Carlos Betancourt
Independent curator and exhibition designer. He studied architecture at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and obtained a Master of Arts at Columbia University in New York. Between the years 2012 and 2014 he served in the advisory committee of the renovation project of the National Museum of Colombia; in the year 2014 he directed the conceptualization, design and execution of the first permanent exhibition space of this project, the Memory and Nation room. In 2014 he was part of the artistic team that organized the first International Art Biennial of Cartagena. As part of the BBVA Art Price he was in charge of the selection and curatorial project of the contemporary art exhibitions Topologies: matter in transit (2006), Operation Theaters (2007) and Rehearsals for a Perfect World (2011). From 2003 to 2009 he co-founded the architecture and design program Work in Progress with the Alliance Française in Bogotá. He has received the Kell-Muñoz Fellowship from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution (2001) and the Colombian National Price of Culture from the Ministry of Culture of Colombia (2000).
Carolina Blanco
Is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Design at Los Andes University and her work is centered in urban analysis and city studies. She holds a bachelor degree from the National University of Colombia, a Master degree in Engineering and a Ph.D. in Architecture and Structural Design by the University of Hokkaido (Jp). She makes part of the Research Group on Habitat Pedagogics and Public Affairs (Pedagogías del Hábitat y de lo Público). Nowadays her research is centered in the evaluation of the National Free Housing Program for vulnerable population, and a study on the School micro-contexts from the perspective of social and emotional development, in connection with spatial conditions.
Andrés Burbano
Is Associate Professor at the Department of Design at Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. Burbano holds a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology from the University of California Santa Barbara where he wrote a dissertation about media technology history in Latin America before he studied in Germany and Spain. In 2017 he has been Academic Chair of ISEA, Keynote in the Potential Spaces conference at the ZKM and visiting a professor at the Krems University in Austria, in 2018 Burbano will be the Siggraph Art Gallery Chair.
Viviana Mejía
Viviana is a curator, writer and independent cultural manager with extensive experience in the arts and cultural sector, national and international journalism and the financial sector. She has worked as an independent curator in Singapore where she lived for 8 years and worked for Future Perfect Gallery, which received the Prudential Eye Award for Best gallery supporting Emerging Asian Art in 2015. In turn, she worked as associate director of the Australian gallery Sullivan + Strumpf in Singapore and as curator of ArtXchange Gallery. She worked on projects such as the inaugural fair in Asia of Affordable Art Fair, as well as in the development of the curatorial project Singapore Intensive and Curating Labs. She is an economist from the University of the Andes, with a specialization in History and Theory of Modern and Contemporary Art from the same university and a master’s degree in Contemporary Art from Sotheby’s Institute of Art / University of Manchester. Since 2011 she is part of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). Her area of research and curatorial interest has been the redefinition of the notion of tropical, transcending its meaning the projection of myth and desire, from the imperial to the colonial, or the post and neocolonial. Her texts have been published in the Revista Dinero (Colombia), Broadsheet Magazine (Australia), Taipei Journal of the Arts (Taiwan), Reading Room, A Journal of Art and Culture (New Zealand), Glossary (Singapore), Beyond the Self : Contemporary Portraiture from Asia (Australia), among others. She is the founder and editor of the independent publication Feminist Rant.
César Peña
Full-time Professor/Researcher at Universidad de los Andes, School of Architecture and Design. His research interests hinge around the centrality of both, image and gaze, and their role in Colombia and Latin America’s process of modernization. His scholarly production focuses mostly on the study of the city through pictorial representations, photographs, engravings, public monuments, everyday life objects, and maps.
Jaime Patarroyo
Colombian designer and artist interested in the relationship between human behaviour and digital technologies. He creates interactive objects and installations that explore new and different ways of expanding or transforming the body and its senses. Patarroyo holds a Bachelor of Design degree from Universidad de Los Andes as well as a Master of Arts degree from Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. He was also part of the Hybrid Urbanism postgraduate research program of the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture, and Design. Patarroyo is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Design at Universidad de Los Andes.
Daniel Ronderos
The collective experiences as student, teacher, entrepreneur, and architect has guided a professional career enabled by teamwork, peer dialog and a constant search for opportunity and collaborative endeavors. Throughout this path, there has been a tight relation between the commercial approach of architecture and design, and academia, since there is a huge sense of responsibility towards students, peers, and employees. The true belief that inspiration is around the corner and, that it could come from unexpected sources, hence the tireless task to nurture and protect it.
Ricardo Sarmiento, Department Chair – Hernando Barragán, Dean.
Seminar Assistants: Natalia Ardila.
