Bogota-based Jose Alberto Gutierrez has been collecting discarded books for two decades. Hi collection—which is upwards of 20,000—is made up mostly of books he picked up during his rounds as a sanitation worker. Taking up a few rooms in his family’s home, the books are lent out to the community in an effort to encourage a passion for reading in low-income families. “Although poverty meant …
This year at Milan Design Week, Italian fashion label Marni (founded and led by designer founded by Consuelo Castiglioni) has turned its space into a visually stunning market. Inspired by Bogotá’s famous Mercado de Paloquemao—a market full of bright fruits, vegetables, flowers, as well as fish, meats and plenty of colorful characters—Marni’s installation draws on bold, bright colors and the energy of the marketplace. The …
When planning a visit to Colombia to take in the vast amount of contemporary art works at Bogotá’s ArtBo and Medellín’s 43rd Salón (inter)Nacional de Artistas, instincts would predict a large presence of works around violence, drugs or political turmoil. But much like the country’s forward-thinking residents, the artists have jilted these now-stereotypical cultural issues and are instead focused on examining the nation’s place among …
