Gallery (Argentina), and AFA Gallery (Chile) will showcase their artists for the first time at ARTBO.
The ‘Projects’ segment of the fair will be curated by writer and exhibition-maker Jens Hofmann, deputy director of New York’s Jewish Museum and artistic director of the Cleveland-based FRONT International.The focus of “Projects” for this 12th edition is to explore the role of the figurative in the works of two leading women of Colombian art – Débora Arango and Beatriz González.
Mexican Pablo León de la Barra, curator of Guggenheim Latin America, has been commissioned for the ‘Referentes’ section where artists exhibit on a specific theme. And the up-and-coming talent salon “Artecámara,” in the hands of Colombian curators Maria Belen Saénz and Fernando Escobar, will present the works of 24 promising young Colombian artists, including award winners José Alejandro Restrepo and Sandra Rengifo.
This year’s fair also includes a new space titled “Talks with collectors” led by Abaseh Mirvali, an Iranian-American curator of contemporary art.
“With this edition we reach 12 years of supporting our artists and gallery owners, offering support for improving their competitiveness and supporting the circulation of the arts,” said Monica de Greiff, president of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce.
Last year’s fair attracted more than 35,000 visitors and consolidated ARTBO as the most important showcase for the art market in the country. The fair covers 13,000 square meters of the Corferias exhibition grounds and with each edition welcomes more visitors, proving that Bogotá is a vital arts capital in the Americas. The fair launched back in 2005 with 29 galleries from seven countries.
Among the high-profile Bogotá galleries at ARTBO 2016 are El Museo, La Cometa, Nueveochenta, Doce Cero Cero, and Beatriz Esguerra Arte. Two Manhattan galleries that specialize in Latin American art, Leon Tovar Gallery and Y Gallery, return this year, as well as the Los Angeles-based Steve Turner and Mama.
With a recently launched new website www.artbo.co and hashtag #ARTBO2016 to follow the art happenings on your mobile, the fair expects to receive 45,000 visitors, marking a new record in attendance for a fair that continues to position itself as an essential meeting place for artists, collectors and curators, but also a window on the Colombian capital.
Corferias – Ave La Esperanza with Cra 39
Doors open noon until 8:00 pm.
Tickets: $32,000 (adults), $15,000 (students). Children under age 10 free admission.
Written by Richard Emblin, The City Paper
Leave a Reply