Mapa Teatro - Witness to the Ruins

Mapa Teatro, one of the foremost interdisciplinary artistic companies in Colombia, presents Witness to the Ruins, a lecture/performance about a series of art projects rooted in of one of the most ambitious urban renewal developments in their hometown of Bogotá, Colombia: the demolition of the Santa Inés district — an extremely impoverished neighborhood also known as El Cartucho (“the cartridge”) — and its replacement with a monumental park.

Between 2002 and 2005, Mapa Teatro recorded the demolition of the barrio while developing projects with its former residents. These collective and communal endeavors resulted in theatrical performances, installations, and site-specific presentations that reflect Mapa Teatro’s self-description as a “laboratory of the social imagination.”

Using an experimental format that includes live commentary, video projection, and community ceremony, Mapa Teatro’s founders and directors Rolf and Heidi Abderhalden will be joined by the legendary mathematician/philosopher/politician Antanas Mockus, who commissioned the projects as mayor of Bogotá at the time; Mapa Teatro producer Ximena Vargas, who will be adding a vast archive of videos, documents, and testimonies to the presentation; and Juana María Ramírez, the last inhabitant of El Cartucho.

Marking ten years since the demolition was completed, Witness to the Ruins at SFMOMA serves as a farewell ceremony to an important episode in the history of Bogotá, making visible the sites where what has been lost remain.

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