Eterna Primavera

Eterna Primavera (Eternal Spring)
Netherlands / 2021-2022 / spacial installation containing photographs, videos and objects / variable dimensions

Eterna Primavera (Eternal Spring) refers to Medellín, Colombia's second city. Due to its location close to the equator and at the same time at a 1500 meters altitude, the metropole has a pleasant climate and because of this Medellín's nickname is "ciudad de la eterna primavera": city of eternal spring.

From 2012 to 2019 I lived and worked in Medellín for a total of six months, every time thanks to generous contributions from Mondriaan Fund. During the residencies and work periods I have been filming and photographing, mostly focusing on micro entrepreneurs in the expanding city, ingenuity in public space and the inexhaustible potential of everyday materials.

Thanks to Prent&Boek / Studio Flip Lambalk I realised installation Eterna Primavera in their shop windows at the busy Zuiderkerkhof in the centre of Amsterdam. The exhibition took place during the lockdown in the winter of 2021-2022. With photographs, videos and objects "the ode to Medellín brings spring to life in wintery lockdown Amsterdam", as journalist Edo Dijksterhuis wrote in the announcement in Amsterdam newspaper PS Het Parool.

The main video in the window display was the film Calle, part of the four-channel video installation Street Vendors.The other two videos were exhibited before in the solo show Double Juicers in W139: Double Juicers and The Man with the Mic. All photo prints were on display before in Casa Tres Patios during the residency at el puente_lab, Medellín. The objects were a mix of original Colombian and various second hand ones.