Alicia Barney

Alicia Barney. Yumbo process, 1980

Visionarios / Visionaries

Through the program Visionarios, Instituto de Vision, undertakes a historical revision of artists from the mid XX century, who,
through their innovative and bold visions, introduced transcendental changes in the art practice of our country, remaining nev-
ertheless outsiders from our art history. With a program of publications and exhibitions, Instituto de Vision wants to present an
integral history, beyond a classification based on market success, to recover those visions, which were not given their deserved
positions. Within this program, we are working with artists such as FERNELL FRANCO, LUIS ERNESTO AROCHA, ALICIA BAR-
NEY, MIGUEL ANGEL CARDENAS, MARIA EVELIA MARMOLEJO, SANDRA LLANO among others.

Given the importance of their ground braking practices, through our research we want to show that there is a myth when it is
said that Colombia, was not one of Latin America’s pioneer countries in the insertion of experimental, innovative or transgressive
works. Beyond labels or international influences, these artists where working with subjects and processes that were conceptu-
ally very strong and related I veru particular ways to the reality and difficulty of being an artist in a very conservative society.

One of the principal aims of the program is to introduce these works to important and influential Museums, collections, and ac-
ademics, in order to change the traditional narratives which have only positioned very few artists as the mainstream of artistic
practices in Colombia and Latin America.

Maria Wills Londoño

Director
Visionaries program
www.institutodevision.com
Alicia Barney
(b. Cali, Colombia 1952)

Since the seventies, being a Pratt Institute Student in Brooklyn, Barney showed an interest for trans- cendent almost
metaphysical works. Her creations questioned or reflected upon different situations of her surroundings, going to
the personal to the universal, such as destruction of nature and the environment, overpopulation, hunger; but more
over they showed a very singular artistic character. She has done her work through rituals and creative processes
that grow from a spiritual and intuitive principle that shows mystical connections with art, but always with a critical,
cynical and daring point of view.

Although she prefers not talking about religious beliefs, her work has a shamanic strength. Her work shows and
career show an almost immaterial potency that has permitted her to walk and continue creating in Colombia’s arid
path of conceptual art, which is starting to be studied. After finishing her studies abroad, and coming back to her
hometown Cali, the local art scene and spaces were scarce for conceptual, critical practices, and although thanks
to the support of some important curators she did some institutional shows, her work has not been given its proper
recognition as the pioneer artist in ecological/land art, and feminine studies in the art history of Colombia, which is
still waiting to be written.

Barney’s experience with artistic tools such as the found object, using her most intimate experiences for the explora-
tion of art, as well as including science and philosophy in her work really make her one of the most unique presences
in the seventies and eighties deca- des in Colombia which on the other hand was mostly dominated by men.
 Alicia Barney
Diario objeto, 1977
Found objects, tape, wire
250 x 90 cm

