Afiche Festival De Cine De Bogotá 2019

Curator: "Afiche Festival De Cine De Bogotá," a 2019 charcoal drawing by Beatriz González. What catches your eye first? Editor: The raw energy. It's like witnessing a primal force, reminiscent of cave paintings. The figures are dynamic, wielding their tools with intensity. Curator: Indeed. The artist’s technique and the very material—charcoal—emphasize the grit and physicality of labor. González references prehistoric art here. The question of labor, especially manual labor, and its relationship to cultural production such as filmmaking, come to the forefront here. The design choices make the image approachable, highlighting the shared roots of cinema and fundamental human actions. Editor: Absolutely, there's an intriguing contrast between the archaic figures and the modernity of a film festival. Semiotically, the tool symbolizes both creation and destruction. It could represent the work involved in filmmaking—the cutting, shaping, and constructing narratives. The visual structure creates a primitive narrative or a pre-narrative state, where raw emotion precedes complex thought. Curator: Precisely. Consider how this work questions hierarchies: is mining for ore—a basic, difficult activity—so different from artistic work? There's value and physical reality in each kind of making. This forces the viewer to reflect upon the process, materials, and underlying economic forces at play within the creative field. Editor: The limited color palette—the earth tones—reinforce the concept of essential labor. The dynamism creates a cyclical feeling. Curator: These choices highlight the connection between labor and leisure, or even production and consumption. The work challenges elitist attitudes about art by representing everyone. It encourages viewers to interrogate our own values and recognize that cinema, while offering escape, is always anchored in the tangible and produced through effort. Editor: I leave this viewing with a renewed awareness of process and our dependence on others to create both the simple tools we depend upon, and more broadly, our creative productions. Curator: And with renewed focus on shared beginnings of tools and cinema. Thank you for joining me today.