The Onset of a New Time Through the Recycling of Colombian Pioneros, Visionarios and Referentes

Abstract

The paper explores a change in discourse on Colombian artists born between the 1920s and 1950s from memoria to pionero, visionario and referente. Drawing on Thompson’s framework on the passage of goods through the states durable, zero and transient, I describe the discursive shift towards visionaries, pioneers and referents as a process of recycling (Thompson, 2017 [1979]). Thompson’s analysis suggests that objects undergo a development through different stages. Recycled objects pass through a zero category in order to become a durable good. As they reach the stage of a durable good these objects also embody a time that is prior to the viewers’, as they have passed through a zero stage, in contrast to the onlooker whose presence is continuous. This discontinuity is also incorporated in the terms referents, visionaries and pioneers that institute a new time in Colombian contemporary art. Thompson’s framework connects the rise of objects into the category of durable things to wealthy socio-economic classes’ purchases. I observe a coincidence of the rise of the labels and an art boom in the years 2011–2015, also driven by international demand in the Colombian art market. The re-evaluation of pioneers, visionaries and referents is related to an international demand which has contributed to shift these artists into the spotlight.

Keywords

• Recycling
• Colombia
• Contemporary Art
• Memoria