DGC: The open letter presented by the FLORA project talks about the notion of an institutional independent curator as a profession. It’s a complex equation, both because of the imaginaries stemming from the prestigious role played by a curator in the international art system, and because of the complex institutional negotiations involved in the practical exercise of exhibiting and mobilizing art and art careers. In turn, this notion highlights the issues involved in the curatorship/institution and independence/institution relationship. These relations are rather tense at the international level, where an exercise in management, administration, financing and private collecting as an exercise in the public come into play. Locally in Colombia this also manifests as regards the proliferation of independent spaces. How do you see and acknowledge curatorial practice in the field of art? What does curating and being a curator involve? What kind of institutions do you work with?

JIR: As I said in the open letter, I believe in institutional work because it’s continuous and is able to create something over time, what I call creating a local context. Independent curatorship doesn’t involve so many bureaucratic obstacles or the wear and tear of acting as a public servant (although sometimes one has to yield to the rather conservative structure of an institution), but a freelance curator’s work only has an impact for a short time, whereupon he/she goes off and does another project somewhere else, so there’s no continuity. What I’m proposing is an independent space, but one that has continuity over time. It’s nothing new, there are lots of independent spaces directed by a curator, but it’s new to me, since until now I’ve either worked for institutions or doing biennials and exhibitions in different parts of the world, but always for short periods.

As for curatorial work, I don’t think there’s only one way of understanding the practice of curating, as it unfolds in different ways in each case: sometimes it involves auteur curatorship, a point of view articulated as an essay in the space containing the artists’ works; sometimes it’s an act of faith in an artist, when one doesn’t know what project the artist is proposing, and our job just consists of accompanying and facilitating. What’s important is to realize there are artists without curators but not the other way around; as long as it’s clear who the really important people in this equation are, there shouldn’t be any problem. I always try to make sure all the people involved in a project I’m organizing end up with a feeling of having had a very gratifying experience. It doesn’t always happen, but that’s what I aim for.

DGC: Is curatorial work an independent professional exercise? Do you believe this is true? Why?

JIR: One is never completely independent: working in a museum one is dependent on the institution’s policies; even when one’s an outside curator one still has to fulfill a specific assignment. Perhaps there’s greater freedom when one has one’s own space and is free to decide on the programming without a boss, committee or policy interfering from above. What certainly works against independence is the need to secure outside financing, but if it’s done with a sense of integrity there no reason why the program should be compromised.

DGC: In FLORA’s case, where an institutional approach is explicitly the aim, what does independence consist of? Is an independent art institution possible in the Colombian art scene given its cultural art policies?

JIR: I think it’s possible, but only time will tell. Securing public (or private) funding doesn’t necessarily mean losing one’s identity or integrity: one takes what is good for the program and leaves aside what would have a negative effect on it. I think Colombian institutions, particularly the Ministry of Culture, the city of Bogotá or the Fundación Alzate Avendaño provide many financing possibilities through their programs to provide incentives to spur creation, without trying to impose any kind of aesthetic or ideological agenda.

DGC: Regarding the proliferation of independent spaces with such varied agendas, both in Colombia (Lugar a Dudas, La Redada, La Peluquería, among others) and Latin America (A Gentil Carioca in Brazil, CIA in Argentina, CRAC in Chile, BORDER in Mexico, to name a few), which seek to shift art practice beyond the sphere of exhibition in museums or the impact of art on social processes, work with communities or direct action in social movements, what’s FLORA’s specific aim in the Colombian and the international art world? What kinds of public are you focusing on? What kind of cultural work networks do you want to promote?

JIR: FLORA aims to be as much a meeting place as an art space, whose main program is nourished by residencies in a city historically characterized by its geographical placement as the main port on the country’s most important river, a few kilometers from the headquarters of botanical expeditions and on the route of the Spanish Royal Roads.(2) FLORA has been inspired by many projects in Colombia, Latin America and other parts of the world, and we’ve followed some of their strategies; we’ve taken a little of Lugar a Dudas’s role as a cohesive force on the local scene (or at least that’s what we aspire to do); a little of Soma’s pedagogical function; a little of Capacete’s drive to bring the international scene closer to the local; some of Vietnam’s San Art as regards their public programs, etc. Some artists will be working with the community, others won’t, but it won’t be as a result of a condition we’ve imposed on them – we’ll be letting each artist develop their program and project organically, and the process or the result will always be placed on public display both in Honda and in Bogotá.