The Nameless Jobs

From September 14 to November 25
Curator: William Contreras Alfonso
Location: Museo Subterráneo Monumental, 180 meters underground. Carrera 6, Calle 1 – Zipaquirá Salt Cathedral

Tools optimize the work of the body, extending and enhancing our physical abilities to more effectively meet the demands of work. A screwdriver channels the strength of the hand to turn the small thread of the screw; the coat insulates us from the cold, giving us a second inert skin; books contain knowledge destined to be shared, transported and consulted. Over time, tools have become more sophisticated, and many construction and repair processes have moved away from the human body, automating their production and reducing the need for direct intervention.

Machines and computer systems have taken over tasks that once depended on our manual dexterity and cognitive ability. While this technological evolution provides us with unprecedented efficiency, it also widens the gap between workers and the end products that make up our environment. Automated manufacturing not only speeds up processes, but redefines our relationship to work and tools, making us more like supervisors of complex systems than active craftsmen. Tools have thus transcended their original purpose, becoming extensions of both our minds and bodies.

Technology is not just a survival and optimization strategy, but a fundamental part of our nature as a species. As a collective construct, our relationship with technology is symbiotic and evolutionary. It is not simply a series of isolated inventions, but a manifestation of our ability to transform the environment and, in the process, transform ourselves. The artists in this exhibition approach technological processes with a profound approach: as if it were a new material, they use manual work to explore its essence and analyze its properties, discovering new ways of understanding the generative means that shape contemporary objects. Thus, this group of creators invents jobs that are still unnamed, whose implications are yet to be revealed, exploring from intuition and curiosity a territory recently opened to thought and creation.

A cathedral in a salt mine is a powerful metaphor for transformation, where, after the cessation of the labor trade and the end of extraction, the industrial infrastructure becomes a space for contemplation and contemplation. In this environment, the rough stone walls and shiny salt surfaces exalt the natural beauty of the minerals and the skill of the craftsman, who hand in hand with the excavators carved the space with a pickaxe. Álvaro Cabrejo, in his mixed practice that includes video, performance and textile work, is inspired by these jobs that have shaped the place from different times. Cabrejo constructs new habits for archetypal characters, reinterpreting their trade and significance in the story: an ecclesiastical figure whose white cloak is soiled by the mineral from the floor, a soldier whose military emblems are attached to his peasant ruana, or a miner wearing a helmet with a strobe light. The workers, from the character interpretation, become metaphors of the power structures, and make porous the boundaries that we understand between authority, sacrifice and devotion.

A crucial historical reference of this approach is *ZEGUSCUA*, by Gustavo Sorzano, a sound work commissioned by the Museo del Oro, in which the artist innovatively fuses electronic sound with indigenous musical instruments from the museum's collection. At a time when electronic music was emerging as the vanguard of sound experimentation, Sorzano manipulates Moog synthesizers and creates electronic harpsichords and kotos of his own design, harmoniously integrating them with drums, jade rattles, pre-Columbian ocarinas and gold bells. Bridging the gap between the most advanced artistic technology and ancestral sacred elements, this electroacoustic work becomes a meeting point between modernity and tradition. ZEGUSCUA, a Chibcha word meaning "to narrate," seems to tell us a story without words: a legend in which two nations that inhabited the same territory recognize each other as part of a single people.

The concept of manual work is intrinsically linked to that of craftsmanship, a knowledge that, although often perceived as part of an immutable tradition, is in fact a constantly evolving process. Linda Pongutá, by working with artisans from the Ocaina community, has fostered a creative dialogue with traditional basketry, giving rise to a series of pieces that function as prototypes for new ways of working. This collaborative process opens up new possibilities for the craft, where the Ocaina explore innovations in their techniques and Pongutá contributes her knowledge to respond to the needs of the community. Craftsmanship as a communication technology is extended in the video Maguaré, found by Pongutá in the archive of audiovisual material produced by TELECOM before its bankruptcy. The video records the process of creating a drum that communicates with the communities of the jungle, as it resonates at a distance of 20 kilometers. The piece takes on a tone of denunciation when it is learned that TELECOM had the project of passing optical fiber through the Amazon, with social and environmental implications that many consider questionable. Art, as a way of interpreting the complex nature of images, has the ability to create visual archives and record data in plastic forms, which allows us to better understand complex processes. This is the case of *ROJO*, a collaborative project led by Giovanni Vargas along with other artists, which interprets collections of data on the territorial domination of Mars. Through various pieces, such as a textile that reproduces the first image of Martian soil, a painting composed of layers of images of geological formations, a book that maps asteroid impacts on Earth, and an artifact that sonorously translates the speculative qualities of rare earth synthesis, *ROJO* becomes an artistic and cartographic project that transforms scientific data into sensory experiences, offering new perspectives on space exploration and colonization.

Carolina Rosso's work critically addresses the food industry and its effects on the body and the environment. Starting from industrialized food, full of preservatives and legally permitted toxic substances, Rosso creates sculptures that, despite their fun and playful appearance, generate a feeling of repudiation. Mountains of powdered products form landscapes that allude to the exploitation of Colombian territory for the mass production of coffee, milk and sugar, while a friendly smiley contains excessive amounts of low-quality margarine. Behind its naive appearance, Rosso's work denounces the abuse to which the human body is subjected by the food industry and the devastation of nature to produce degraded versions of essential foods for life.

Rummaging through waste and what is considered garbage, Adrián Gaitán finds new possibilities for materials despised as surpluses of consumption. His sculptures lyrically interpret this raw material, in figures that evoke lethargy and reverie. Contrasting with the dirt and deterioration that often accompany these objects, his poetics values ​​popular knowledge: soap, fly-swatting water bags, rubble sacks and used clothing are transformed into fantasy scenes, where they take on new forms and meanings. Gaitán turns discarded objects into contemplative symbols, giving them a renewed life and elevating them to an aesthetic full of nostalgia and beauty. What was once considered insignificant or disposable is transformed in his work into a language that challenges the boundaries between the everyday and the sublime. His sculptures, imbued with a deep sensitivity towards the marginal, remind us that even in the most humble lies the potential for the extraordinary, and that creativity can spring from the most unexpected places.

Participating artists

Adrián Gaitán
Álvaro Cabrejo
Carolina Rosso
Giovanni Vargas (with Pedro Ramírez and Juan David Quintero)
Gustavo Sorzano
Linda Pongutá (with Marcela Teteyé)