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Rituals: Art, memory and the rituals that hold communities together

By Richard Emblin - September 21, 2026

A new exhibition at the Banco de la República in Bogotá brings together 19 recently acquired works exploring spirituality, ancestral knowledge, memory and the rituals of everyday life. In a world defined by acceleration, information overload and increasing disconnection, the ritual has taken on a renewed significance. It can be a ceremony, a prayer, a […]

ARTBO 2026: Four days of art, commerce and Bogotá’s cultural crowd

By Richard Emblin - September 18, 2026

For four days every September, Bogotá’s art world moves into Ágora Bogotá, where collectors, curators, gallerists, artists, designers, students and the city’s cultural crowd converge for ARTBO, the capital’s annual international art fair. And then there is the opening night. The inauguration of ARTBO has become something of a ritual on Bogotá’s cultural calendar, when […]

Festival El Mundo brings 13 nations together through food in Bogotá

By The City Paper Staff - September 17, 2026

Bogotá is preparing to turn gastronomy into a meeting point for cultures with the first edition of the Festival Gastronómico y Cultural El Mundo en el Corazón de Bogotá, taking place September 19 and 20 at Parque El Country. Admission is free to the two-day festival, which brings together 13 participating nations and the UN […]

Bogotá’s Sacred Music Festival Turns 15 With ‘La Concordia’

By Richard Emblin - September 4, 2026

Bogotá’s iconic Teatro Colón is the starting point for a month-long exploration of music, spirituality and the many ways in which cultures find common ground in a city of contrasts. The occasion is the 15th edition of the International Sacred Music Festival, which opens on under a theme that is both musical and quietly ambitious: […]

Omar Rayo’s ‘Labyrinth’ Reframes Modern Latin American Art

By Richard Emblin - June 30, 2026

At first glance, Omar Rayo’s paintings appear to belong to the orderly universe of geometry. Crisp black-and-white planes fold into one another with astonishing precision, ribbons weave endlessly through impossible spaces, and flat surfaces suddenly acquire the illusion of depth. For decades, these hypnotic compositions have earned the Colombian artist comparisons with the international Op […]

In Mud We Trust: Ruby Rumié's volcano portraits are on display until June 27 at the Nohra Haime Gallery in New York. Photo: Ruby Rumié.

From Cartagena to Chelsea: Ruby Rumié Brings ¿How Are the Children? to New York

By Richard Emblin - May 6, 2026

At Nohra Haime Gallery, in Manhattan’s white-walled Chelsea district, Cartagena-based artist Ruby Rumié is asking a deceptively simple question: How are the children? It is not a casual greeting, nor the sentimental title of a new exhibition. Instead, it draws from the Maasai expression “Kasserian Ingera,” a phrase that measures the wellbeing of an entire […]

Francis Alÿs at MAMU: A Global Portrait of Childhood Through Play

By Richard Emblin - April 29, 2026

At a time when children are increasingly indoors – absorbed by screens, separated from the street and distanced from the spontaneous rituals of neighborhood play – a new exhibition by the Banco de la República has launched at the Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia (MAMU), and one that asks a deceptively simple question: what happened […]

ARTBO Weekend celebrates its 10th edition from April 16–19 with over 160 free activities across eight circuits in Bogotá.

ARTBO Weekend turns 10: Bogotá’s Art Circuits Come of Age

By Richard Emblin - April 16, 2026

ARTBO Weekend returns to Bogotá this week with a milestone worth noting – and a programme that suggests the event is no longer content with staying within its traditional comfort zones. Celebrating its tenth edition from April 16 to 19, the city-wide initiative organized by the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce (CCB) arrives bigger, more dispersed […]

At Museo Santa Clara, visual artist David Felipe Escobar reactivates colonial angelic iconography through queer embodiment. Photo: Museo Santa Clara

Bogotá’s Museo Santa Clara opens provocative exhibition exploring queer spirituality and colonial memory

