A skilful fusion of dance, industrial design and queer aesthetics, Andrea Peña & Artists’ BOGOTÁ opened the 17th Venice Biennale. A large-scale work, radical and innovative.
A choreographer with a hybrid background in dance and design, Andrea Peña is known for her rigorous conceptual creations, conceived as installations in which the body dialogues with materiality. Of dual Canadian-Colombian heritage, here she reexamines her Latin American roots with a resolutely post-colonial eye. Created in collaboration with nine performers and a dozen associates, BOGOTÁ recreates the dynamic, high-contrast landscape of the Colombian capital, where chaos, collective resilience and exuberant creativity intertwine. Inspired by Latin American baroque and age-old magical realism viewed from a queer perspective, the work delves into the themes of death and rebirth that are so deeply rooted in this culture. Visceral, transgressive and mesmerizing; a bold venture, halfway between stage performance and dance theatre, that transcends boundaries!
