FRACO – Exchange program for contemporary art experts from Colombia and France

2015

Albertine de Galbert, director of the program, is an independent curator and the founder of Arte-sur.org, an online platform dedicated to the promotion of Latin American arts.

Within the frame of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s plan for the promotion of Colombia abroad, the Colombian embassy in France, the French embassy in Colombia and the French Institute organized an exchange program for contemporary art experts: FRACO. Taking place from the 10th until the 22nd of October, it allowed various actors of the Colombian contemporary art scene to travel to several place throughout France. This second phase of the FRACO project was the continuation of the visit to four Colombian cities made by their French counterparts at the end of 2014.

Aiming at creating and strengthening a Franco-Colombian contemporary art network, such as fostering inter-institutional collaborative projects, the FRACO agenda consisted in traveling to Nantes, Brest, Quimper, Saint Nazaire, Lyon, Vienne, Villeurbanne, Marseille and París. There the Colombian participants visited major exhibitions and fairs such as the Lyon Biennial or the FIAC in Paris, and were able to meet with art center directors, emerging artists, artistic networks, and residency directors.

The Colombian delegation participating in the second edition of FRACO included:
– Sally Mizrachi from “Lugar a dudas”, Cali
– Jaime Cerón from the MISOL Foundation, Bogotá
– María Isabel Rueda and Mario Llanos from “La Usurpadora” , Puerto Colombia.
On the occasion of her visit to Paris in view of the Franco-Colombian 2017 year, both Maria Victoria de Robayo, Colombian curator and former director of the National Museum and Carolina Ponce de León, director of the Visual Arts dept for the Ministry of Culture, met with the group for the final part of the program.