The series included a total of thirteen hanging works, all with a vertical format of 2.5 mts (height) x 90 cms (width).
There were objects hanging from pierced wires (used for welding) that were either tied together, or attached together with scotch tape. All the
objects that hung from the wires were found and tied, arranged in chronological order. There are two other works that have the same format
but, in them, instead of the hanging objects, there are only papers that were found and collected, or obtained from other people. Two other small
works are shaped as a one and a half meter spiral from which large tree leaves and bird nests hang.
Alicia Barney
Diario objeto, 1977
Detail
ON THE SUBJECT OF DIARY OBJECT
I want to project an image of the organic nature of my work and, as
such, develop an intrinsic quality, a reality in art, tightly related to
the processes of growth and of decay; I want to get my work closer
to an existence that is virtually tied to a process of immersion in
pop art, both in the idea and in the object of the work of art. Yet, the
work has to emphasize the boundaries of the life cycle.
By adopting the diary, I am looking for an art that is meaningful
for my daily life, which would be pertinent to who I am and to ev-
erything I do. I reject art as a highly specialized activity, an art that
searches within itself in an endless tautology. The art I propose de-
pends on a strong involvement with technical innovation and with
the History of art.
However, most of the works of art one finds in museums are arti-
facts, tools, they are relics of past civilizations. At their times, these
objects were immediately connected with the world to which they
belonged. The “slice of life” can be found in the art of all times. This
is the way in which I justify being an artist and creating art.
My involvement in cosmic life gets projected into the energy of the
critical moment by which the object-symbol is captured. It inte-
grates the “act of seeing” and the “seeing of the artist”. My work
is not like a scientific research. It arouses from my daily living, al-
though it is deeply rooted in a particular sociological system of
thought and beliefs.
The diary reflects on all of these human characteristics. The sym-
bolic object reflects my involvement, yet it retains its myth and its
identity, which is intuitively apprehended even though the object
is unconscious about the meaning of itself: “What today is called
an art object is a degraded understanding of a magical object”
(1). Even if the diary is basically masturbatory, it projects itself into
other domains. Autobiography does not weight more than what it
translates, therefore it is, across individuals, universal. It reveals
the being, through its goods, it comments and reflects on both the
public and the individual interests, which are represented in the
material world; in this way, it acknowledges the significance of the
passage of time.
At the physical level, sculpture confronts people with their own
body; the dairy analyzes and ruptures this type of world in order to
organize it again. In this way, the object will be endlessly forgotten
and endlessly remembered, becoming a non-existent object.
Once we have accepted our fundamental condition of isolation,
then, communication at certain levels is made possible; individual
life has common denominators, given that we live in a social world.
The diary has the possibility of being read thanks to its lines, as
each one takes the form of a short story; nevertheless, its meaning
is evasive enough as to give way to different meanings; each indi-
vidual can read it differently and in different ways. Then, the per-
ception of reality is, at the same time, subjective and sketchy, yet,
reality is revealed through matter.
Memory and present get united. The objects attract the senses of
the perceiver and the experience gets transferred. Such is the abil-
ity of the dairy for existing by itself.
Alicia Barney, New York, 1977
(1) Claes Oldenburg, Store Days (New York: Something else
Press Inc., 1976, p.76).
Alicia Barney
Diario objeto, 1978-9
Found objects, tape, wire, polyethylene bags

Diary Object, Series II (1978-9)

A total of 10 works: Three of them were made with objects that I found and collected. These are wrapped in polyethylene bags that are tied
to 2.00 X 0.40 mts acrylic sheets. Three of the works include, in polyethylene bags, objects that have then been pressed in different ways
between two acrylic or glass small square sheets (40 X 40 cms., each). Three works are made up of isolated objects that are inside some heat-
sealed polyethylene strips, which hang from 20 X 25 cms glass sheets. Finally, one of the works is made up of objects that are tied together
with scotch tape and that hang over a thicker, red strip of tape.
Alicia Barney
Pratt I, 1978-9
Acrylic, polyethylene bags, “gringo” rubbish.
40,6 x 178 cm
Alicia Barney
A day at the mountain, 1978-9
Two acrylic sheets that squeeze some vegetable elements and branches, within polyethylene bags.
51 x 101,6 cm
Alicia Barney
A day at the mountain, 1978-9
Detail
Press about Alicia Barney’s practice.
González, Miguel. “Alicia Barney: el paisaje alternativo: aferrada al drama que la naturaleza provoca.” Arte en Colombia (Bogotá, Colombia),
no. 19 (October 1982): 40–43.
Press about Alicia Barney’s practice.
González, Miguel. “Alicia Barney: el paisaje alternativo: aferrada al drama que la naturaleza provoca.” Arte en Colombia (Bogotá, Colombia),
no. 19 (October 1982): 40–43.
Alicia Barney
Los estados que compré, 1977
Wood, metal, postcards, leather
3×30×37cm
“It is made up of postcards of each of the States I visited on an east to west trip, in the United States. The postcards are covered with white
paint, with the exception of an X, which goes through them and allows glancing at their content. In 1986 they were assembled as a book that
had a black leather cover, shaped as the United States map; the spine of the book was a huge “Guayacán” (a variety of mahogany) flat pincer”.

