#087 ¿Cuánto hay en el Pote? en la Feria ARTBO de Bogotá

Group Exhibition at ARTBO Fair, Bogotá - 2018

Domóticas para hoy y mañana: La fábula de abandonar tu zona de confort (Home Automation for Today and Tomorrow: The Fable of Leaving Your Comfort Zone)

This mixed-media installation explores the complex relationship between media, politics, and domestic space in 1950s Venezuela. The work operates through an interplay of identities between Professor Negrón—creator of the TV show "Monte sus Cauchos Goodyear" in the 1950s—and Luis Negrón van Grieken as the contemporary author.

The installation attempts to recover real historical facts while interweaving them with the artist's subjective narrative, creating a space where found materials collide with personal visions and memories. The work reflects on the intricate connections between television, dictatorship, and modernity in Venezuela during the 1950s, a period when domestic technologies promised unprecedented comfort and control.

Curatorial Context: The exhibition, curated by Andrés Jurado, examines home automation's impact on domestic design and its promise to create a world of comfort. The conceptual framework references the famous 1959 Kitchen Debate in the Soviet Union, where Richard Nixon presented domestic spaces to Nikita Khrushchev, marking a pivotal moment in defining the global concept of "home."

These domestic technologies—washing machines, stoves, televisions, computers, sound equipment, and refrigerators—have shaped daily life through their material presence, or even through their absence and desire. The exhibition addresses how appliance retail scenarios became important commercial spaces worldwide, particularly in Colombia through figures like Jaime Glottman, whose stores featured clowns and cocktail hostesses offering premium products with subprime credit to potential customers.

For Curators: The work ¿Cuánto hay en el Pote? functions as both historical document and speculative archive, utilizing television as a lens to examine Venezuelan modernization processes. The installation methodology combines ethnographic research with personal narrative, creating what might be termed "experimental ethnography." The piece is particularly relevant for exhibitions examining media archaeology, post-colonial modernities, and the domestic sphere as political space.

Technical Specifications: Mixed media installation comprising wood construction, vintage television set, archival book materials.

Exhibition Details:

• Venue: ARTBO Fair, Bogotá
• Curator: Andrés Jurado
• Format: Group exhibition within ARTBO | Salas program

Participating Artists: Estefany Alfaro, Ana Maria Montenegro, Óscar Moreno Escárraga, Adriana Rojas Pretelt, Javier Morales, Olivia Jack, Juan Orozco, Luis Negrón van Grieken, Paula Villegas, Santiago Díaz Escamilla, María Rojas, Luisa Giraldo

Guest Collectives: Luz y Fuerza (Mexico)

Special Projections: Mariana Caló & Francisco Queimadela, Etienne de France