This text by Rosemberg Sandoval (b. 1959) is the most recognized document in his entire career. It was read at the Simposio sobre la situación social, política y artística en Colombia [Symposium on the Social, Political, and Artistic Situation in Colombia] that was organized by the Fundación Daros Latinamerica [Daros Latinamerica Foundation] in Zürich in January 2005. It had been shown many years earlier at the Margen [Margin] exhibition in the Sala Mutis at the Universidad del Valle in the city of Cali in 1996.
This extraordinary testimony describes the personal history of the artist, an experience that was affected by the rampant violence in the Valle del Cauca region. Sandoval’s performances strive to confront the audience with a personal experience. In his opinion, any “artistic activity” has a “basically pedagogical function,” which stimulates a more active relationship with the audience.
The exhibition that launched Sandoval’s professional career was the VII Salón Atenas [Seventh Atenas Salon] (Bogotá, 1981) organized by the curator Eduardo Serrano Rueda (b. 1939). Sandoval took part in that event at the suggestion of Miguel González (b. 1950), the curator and art critic based in Cali. One of the works he exhibited at the Salón—Extensión [Extension] (1980)—presented “a personal action in the form of a penetrating fact” with regard to the sociocultural environment.
The symposium in Zürich was organized along the same lines as the Cantos Cuentos Colombianos [Colombian Songs and Stories] (2004) exhibition that was curated by the director of Daros Latinamerica, the art critic Hans-Michael Herzog. Additionally, the publication Guerra y pá [War and Peace] includes the series Documentos Daros 2 [Daros Documents 2], published by the Cuban curator and art historian Eugenio Valdés Figueroa (b. 1963). This publication features recollections of the above mentioned symposium, an event that took place as a result of concerns arising from Cantos Cuentos Colombianos.
The texts compiled in Guerra y pá document recollections of an important debate on the sociopolitical and artistic situation in Colombia. Those who were invited represented a wide range of perspectives and attitudes; the list included artists and intellectuals, as follows: the sociologist Alfredo Molano (b. 1944), the political scientist and historian Fernán González, the writers William Ospina (b. 1954) and Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza (b. 1932), and the artists Óscar Muñoz (b. 1951), Doris Salcedo (b. 1958), Oswaldo Maciá (b. 1960), and Sandoval, among others.