The ambassador of Colombia, Eduardo Ávila Navarrete, inaugurated yesterday the exhibition An imagined herbarium and a riddle of lost roots. Contemporary approaches to José Celestino Mutis and Alexander von Humboldt, by Colombian artists Luisa Ordóñez and Camilo Mutis.
The attendees also enjoyed an enriching conversation between the artists and the director of the Royal Botanical Garden, María-Paz Martín Esteban.
With a large attendance, the ambassador highlighted the role of this new exhibition as a meeting point between past and present, and, above all, as a space to build a future around the protection of biodiversity and life.
A proposal from Colombian artists connects art, science, and memory through contemporary perspectives inspired by two great explorers and thinkers of our history.
Through their works, the artists revisit the paths and legacies of José Celestino Mutis and Alexander von Humboldt, key figures in the history of science, to reinterpret them from new perspectives. Each proposal addresses archives and remnants of these expeditions, questioning notions of certainty and proposing new ways of relating to the images and texts produced more than two centuries ago.
In this way, the exhibition invites the public to reflect on how scientific thought and representations of the past can engage in dialogue with contemporary concerns, generating questions that challenge our present.
The Gabriel García Márquez Cultural Center of the Embassy of Colombia in Spain (calle Fortuny, 36) hosts the exhibition until October 18. Visits by prior registration via WhatsApp: +34 639916489.
