CITY OF KENNEDY: MEMORY AND REALITY

CITY OF KENNEDY MEMORY AND REALITY (2002). A collective project comisioned by the National University of Colombia. The project devoloped in the City of Kennedy, a working class neighborhood in the south west area of the city, consisted in recovering the collective memory of the oldest inhabitants of the area who were given the land to construct their homes in a simbolic ceremony by the President John F. Kennedy. Working from interviews, photographs and archival footage fom the neighborhood the artists suggested different projects whereby they would make visible the constructed myths in relation to the presidencial visit and its influence in the devolopment of the area. One of the most significant projects was The Visit, consisting in placing in different areas of the neighborbood two life like photografic portraits of the presidential couple that belonged to one of the neighbours since 1962. This surprising encounter made evident the empathy many neighbours still have with this iconic couple. The name of the city results from this handing over of land by the president of the United States in the year 1962 in a gesture that reflected the geopolitical strategy of the time called an Alliance for Progess.