How high?

How high and how deep are the property rights over a private space with immense public visibility?

Este espacio es suyo o mio? (Is this space yours or mine?) is a direct question between two parties in relation to the ownership of the space where the message is being broadcasted, which in this case is the Colpatria Tower, a private platform that has public visibility. In this way, the strategy is to personalize an abstract and ambiguous power relationship between sender and receiver, calling for an active observation and a taking of sides in the definition of space in the city.

In the first instance, the question, direct and colloquial, is addressed to the inhabitant and / or passerby of the city. In this way, the intervention is an investigative and provocative gesture to establish possible dialogues with any spectator or group of spectators who feel identified with the ‘yours’ of the question. Then, the identified subject will possibly want to know to which person or institution corresponds the ‘mine’ that generates the question. At first, they may interpret that the ‘mine’ comes from the Tower itself, as if it were expressing itself. Perhaps then, they would reflect on the construction of hierarchies in relation to who or what might be behind the expression of the Tower. In a second moment, if the viewer stops and reads the message more than once, they may realize that there is also the possibility of identifying themselves as an interlocutor of the question, questioning the Tower, the city or other third parties… In a potential third moment, the viewer will want to emancipate themselves from the imposition of the only two answers to this binary and mutually exclusive question.

….beyond the speculative process about who can ask the question or what the answer is, the intervention seeks to dwell on the plurality and diversity of interpretations and relationships that exist between subject, space, institution, state and system.

Organized by Babel Media Art.
Thanks to Juan Pablo García Sossa for his help in the development of the project.

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On April 13, 2018, the question “Is space yours or mine?” was looped over the LED façade of Bogotá’s Colpatria Tower, an icon in the city’s landscape, formerly the tallest building and the headquarters of Banco Colpatria. Although the content was approved by the commission and it was agreed to last all weekend, in the middle of the inauguration the luminous façade turned white and after an hour it was turned off. The Colpatria Building was turned off before the usual time, breaking the agreement we had made and the question was left in the air. As the co-founder of Babel Media Art, artist and manager at the same time, and having made other agreements with artists that we needed to transmit, I could not complain publicly about this censorship, as I wanted to fulfill the agreements that were under my responsibility. Surprised and repressed, I did not understand why the broadcast had been vetoed. Sadly, I did not have time to make proper documentation, but I did have time to prepare a meeting with one of the building managers. It was then that I understood the complex network of people, communities and institutions related to the content that is broadcast from that visible facade. From Banco Colpatria and Nova Scotia to the Catholic community, the neighbours and the district, to name a few. Understanding these complexities did not make me accept censorship, but at least I got an answer to my question: the space is theirs.