Alicia Barney
Alicia Barney
Tiempo de quema, 1977
Wood, metal, postcards, leather
13×30×90 cm

Burning time is made up of overlapping papers where the light of a candle has drawn. All the process was recorded: First, an X was traced on
each paper, in order to establish a center. Then, the candle was placed under the paper, measuring the distance between the candle and the
paper, and the time of exposure until the paper would start to burn. In 1986, the book was assembled, outlining all the data gathered about
burning heights and times. The book has a black leather cover, pressed by a specially designed, Guayacán spine.
Alicia Barney
Tiempo de quema, 1977
Details
Alicia Barney
Yumbo, 1980
29 box of glass, contained air of each day
at Yumbo, Valle del Cauca
20×20×20 cm e/o

Yumbo was assembled on the month of February of a leap year, with 29, open glass tanks. These were placed in different places in the indus-
trial area of Yumbo, in the northern part of Cali. One by one, daily, the boxes were closed and sealed; therefore, they successively collected
visible parts of the pollution of the specific zone. There are photos of the work and of the act of sealing the tanks.
Alicia Barney
Río Cauca, 1981-2
Installation. Three tanks of clear acrylic; test tubes, water
11 X 131 X 60 cm

Three transparent acrylic tanks. In each cap there are 5 holes from which 5 test tubes hang. Worked by pyrogravure, on the bottom of the test
tubes, there is a map of the Cauca River basin, its source and its path through the departments of Cauca and Cauca Valley.

The tanks are filled with water that was collected at the river source, between two streams called “white waters” and “black waters”, which are
located on the high plateau near the “Ox Lake”. As was already said, there are 5 test tubes in each tank, which means a total of 15 tanks in the
three tanks. They hold samples of water from the surface, the middle and the bottom of the river. The tubes with the samples are hung, placed
over the map at the points that depict the specific places where they were collected.

From North to South, they show the condition of the water when it enters and when it leaves the Cauca Valley, and the places where pollution is
critical: 1) The Pool; 2) Puerto Navarro; 3) Puerto Isaacs; 4) Zambrano, and 5) Gutiérrez. The installation also includes a photographical record
of each place, of the boatmen, the river water and the moment when the samples were collected.

From the boat, the north, the south, the east and the west of each place were recorded. In this way, there are seven photos of each of the sites,
assembled in five frames.

The samples were collected and analyzed with the help of a biologist, Dr. Roberto Diaz R., a professor of the National University at Palmira.
The results obtained from this analysis, together with previous analyses by other scientists, were displayed (framed). In this way, it is possible to
compare and to draw conclusions about the condition of the river and its progressive deterioration.
Alicia Barney
Río Cauca, 1981-2
Details
INSIDE THE REGIONAL PROCESS OF THE AUTO-BIO-VANGUARD

The process developed in “CAUCA RIVER” actualizes our idea of a better or worse future; the ascetic plexi-glass
pools denounce a no less rigorous reality. It is a visual, “artistic”, yet very serious denunciation. Just as the anony-
mous S.O.S. of Adolfo Bernal, the tanks filled with the polluted RIVER CAUCA water turn themselves into warnings
for the public (whether it is a spectator or a recipient of the message). The work is a work of art but it also acts in
different ways: it is a scientific testimony, a document, and a political stance as well.

Nevertheless, the work does not loose its beauty or appeal. On the contrary, by meeting some traditional aesthetic
requirements, “CAUCA RIVER” acquires an aura of mystery that probably arises from the delicate and subtle gold-
en hue of the water in the pools, as well as from the minimalist rigor of the design.

The unbiased, impartial, test tubes, which indicate the places where each sample of polluted water was collected,
equally reassert the research-oriented quality of the work, and its plastic intention. Moreover, the region studied by
Barney and which could be called her genetic conscience, is revealed through a drawing that is seemingly imper-
sonal (the map of the river basin) but that precisely is what it is, a drawing.

José Hernán Aguilar, 1984

Alicia Barney
Río Cauca, 1981-2
Details
Alicia Barney
Río Cauca, 1981-2
Details
Alicia Barney
El Ecológico, 1981-2
Ten newspapers assembled with interventions
2 x 39 X 62 cm

The Ecological consists of ten newspapers, assembled to include the editorials. The original name of the newspapers was crossed out and in
the upper part of the pages, in green ink, the name “The Ecological” was printed. Over the photo accompanying the head news, with different
seals, a clipping was superposed, which was then covered with transparent contact paper.