By Richard Emblin - April 9, 2026

In the gilded stillness of one of Bogotá’s most striking colonial spaces, a new exhibition is quietly unsettling centuries-old certainties. Entonces llamó a un arcángel, the latest show by Colombian artist David Felipe Escobar, opens this week at the Museo Santa Clara, inviting visitors into a dialogue between baroque religious iconography and contemporary queer identities. […]

Marina Sánchez paints Bogotá’s Cerros in luminous colour at Museo del Chicó

By Richard Emblin - March 2, 2026

In Bogotá, the mountains are never out of sight. They rise abruptly along the city’s eastern edge, forming a green wall that shapes the capital’s light, weather and sense of place. For Colombian artist Marina Sánchez, the ridges that surround the Colombian capital’s cardinal points are also more intimate: a constant presence, a point of […]

Over 130 original paintings and sculptures by Colombia's Fernando Botero are on display in Singapore. Photo: Courtesy: Gardens by the Bay.

Fernando Botero Takes on Singapore with Landmark Exhibition

By Richard Emblin - February 16, 2026

Singapore has never been shy about scale. But this season, the city’s appetite for monumentality takes on a distinctly Latin American accent. For the first time, the work of Colombian master Fernando Botero makes his Singapore debut with the largest exhibition of his work ever showcased in Asia. Spanning galleries, inter-active theatres and extensive public […]

A pre-Columbian flute is one of many artifacts in the exhibition Colombia: En un aliento. Photo courtesy: Banco de la República.

Colombia in a Breath: Wind Instruments That Tell the Story of a Nation

By Richard Emblin - January 29, 2026

Musical instruments are far more than tools for producing sound: they embody the cultural identity of a territory, carrying spiritual meanings, collective memory, and the deep-rooted expressions that shape a community’s history. Colombia en un Aliento 2026 (Colombia in a Breath 2026) invites audiences on a sonic journey through the country’s wind instruments, encouraging reflection […]

Beatriz González, one of Latin America’s most influential contemporary artists, died Jan. 9 at her home in Bogotá at 93. Photo: Hernán Díaz/Colección de Arte. Banco de la República.

Beatriz González: The Artist of Colombia’s Political Memory (1932-2026)

By Richard Emblin - January 15, 2026

Beatriz González, one of Latin America’s most influential contemporary artists, whose boldly colored, deliberately unrefined paintings and installations confronted Colombia’s long history of political violence, public mourning and social inequality – while also reshaping the country’s most important public art collection – died on Jan. 9, 2026, at her home in Bogotá. She was 93. […]

Stain on Hay: Should María Corina Machado Refuse the Literary Festival?

By Richard Emblin - December 17, 2025

For a literary festival, silence can be more revealing than speech. The decision by three writers to withdraw from the 2026 Hay Festival in Cartagena over the presence of María Corina Machado, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the most prominent figure in Venezuela’s democratic opposition, has exposed a paradox at the heart of […]

A Spanish Royalist flag of the Extremadura Batallion recovered by Republican troops. Photo: Richard Emblin

Colombia’s National Museum Marks 200 Years with “Inspire, Move, Convoke”

By The City Paper Staff - December 12, 2025

Two centuries after its founding in the turbulent aftermath of the Wars of Independence, the National Museum of Colombia is marking its bicentenary with one of the most ambitious exhibitions in its history. Inspirar, conmover y convocar: el Museo de la nación (1823–2023) opens this week in Bogotá, inviting visitors to reflect on 200 years […]

Paradisum by Recirquel explores the myth of rebirth following the silence of a destroyed world. Photo: Bálint Hirling/Teatro Mayor

Bogotá’s Teatro Mayor Presents 2026 Season, Germany Guest Nation

By The City Paper Staff - November 26, 2025

The Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo has unveiled its 2026 programme, outlining 116 productions and 178 performances across opera, dance, theatre, music, circus and family shows. The announcement reinforces the theatre’s role as one of Bogotá’s leading cultural institutions, bringing national and international artists to audiences across the capital. A highlight of the year […]