The chapter “1990-2000, una década en el arte colombiano” [1990-2000: A Decade in Colombian Art] by Natalia Gutiérrez (b. 1955) is significant because it is one of the few texts that examines the field of art in the 1990s in Colombia. She even goes so far as to speculate on the actual meaning of the transitional period that ushered in millennial art that brought so many profound changes. The book El Arte de los Noventa [The Art of the 1990s], in which this essay by Gutiérrez was published, was sponsored by the Art Faculty at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. It consists of a collection of research reports produced by the following art teachers: Trixi Alina, Miguel Huertas, Ricardo Rivadeneira, Santiago Cárdenas, and Gustavo Zalamea.
In the very early years of the twenty-first century a number of research projects explored areas that had already been identified a decade earlier, from the issue of memory, such as Fragmentos de Memoria, los artistas piensan el pasado [Fragments of Memory: Artists Reflect on the Past] by the art historian Ivonne Pini [see doc. # 1091831], to defining groups in local social, cultural, and aesthetic circles, as in Arte en Colombia 1981-2006 [Art in Colombia 1981-2006] by Carlos Arturo Fernández. Substantial contributions were also made based on the research done in the course of curatorial exercises, as in the case of Proyecto Pentágono: investigaciones de arte contemporáneo colombiano [Pentagon Project: Research into Contemporary Colombian Art] [doc. # 1079673; doc. # 1093916; doc. # 1099666; and doc. # 1102595]; Otras miradas/Other Glances [doc. # 1091921; doc. # 1092368; and doc. # 1099306]; and the audiovisual project Plástica: arte contemporáneo colombiano [Visual Arts: Contemporary Colombian Art] [doc. # 1134790]; as well as the reviews and interviews published in Arte en Colombia magazine and Arte Internacional, the magazine published by the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogotá.
It should be noted that contributions were also made by research conducted in this area in both the Master’s program in Historia y Teoría del Arte y la Arquitectura [History and Theory of Art and Architecture] at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and in the monographs that form part of the Specialization in Historia del Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo [History of Modern and Contemporary Art] at the Universidad de los Andes that focused on, among other subjects, works by prominent artists from the period in question: Doris Salcedo, Miguel Ángel Rojas, Rodrigo Facundo [doc. # 1133772]; Oscar Muñoz [doc. # 1132112]; and José Alejandro Restrepo [doc. # 1091801], among others.
The anthropologist Natalia Gutiérrez has a Master’s degree in Historia y Teoría del Arte y la Arquitectura [History and Theory of Art and Architecture]. She writes for the magazine Arte en Colombia-Art Nexus. Her publications include Ciudad Espejo [Mirror City] (2009), a book consisting of a collection of essays about artists who mainly use photography and video in their work, as well as a series of interviews. Some of the chapters in this book can be found in the digital archive [see doc. # 1132917; doc. # 1132901; doc. # 0141-UA; doc. # 1099051; doc. # 1099231; doc. # 1099381; doc. # 1099396 and doc. # 1133189]. Gutiérrez took part in the Enfoques [Focuses] contemporary Colombian art project sponsored by the UBS (Association of Swiss Banks) [doc. # 1130395].