International Art Encounters of Medellín (MDE07, MDE11 and MDE15), Public Art, and the Aesthetic Redefinition of Community-Based Politics

Abstract

This article examines the International Art Encounters of Medellín (MDE07, MDE11 and MDE15) as city-wide events, with the aim of elucidating their curatorial and public connections to processes of consolidation of cultural public policies and their commitment to cultural democracy. To this end, the structures of these events are examined, highlighting their general purposes and strategies, as well as the curatorial frameworks that motivated the transition from an art biennial model to an encounter model, a shift aimed at fostering citizen participation and collaboration in artistic practices.

The change in model is articulated through the analytical framework within which a shift has taken place in traditional conceptions of the social function of art and cultural management, moving from a model of democratization of culture (characterized by policies aimed at providing access to cultural goods in museum spaces) toward a model of cultural democracy and citizenship. The latter entails active participation and inclusion in processes of creation, distribution, and collaboration involving citizens in urban spaces beyond museums.

The parallelism between the conceptual frameworks of the Encounters and cultural public policies, with the MDEs as an example, makes it possible, through the analysis of city-wide artistic events, to examine the interdependence of both processes within an experiential framework of development and transformation of the political, aesthetic, and artistic conceptions that inform cultural management models.