Traveling Coordinates: A Case on Developing and Implementing a Dialogical Curatorial Practice in Santander and Norte De Santander, Colombia

This project-based thesis will focus on the dialogical curatorial strategies that were designed and implemented for the project "Traveling Coordinates". This thesis will consider "dialogical" strategies to be the on-the-ground, conversation-based approaches to bring together artists, audiences, and curators to a conceptual common ground. The need for consent, or at least of open exchange of perspectives, is based on the unfamiliarity of the curators with the context and the targeted community. This thesis will critically review the artistic, social, and political circumstances that motivated the need for dialogical strategies; analyze their applicability at the different stages of the project; evaluate the ways in which they affected (or did not) the developing curatorial narratives; and reflect on the outcomes and lessons learned. This project is funded by the Colombian Ministry of Culture, under the umbrella of their national visual arts program "SaIones regionales de artistas" (Regional Artists Exhibition). To this end, this project will also implicitly address the need to critically diagnose the current state of the local arts scene to contribute to art historical research and the impact of cultural policies in place. Although the project was executed in the northeastern region of Colombia, the findings provided by this research are applicable to a multitude of curatorial and community-based projects and will serve as a comparative model for future curators working in similar conditions.