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Biography

CLEMENCIA ECHEVERRI
[1950, Colombia]

Clemencia Echeverri is a Colombian artist who lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia. She was born in Salamina, Caldas in 1950 and holds a bachelor's degree in Visual Communication from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), a Fine Arts and Arts Studies degree from the Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA), and a degree certification in Contemporary Art and Theory at Chelsea College of Arts in London. For 27 years, she was a professor at Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA) and Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL). In the 90’s, Echeverri took a radical turn in her career. After solid and significant work in painting and sculpture in Medellín during the 70’s and 80’s, she moved to the capital city of Bogotá. There she found sound and video to be an appropriate media to critically confront troubled topics in the social, political, cultural, and environmental arena in Colombia.

Her work is framed in a rigorous process of research, field work, and creation with a deep exploration that flows from the personal to the social and political arenas of her country, generating intersections between video, sound, intervened photography, and installation. By employing multiple strategies of scale, technical supports, space, and sound presence, her practice investigates the ways in which violence and its transmutation are present in relation to the viewer.

Echeverri explores problems about loss, grief, and enforced disappearance in the cultural landscape in Colombia. Multi-channel and immersive video installations encourage witnesses to strengthen a collective resistance against the abuses that surround us.

In recent years, she has carried out video-installation projects with participation in various national and international events, including: Version Libre in From Medellín, A Colombian Art Scene, Les Abattoirs, Musée - Frac Occitanie Toulouse, France (2017); Sin Cielo, Art Gallery of Guelph, Canada (2020) and Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2022);

Treno at Waterweavers, Bard Graduate Center, New York City, New York, USA (2014), Art Museum of the Americas, Washington DC, USA, and Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain (2015); Treno in Here / Now: Current Visions of Colombia, Framer Framed, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2019); Treno in La Vuelta, Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France (2017); and Río por Asalto, XII Shanghai Biennale under the curatorship of Cuauhtemoc Medina, China (2018).

She also participated with Intimate house, VI Bienal de La Habana, Havana, Cuba (2000); Latin American Cosmovideographies,Centro Nacional de las Artes (CENART), Mexico City, Mexico (2011); Treno, in For You, Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zurich, Switzerland (2009); Heritage Games, Festival Les Instants Vidéo: 50 ans d'arts video, Marseille, France (2013); Voice, Liverpool Biennial, England, UK (2010); Quiasma, International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA2004), Helsinki, Finland, Stockholm, Sweden, and Tallinn, Estonia (2004); Quiasma, Banquete_05: comunicación en evolución, Madrid, Spain (2005); Quiasma + Gnom (Q+G), Ars Electronica 2005: HYBRID - Living in Paradox, Linz, Austria (2005); Survivencias, Rencontres Internationales, Paris, France (2014); and Frontera, Screen Video Festival, Barcelona, Spain (2012).

Echeverri's work is part of the collections of Les Abattoirs, Musée - Frac Occitanie Toulouse, France; Banco de la República, Bogotá, Colombia; Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zurich, Switzerland; Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA), Colchester, England, UK; Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño, Bogotá, Colombia; Museo de Arte de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia; Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo (MEIAC), Badajoz, Spain; Museo Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico; Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA), Long Beach, California, USA; and Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, Kansas, USA.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2022    
Deserere, Espacio Continuo, Bogotá, Colombia 

2020
Clemecia Echeverri: Sin Cielo/Skyless, Art Gallery of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

2019
Liminal Retrospective, Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia, Banco de la República, Bogotá, Colombia
Duelos, Fragmentos – Espacio de Arte y Memoria, created by Doris Salcedo, Ministerio de Cultura, Bogotá, Colombia

2017
Sin Cielo y Treno, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA

2015
Sacrificio, Museo Zenú de Arte Contemporáneo (MUZAC), Montería, Colombia
Clemencia Echeverri, Nóctulo, NC-Arte, Bogotá, Colombia

2014
Juegos de Herencia, Museo de Arte Moderno de Barranquilla (MAMB), Colombia

2013
Clemencia Echeverri, Supervivencias, Alonso Garcés Galería, Bogotá, Colombia

2011
Clemencia Echeverri, GAK, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst e.V. Bremen, Germany

2009
Actos del Habla: 4 obras, Treno, Apetitos de Familia, De Doble Filo, Voz, Museo de Arte Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, Colombia

2007
Treno. Video instalación y Fotografía, Alonso Garcés Galería, Bogotá, Colombia

2006
Voz-resonancias de la prisión, Video instalación multicanal e interactiva, Museo Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia; Apoyo Universidad Nacional de Colombia y Arts Council, London, UK

2000
Cal y Canto, Video Instalación Multicanal, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Colombia
Exhausto Aun Puede Pelear, Video instalación multicanal, Nominada II Premio Luis Caballero

Selected Public Collections

Banco de la República, Bogotá, Colombia

Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zürich, Switzerland

Essex Collection of Art from Latin America, Essex, UK

Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño, Bogotá, Colombia

Museo de Arte Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo, Bandajoz, Spain

Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Los Angeles, CA, USA