There are two of those seals. In one of them, one can read: “Species that are endangered”. The other seal reads: “Species that are not endan-
gered”. The articles included in the newspapers were selected with the help of a history student, Jorge Cachiotis: They include 200 polarized
topics that add up to 40 original pages, per newspaper.

Some of the topics are:

Traditional Customs / Peasants / Animals / Cultural diversity (races: black, indigenous-tribes) / Water-Trees-Sea / Architecture /
Landscape-scenery / Fresh food vs. canned food / Atomic energy vs. Clean energy / Women as objects vs. Women as individuals /
Religion, Politics, Art / “High Society” news.
Alicia Barney. El Ecológico, 1981-2. Detail
Alicia Barney
Utopian dump

“What today is called a work of art is a degraded understanding of a magical object"

Claes Oldemburg

The program Visionaries of the Instituto de Vision starts its history with a tribute to women in art, with a selection of a retrospec-
tive work of Alicia Barney (Cali, 1952). This pioneer of the visual arts in Colombia gave in the seventies a great step towards
unexplored practices in Colombia, such as land art or ecologic art.

Barney's work is profoundly ritual and, in turn, makes aggressive but silent screams of protest; it is subtle to the extent that her
poetry, though tough and cynical, is intimate, feminine and calm. Her practice is silent because art, despite utopian attempts and
efforts, has failed to change society. This tension lies beneath Barney’s work that started young to lose faith in the contemporary
society.

Ever since she started in the seventies, her work shows and interest for significant works, almost metaphysical, in which essential
problems of the society are questioned, such as destruction of the surroundings and nature, overpopulation and hunger. But,
beyond the critical discourse against politics and aggressive consumption, which was prevailing among the youngsters at the
time, Barney’s pieces revealed a unique character.

Maintaining a critical and daring position, Barney generates her work through rituals and creative processes that depart from a
spiritual and intuitive horizon and enable mystical connections with the art. Her works about the impacts of industry on nature
were precursor in the country, not only in artistic terms, but in environmental ones. Her work has been named as bio-avant-garde.
Río Cauca (Cauca River) (1981- 82) —in which water was collected in different points of the river in order to show the degree of
contamination— is for instance a sublime artistic piece as well as a scientific document of political complaint.

Another study field for Barney is passage of time and daily life. From a very early age she had interest in the Incan calendars and
many of her pieces such as the iconic Yumbo (1980) emphasize periodicity. Her Diary objects (1977 y 1979) are works based
on tours around streets or mountains in which the artist picks up leaves, objects and waste material, which are fragments of the
everyday life and with which she maps her own existence.

Stratification of an Utopian Dump (1985) is a piece that emerges from the esthetic principles of minimalism, in the sense of the
repetition of the same geometric element. However, this purist aesthetic of this artistic movement is perverted by a social and po-
litical sense. Ten acrylic tubes were filled with elements of a geological stratification, and the top was filled with garbage, charcoal
and sand. This way of sealing garbage allows its decomposition and in 5 years the land can be reused.

Even though she was described as eccentric for using concepts such as Biodegradable, Barney has maintained an active stance
regarding the relation between art and nature.

María Wills Londoño

Alicia Barney
Sin título, 1984
Three metallic structures, canvas, objects
180 x 60 X 110 cm

Untitled consists in three metallic structures, each one with a ladder: They are 1.80 mts high X 60 cms wide X 1.10 mts long. The vertical zone
and the rectangular zone, adjacent to the ladder, are wrapped in “costeña” canvas, a type of canvas commonly used for paintings; now, each
structure is closed laterally, with 4 leather double-arrow straps with buckles, just as the ones that are used in freight trucks. In front of each
ladder are my feet, cast in lead. Inside the first structure, a “Treasure Chest” can be found, hanging: It is a transparent acrylic box with smaller
acrylic boxes that hold tropical tree seeds.

