'Colombia', 1976 by Antonio Caro, one of the father figures of conceptual art in Colombia. This is one of Caro's most important pieces.Painted onto metal sheet he uses the famous red and typeface of the only corporation legally allowed to import coca leaf from South America to the US. Image courtesy of Galeria Casas Riegner  

在哥伦比亚期间，我们的作家彩虹·纳尔逊正在哥伦比亚麦德林的旅行故事中遇到了汉斯·乌尔里希·奥布里斯特，他是蛇形画廊的联合馆长，也是英国皇家建筑师学会的荣誉院士。Obrist是他第一次访问这个国家，在波哥大、麦德林和卡利的四天零四个小时内，他拜访了24位艺术家和五位三代建筑师，参观了八家画廊和博物馆，并与一位前总统共进晚餐。我们不禁要问他看到了什么。W*：那么，你第一次去哥伦比亚旅行怎么样？霍：太棒了！是的，这是波哥大和麦德林的奇迹。

W*：以什么方式？霍：哥伦比亚正在发生一些艺术和建筑上非常特别的事情。

W*：公众的目光已经很长一段时间没有盯上哥伦比亚了。你认为是什么让哥伦比亚的景象与众不同？霍：哥伦比亚有很多令人兴奋的年轻艺术家。有很多层又一层未被发现的艺术家，这是世界以前从未注意到的。

W*：所展示的作品有什么不同？霍：在年轻一代，艺术是跨学科的，这是很有趣的。以波哥大非常年轻的艺术家加布里埃尔·塞拉为例。他是一位把艺术、设计和建筑联系起来的艺术家。这一切都太令人兴奋了，我可以持续几个小时。

霍：很多作品中都有一件事，就是抗议遗忘。然而，也有许多，许多其他维度，并有一个危险，一个人减少所有的工作，就这样。

W*：还有什么让你印象深刻的？这对整个艺术界来说都是非常鼓舞人心的。

W*：那建筑革命呢？霍：我被图书馆改变了波哥大和麦德林的想法吸引住了。参观麦德林的吉安卡洛·马赞提图书馆是一次令人难以置信的经历。我认为看到图书馆如何改变世界是很吸引人的。其他国家也可以从中吸取教训，我认为每个城市地区都应该有一个图书馆。

？W*：艺术和建筑在修复这些脆弱的、破碎的社会中能发挥什么作用？霍：我认为从改造和创造希望的角度来看，艺术在建设未来方面是非常强大的。格哈德·里希特曾说过：“绘画是希望的最高形式”。

W*：你看到和其他地方相似的地方了吗？霍：这是一个还没有达到临界质量的艺术场景，但是它正在增长，而且有很强的势头。

W*：你认识的人中，有谁是你特别觉得会在国际上实现这一飞跃的吗？每一代都有很多艺术家。

Plegaria Muda by Doris Salcedo, 2009 (wood, mineral, compound cement and grass, each unit 75 x 19.5 in / 190 x 50 cm) A student of Beatriz Gonzalez, the Bogota-born Doris Salcedo makes sculptures and installations that function as political and mental archaeology, using domestic materials charged with significance and suffused with meanings accumulated over years of use in everyday life. Photography by Oscar Monsalve www.whitecube.com/artists/salcedo/

Plegaria Muda by Doris Salcedo, 2009

Plegaria Muda by Doris Salcedo, 2009

José Antonio Suárez - Anuario 2008 (Diary 2008) Mixed media Born in Medellin in 1955, Jose Antonio Suárez works on small pads of paper, filling his drawings with annotation and commentary. Image courtesy of the Casas Riegner Gallery

Estructuras para transición (Structures for transition) by Gabriel Sierra, 2010 - Installation at Galeria Casas Riegner Gabriel Sierra lives and works in Bogota. Situated at the intersection between art and design, his works develop from the observation and experience of everyday situations, often finding inspiration in Colombian popular culture and beliefs. Working with furniture he challenges the positioning of furniture as the first step in a strategy to have the world somehow under control. By disassembling a house, making a hollow in the wall to find the space that’s missing, he creates a house that consumes itself, to regurgitate possibilities - a few pieces of furniture that are ahead of the architecture. www.casasriegner.com  

Estructuras para transición (Structures for transition) by Gabriel Sierra, 2010 - Installation at Galeria Casas Riegner

'Agarrando Pueblo' (The Vampires of Poverty) by Luis Ospina & Carlos Mayolo, 1978 Luis Ospina embodies a strong revolutionary film-making tradition in Cali. Inspired by the literature of Andres Caicedo, film-makers in Colombia's third city have eschewed the magic realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in favour of Caicedo's social realism often using natural actors to underline the point. The Vampires of Poverty is a 'mockumentary', a biting criticism of the 'porno-misery' of European film-makers visiting third-world countries to sell their films in Europe.   www.luisospina.com  

Un Tigre de Papel (A Paper Tiger), a film by Luis Ospina, 2007. In later years Luis Ospina's work has increasingly focused on trying to avoid cultural amnesia in his hometown Cali

Photographs by Juan Herrera of an installation 'Auras Anonimas' by the Colombian artist, Beatriz Gonzalez, in a former cemetery in the heart of the Colombian capital, Bogota, 2009. Born in Bucaramanga in 1938, 'the Louise Bourgeoise of Colombia' has produced work for more than half a century. Based often on photographic reportage her work has a very strong connection to memory and the pain caused by the violence. As a teacher her alumni include sculptor Doris Salcedo.

Auras Anonimas by Beatriz González, 2009 - installation in former cemetery in the heart of Bogota

Auras Anonimas by Beatriz González, 2009 - installation in former cemetery in the heart of Bogota

Auras Anonimas by Beatriz González, 2009 - installation in former cemetery in the heart of Bogota

Auras Anonimas by Beatriz González, 2009 - installation in former cemetery in the heart of Bogota

Auras Anonimas by Beatriz González, 2009 - installation in former cemetery in the heart of Bogota

A still from 'La Pieza Ensayo' by Ana Maria Millàn and Eduardo Carvajal, 2008. Ana María Millán’s short films embody the idea of delirium and terror. Influenced by Columbian horror films and the aesthetic of telenovelas, Ana María Millán’s works reflects the country's intrinsic urban violence.

A still from 'Los Efectos Especiales de Jairo Pinilla - The Special Effects of Jairo Pinilla' by Ana María Millán, 2003

'Viaje sin movimiento' (Travelling without movement) by Mateo López, 2008. Installation CIFO López makes drawings and installations to describe personal journeys and creates studio-like situations in which the production and display of the work overlap. Image courtesy of the Casas Riegner Gallery    

A still from 'Cali el principio del fin de McDonald's' (Cali, the beginning of the end for McDonald's), 2007, by Wilson Diaz Wilson Diaz is a multidisciplinary artist who works in installation, performance, video, photography and painting. His work varies in style, subject and medium, but is underpinned by an acute awareness of social and cultural issues affecting Colombia. Watch the video