This fifth stage of our Jaguar route takes us to the heart of Caracas, to the “Centro de Arte Los Galpones”, an artistic and cultural space opened in 2008.
Combination of positions already crossed in the spaces that we have presented previously along our route of the Jaguar and atypical elements, this place develops the true artistic proposal to allow the own artists to manage the space, through the organization of activities and contemporary artistic events that are multidisciplinary by borrowing techniques from the visual arts, music, and gastronomy.
With this approach, the Centre demonstrates that art is available from all possible angles and offers the visitor a true journey of discovery and experimentation, a complete artistic and sensory experience.
Highlighting the similarities between this Venezuelan initiative and its Latin American cousins, far from minimizing continental creativity, on the contrary, allows us to understand that the entire continent has taken on the same theme, to which each country that composes it provides a nuanced response.
Among the spaces already visited on our Jaguar Route, the Los Galpones Art Center is the one that most resembles the Fundación Casa Proal in Mexico and Flora in Colombia; it opted for very vegetarian installations and thus created a vegetable and artistic lung in the heart of Caracas. The installation of an outdoor terrace, open to a particular garden populated by 44 century-old mango trees, is an excellent example.
The Centre appears to be the artistic conversion of a damaged building from a former industrial workshop. The transformation of the premises began in 2005 with the development of the first exhibition spaces. Therefore, everything was in place to ensure the opening of Centro de Arte Los Galpones three years later.
Throughout this development work, the artistic proposal of this new space was refined and affirmed its uniqueness, while being part of a global approach. The very name was chosen; galpón in French means barn, clearly translates a deep process of storage, preservation of works and artistic and culinary experiences, with a view to their subsequent consumption by the public; the presence of several restaurants, among them the Hache Bistro, which only cooks fresh products, reinforces this impression, without forgetting the large spaces and impressive volumes. The rest of the space is occupied by galleries and exhibition rooms.
By combining the experience of art and the products of the land, the Los Galpones Art Centre reminds us that the defense and enhancement of ecosystems are not only evident in the sculptures and canvases, but also in the dishes. When one feeds the body, the other feeds the mind, with the only ambition of showing that nature knows how to be generous to those who respect it.
Find :The Jaguar Route, a tour around the art centers in Latin America related to nature.
Antoine Troccaz