Carolina Caycedo. Land of Friends

Process and participation are central elements in Carolina Caycedo’s art, which offers a collective dimension through installations, drawings, performances, photographs and videos. Her work contributes to the construction of an environmental memory as an essential space for the climate and social justice. She challenges us to see nature not as a resource to be exploited, but as a living and spiritual entity that unites people beyond borders. Through her studio and field work with communities affected by large-scale infrastructure and other extraction projects, Caycedo invites viewers to understand the unsustainable pace of growth under capitalism and how we can embrace resistance and solidarity. Movement, migration, connection, languages and exchanges are key concepts in her work, which she approaches with a strong ethical and feminist commitment. Through indigenous cosmologies and decolonial discourses, she proposes counternarratives to extractivism and violence in the world.

For Caycedo’s first exhibit in Europe, Artium (Vitoria) and IVAM (Valencia) present a general approach to her art over the last twenty years. This exhibit brings together works from important series, such as Be Dammed (2012–ongoing), a multimedia project that examines the impact that hydroelectric dams and other major infrastructure projects have on communities and the environment. The exhibit will also present an iteration of the Street Museum, one of Caycedo’s first projects. It was first developed in Bogotá, Colombia, as part of the artist collective Colectivo Cambalache in 1998. It has since been revised and adapted with various configurations for projects in different locations. The project focuses on barter and redistribution understood as a form of social connection and research process. It is a key example of the circular economy that supports waste reduction, while promoting social cohesion.

Caycedo was born in London to Colombian parents. She lives in Los Angeles. Her recent individual exhibits include: Land of Friends, Baltic, Newcastle (2022); Ballroom Marfa, Texas (with David de Rozas) (2021); MCA Chicago (2020); ICA Boston (2020); Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź (2019). She has participated in multiple group exhibits including the 15th Cuenca Biennial, Ecuador (2021), We Are History, Somerset House, London (2021); LA TRIENAL 20/21, El Museo de Barrio, New York (2021); the Chicago Architecture Biennial (2019).

Exhibition in collaboration with: