Last week I decided to accompany a couple of our Colombian companeros to an event at the MAMM (Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellin). I did not really know what specific event we were attending. I merely jumped at the chance to visit the museum.
We arrived at the MAMM around 10:30pm and decided to view the exhibits. I was surprised to discover that the museum was open so late on a Saturday night. The main exhibit in the museum currently displays the work of architect, Carlos Garaico. Paper lantern structures are placed about the entrance. They look like evolved Da Vinci models. Thread looped through nails in the wall across from the entryway depicted elaborate shapes, designs and cityscapes. However, my favorite part of the exhibit was a series of pop-up books the artist created depicting fictional building designs loosely based off of both contemporary and historical structures. It reminded me of more dramatized visual representation of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. One city was supposed to be constructed entirely out of human hair, bones and blood.
After touring the exhibits, we exited the museum and turned the corner, following a walkway that leads to a skate park behind the MAMM. People were everywhere. At this point it was past 11pm on a Saturday night and still the museum’s grounds were full of life. Graffiti artists were decorating
the cement walls lining the walkway. Tarps and tiki torches were dispersed throughout the lawn each offering a series of writing workshops to aspiring artists. Craftsmen had erected booths in the parking lot and were selling items ranging from jewelry and lingerie to intricate paper cutouts of Medellin’s cityscape. We were in the middle of the 11th Parada Juvenil de Lectura.
A fighting ring was set up beneath a pavilion and there local intellectuals conducted theoretical battles while dressed in boxing gear. A make-shift theater played internationally acclaimed films from 2:30pm that afternoon until 2:30pm the following day. Had it not rained, books would have hung from the strings dangling from the trees behind the MAMM. Tents were set up in preparation for the dispersal of the books to allow voracious readers the ability to read through the night without the inconvenience of eventually having to find their way back home.
The enthusiasm of those present, despite poor weather conditions, was striking. The majority of the participants were university students and young adults who chose that Saturday to celebrate Medellin’s cultural life rather than its party scene. This was my favorite night in Medellin. I have been to the clubs. I have salsa-ed and I have sampled the range of exciting beverages Colombia offers. However, never in all of those nights did I encounter such passion for art and culture as I did last Saturday- something that I often feel starved from at home and at school. It added a sense of depth to my experience in Medellin, intensifying my sense of Colombian pride for its artistic heritage- especially amongst those in my generation.