The second structure is filled with shells (of hens’ eggs). The third structure has a gallon-can of chlorophyll green paint, hanging. The can has
incisions through which the paint leeks to the museum floor. At one side of each ladder, there is an oval-shaped lead weight, of the kind used
in fishing.
Alicia Barney
Estratificación de basurero utópico, 1987
10 tubes of acrylic, organic waste and soil
180 x 5 cm diameter

Stratifiying Utopical Garbage Dump, ten transparent acrylic pipes, two thirds (of each pipe) were filled with elements from a geological stratifi-
cation of the west Andean mountains (Piedras Blancas). The upper section was filled with rubbish, charcoal and sand.

Typically, when a garbage dump is sealed with charcoal and sand, it takes five years for the soil to be ready for sowing; thus, this work of art rep-
resents a utopian garbage dump, as in Colombia the garbage dumps are left open, which makes biodegradation and recovery of the soil slower.
Alicia Barney
La Requisa, 1988
3 triangles molten in aluminium;164 rustic copper hemispheres and 10 ears in human dental acrylic
and teeths instead of corn kernels
200 × 200 × 7 cm

Three triangles cast in aluminum and covered with clay, two of which with three-dimensional arabesques. The third triangle has my fingerprints,
as a result of pressing the clay. 164 semi spheres in rough copper. 10 corncobs which, instead of the grains, have human-shaped teeth, made
of dental acrylic. The corncobs are laid inside one of the triangles, in a way such as to resemble a bonfire. The copper semi spheres are arranged
so that they resemble furrow tracks for seeds, with a 15 cms distance between each other.

Requisition is a term used by peasants to denote the work of picking the part of the harvest that is not machine-picked (left by the combine
harvester).
Alicia Barney
La Requisa, 1988
Views of installation
Alicia Barney
Viviendas, 1998
Views of installation at Universidad Nacional
 Alicia Barney
Viviendas, 1998
Installation in situ. White vinyl on trunk of trees.
Variable dimensions

At the National University’s Museum in Bogotá, for an exhibition titled Fragility, Alicia Barney painted doors and windows, in white vinyl, on the
trunk of 10 trees.
Alicia Barney
Objeto precolombino I, 1989
Wax cast bronze loss and patina black;
seeds in silver scale 1/1 of a tropical
fruit named Guama.
30×45×20 cm

Alicia Barney Alicia Barney

Objeto precolombino II (b), 1990 Objeto precolombino II (a), 1990
Acrylic tubes; armadillo tail in dental acrylic avoid color; Real Armadillo armor; acrylic tube with threads oandred silk and
feathers and threads red and metalic on silver and gold dental acrylic colour ivory
30×10 cm diameter 14×17×48 cm
Alicia Barney
La rama dorada, 1994
Installation. 200 hands of transparent polyester resin in blue tones; chicken eggs;
filing for traditional piñatas (cheap plastic toys); 3 spheres of copper
500 × 500 × 500 cm

The Golden Twig is a tribute to a homonymous work, by Frazer. It is an installation which includes 200 hands modeled after my left hand in a
transparent, aquamarine, polyester resin. Each hand holds a real hen’s egg, which content has been drained. Depending on the type of floor
where they are installed, the floor is covered with pulverized quartz. The hands are arranged as a triangle and they are surrounded by a multi-
tude of small, bright colored toys of the kind used for “Piñatería”, one of our oldest, authentic and live traditions. Hanging from the ceiling and
over the triangle, there are one or several spheres.
Alicia Barney Caldas
Cali, 1952

STUDIES

1974
Bachelor of Fine Arts. College of New Rochelle, New York

1977
Master of Fine Arts. Pratt Institute, New York

INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS

1974
“BFA Thesis Exhibition”. College of New Rochelle

1977
“MFA Thesis Exhibition”. Pratt Institute, New York

1978
“Diario Objeto I”. Universidad del Valle, Cali.
“Diario Objeto I”. Sala de la Gobernación, Cali.

1982
“El Ecológico”. Espacio Alterno Sara Modiano, Barranquilla.

1993
“Aves en el cielo”. Gartner Torres, Bogotá.

