Making Cultural Commons in Medellin, Colombia

The proposed study looks at a network of cultural producers and grassroots art spaces in Medellin, Colombia focusing on their creation of cultural values in the city. Due to the still complex post-conflict era in Medellin, heritage and cultural values are linked to historic artefacts that represent grand narratives of national (post-colonial) history whereas local grassroots art practices have been overlooked. The latter makes art collectives and cultural producers, as the ones that this study focuses on, to work in the periphery of cultural production in Medellin, something that indeed creates barriers to any dialogue and/or synergy with public art institutions in the city. Following this line of argument, the proposed study engages with the members of the network-under-research to co-design a methodology that can a) look at, reflect and evaluate their network and b) become a tool for the network to communicate their practice and production of cultural values to public art institutions in Medellin. During a two-week field visit in Medellin (18-30 June 2018), a series of working group meetings with members of the network have been scheduled to organise a two-day workshop.