The chapter published in the book Ciudad espejo [Mirror City] by the Arts Faculty of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia [National University of Colombia] (2009), written by Natalia Gutiérrez, describes the methodology used by the Colectivo Bricolaje, a group that included the artists Pablo Adarme, Sandra Mayorga, and Carolina Salazar who embarked on a poetic form of day-to-day collecting that evolved out of their disillusioned yet amazed view of the urban environment in Bogotá. Gutiérrez discusses how the group used modest, postcard-sized photographs to document the ingenuity with which city dwellers solved some of the problems they faced in their daily lives by making things out of discarded materials. She cites many examples: a baby carriage and a plastic box are combined to create a mobile sideboard. A deflated football is used as a flower vase. A TV set is used as a table for a second TV set. In her essay, Gutiérrez identifies some theoretical parallels between the group’s objectives and certain concepts drawn from the field of art history and anthropology, such as Marcel Duchamp’s “readymade” and the idea of “bricolage” / “bricolager” used by the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss. Gutiérrez also suggests that the group’s work reveals a new logic existing within the dominant logic of the urban environment in Bogotá, which leads to an entirely novel way of seeing the city. This chapter includes 12 color photographs.

This essay lays the theoretical groundwork for addressing the daily documentation practices used by several recent Colombian artists, such as María Isabel Rueda, Alberto Baraya, and Juan Pablo Echeverri, as well as for future research into this matter. The essay also reveals the powerful influence exerted by theoretical and academic texts on the visual work of young artists in the early years of the twenty-first century.

One member of the Colectivo Bricolaje group, Pablo Adarme (b. 1976), has taken part in numerous group exhibitions and solo shows, including Labores de Amor [Labors of Love] at Cuarto Nivel Arte Contemporáneo gallery (2005) in Bogotá, and the Hogar dulce, dulce hogar [Home Sweet, Sweet Home] project at the IV Bienal del Barrio Venecia [4th Venice Barrio Biennial] (2001) in Bogotá. At these exhibitions, Adarme has used photographs and sculptures to depict the range of cultural and social repercussions produced when residents or owners work on the facades of homes in the poorer neighborhoods of the city. This sort of home improvement project reflects how a particular community in Bogotá creates powerful expressions of affiliation and self-acknowledgement, which are later appropriated by other communities, thus creating new cultural experiences and situations.

Natalia Gutiérrez (b. 1955) has worked in the field of art criticism and curating in Colombia for the last 15 years, since 1994. She has taken part in numerous exhibitions and events, and her work has appeared in a variety of publications (see doc. # 1099381">1099381). In her book, Ciudad Espejo [Mirror City], Gutiérrez provides a comprehensive overview of the artists whose work reflects the experience of urban life in a contemporary Latin American city, especially Bogotá, through reviews of works—mainly video and photographs—produced from 1996 to 2005. The book is divided into two parts: the first section introduces and discusses the works; the second section contains a collection of the author’s interviews with all the artists involved, including the Colectivo Bricolaje group; María Isabel Rueda (see doc. # 1099381">1099381); Milena Bonilla; Jaime Ávila; Miguel Ángel Rojas (doc. # 1099201); José Alejandro Restrepo (doc. # 1091801); Rolf Abderhalden; Jaime Iregui; José Tomás Giraldo; Eduardo Consuegra; Rosario López; and the Grupo Ciudad Kennedy.