1998
“Juguete de las Hadas”. Museo de Arte, Pereira.
Museo La Merced, Cali.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1979
“V Salón Atenas”. Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá.

1980
“Arte para los Años 80”. Museo La Tertulia, Cali.
“14 Artistas de Cali”. G. B. Central Hipotecario, Bogotá.
“Década de los Setentas”. Cámara de Comercio de Cali.
“XXVIII Salón de Artistas Nacionales”. Museo Nacional, Bogotá.

1981
“IV Bienal de Arte”. Medellín

1982
“Cinco Artistas Colombianos” . Espacio N.O. Porto Alegre, Brazil.
“Nuevos Aportes y Tendencias”. Centro Colombo Americano, Bogotá.
“La mujer en América: Perspectivas Emergentes”. Centro Interamericano, New York

1983
“Actitudes Plurales”. Museo de Arte Moderno “La Tertulia”, Cali.

1984
“Aspectos de lo Tridimensional”. Museo de Arte Moderno “La Tertulia, Cali.

1985
“Cien Años de Arte Colombiano”. Museo Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Palacio. Imperial, Rio de Janeiro. Centro Cultural, Sao Paulo. Centro Ítalo
Americano, Roma. Centro Cultural Avianca, Barranquilla.
“Barney Caro Echeverri ”. Biblioteca Pública Piloto, Medellín.
1986
“XXX Salón Anual de Artistas Colombianos”. Museo Nacional, Bogotá

1987-8
“Douse Mondes Colombiens”. Grand Palais, París. Castillo Babstadt, Alemania. Federal, Museo de Antioquia, Medellín. Gartner/Torres, Bo-
gotá. Salón Múltiple Amira de la Rosa, Barranquilla. Cámara de Comercio de Cali. Museo de Arte Moderno de Cartagena.

1988
“I Bienal de Arte”. Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá.

1989
“Doce Escultores Colombianos, Materiales e Ideas”. Cámara de Comercio de Cali.

1990
“II Bienal de Arte”. Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá.

1991
“100 obras de la Colección,”. Museo de Arte Moderno, “La Tertulia”, Cali.
“Doce escultores Colombianos Pequeño Formato”. Museo de Arte Moderno “La Tertulia”, Cali

1992
“América Novia Del Sol”. Museo Real de Bellas Artes, Amberes, Bélgica.

1993
“Pulsiones”. Museo de Arte Moderno “La Tertulia”, Cali.
“Degas en el Trópico”. Museo de Arte Universidad Nacional, Bogotá.

1994
“XXXV Salón Nacional de Artistas”. Santa Fe de Bogotá.

1995
“Arte para Bogotá”. Galería Santa Fe, Bogotá.

1997
“Imaginación y Fantasía”. Museo de Arte Moderno “La Tertulia”, Cali.
“Festival Internacional de Arte”. Medellín.

1998
“Fragilidad”. Museo de Arte de la Universidad Nacional, Bogotá.
“Piezas de Caza”. Espacio Vacío, Bogotá.
“VI Bienal de Arte”. MAMBO, Bogotá.

1999
“El Traje del Emperador”. Galería Santa Fé, Bogotá.
“Boceto para una Tarjeta Postal”. Fundación Alzate Avedaño, Bogotá.

2001
“1930-2001: Odisea de un Espacio". Galería Valenzuela y Klener, Bogotá.
“Flores del MaL” “Hongos” y “ Voladores” Espacio Vacío, Bogotá.

2013
“Contraexpediciones” Museo de Antioquia, Medellín.

2014
“Basurero Utópico”. Instituto de Visión, Bogotá.

2015
“Retrospectiva”. La sucursal, Cali.
Invitación Bienal Mercosur Porto Alegre, Brasil
research by MARÍA WILLS LONDOÑO & MAGDALENA ARELLANO
research assistand SANDRA VARGAS
catalogue design by MAGDALENA ARELLANO
photographs courtesy by ALICIA BARNEY

Instituto de Visión
www.institutodevision.com · info@institutodevision.com
+571 322 6703 · Cra. 23 #76-74 · Bogotá, Colombia