The magic of photography began to astonish the world less than two centuries ago, prompting art to change and new forms of expression to emerge. The birth of photography is owed to something purely scientific: finding a way for light to capture an image. The earliest creations of Niépce and Daguerre, in the early 19th century, were complex machines that required long exposure times. This evolved both technically and aesthetically throughout the 20th century.
The magic of photography began to astonish the world less than two centuries ago, prompting art to change and new forms of expression to emerge. The birth of photography is owed to something purely scientific: finding a way for light to capture an image. The earliest creations of Niépce and Daguerre, in the early 19th century, were complex machines that required long exposure times. This evolved both technically and aesthetically throughout the 20th century.
In contemporary times, photography revolves around experimenting with representation and the visual and technical treatment of the image as a communicative, documentary, conceptual phenomenon and a source of aesthetic enjoyment. Everything is conceived and created with a purpose in mind: to think, to reflect, to act, and to record. A balance is sought so that the image can be subjected to judgment and gain value in the eye of each viewer.
This curatorial project is the third in a series of ten exhibitions; it is a window announcing the MAC's 60th founding anniversary since 1966, and on this occasion it also puts the works in the collection into dialogue with works by neighborhood, local, and national artists. The show connects neighborhood history with universal history, documenting in a poetic and dissident way certain events, beliefs, and ideas connected to nature, territory, everyday life, living conditions, the body, and individual and collective identity. The image and its meaning come together in each piece exhibited here, across different media, subjects, and techniques.
This visual sphere is as current as painting, sculpture, or printmaking, and it stands alongside new media and technologies. Photography persists in some exhibition spaces, often playing with other forms of expression and at times taking on new shapes.
In an act of resistance to preserve moments from a not-so-distant past, these images are valued and preserved as works of art or documentary records, to be exhibited again in a contemporary era of great change. This is an opportunity to reveal layer upon layer of other lives, moments, stories, thoughts, reflections, and memories of this great photo-bio-sphere, and thus become aware that they will never be the same again.
Sebastián Jiménez Cortés
Curatorial and Collections Coordinator
Invited Neighborhood, Local, and National Artists.
Alejandro Sánchez, Juan Alonso, Yadira Polo, Carlos Saavedra, Adriana Roca, Karim Estefan, Asdrubal Medina, Ser Jiménez, Leonardo Cortina, Jaime Moncada, Victor Hugo Pinchao, Camila Zuluaga, Francisco Acosta, Dani Pineda, Andrey Yusepy Rodríguez, Ademir Campo, Manuela Parra, Colectivo Fotonautas, neighbors of Barrio MD, Carmenza Prieto, Holmes Casallas, Didier Murillo, Omar Moreno, Ingrid Ospina, Orlando Castañeda, Rubén González.
Artists with Work in the MAC's Collection
Megric Pacheco, Leonardo Pilonieta, Eugenia Vargas Pereira, Camilo Ara, Luis Oñoro, Carlos Castro, Mario Andrés Pantoja, José Sierra, María Fernanda García Crosby, Castañeda, Daniela Olave, María Eugenia Trujillo, Leo Matíz, Vladimiro Cruz, Pablo Batelli, Javier Vargas, Andrea Padilla, William Bahos, Pablo Adarme, Jorge Yoani Ruíz, Miguel Castel, Juan Miguel Paz, José Cosme, Verónica Giraldo, Alicia Larraín, Mateo López, Leonardo Cortina Hernández, Raúl Marroquín, Carolina Oltra, Nicole Hortua, Carolina Bacares, Jorge Acevedo Ayala, Nirma Zárate, Abel Azcona, Nicolas Williamson, Angie Mora, Victor Hugo Pinchao, Adriana Torres, Leo Carreño, Robert Peninton, Omar Castañeda, Juha Arvid Helminen, Carlos Salazar, Tulio Elias Sampayo Martínez, Camila Ceballos, Francia Milena Botero, Gloria Astrid Ramírez.
Exhibition open until May 17, 2025. Hours: Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, and Saturdays from 9am to 12pm.