A must-see exhibition of Colombian design, craft, and fine art at Bard Graduate Center

Bard Graduate Center Gallery—one New York’s most underrated design destinations—is currently presenting Waterweavers: The River in Contemporary Colombian Visual and Material Culture. Don’t let the academic title throw you; the mixed installation of contemporary Colombian design, craft, and fine art is colorful, tactile, full of feeling, and produced at a level to rival any museum in the city.

Curated by José Roca, Adjunct Curator of Latin American Art at Tate Modern and Artistic Director of FLORA ars+natura in Bogotá, with help from writer Alejandro Martín, the exhibition brings together textiles, ceramics, graphic design, furniture, and video that, in one way or another, express the central role that rivers (and their ecosystems) play in Colombian culture—for better and for worse.

Some of our favorite pieces include Ceci Arango’s Corocora Stools, hand woven by Guacamaya women who use a traditional spiral weaving technique, and 60s-era graphics by the legendary David Consuegra.

Beautifully poetic and political, Waterweavers is on view until August 10, 2014 at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery, 18 West 86^th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, New York.

Marcelo Villegas's Bamba chair

Susana Mejía's Color Amazonia prints on paper and fique dyed fibers

Ceci Arango's Corocora stools; Monika Bravo's Weaving Time video installation

PET lamps; Lucy Salamanca's chairs and stools

Hechizoo's woven canoe, stools, and carpet; Carol Young's Memoria ceramic installation; Nicolás Consuegra's El agua que tocas es la última que ha pasado y la primera que viene video

On the top floor of the BGC gallery, you can find a fascinating companion exhibition titled Carrying Coca: 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas exhibition

*Photos courtesy of Bard Graduate Center Gallery

 

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    Wava Carpenter

    Après avoir étudié l'Histoire du Design, Wava a porté plusieurs chapeaux pour soutenir la culture du design: professeur d'études du design, organisatrice d'expositions, organisatrice de débats, rédactrice d'articles. Tout cela a façonné son travail en tant que Editrice en Chef chez Pamono.