Protesters surround Bogotá museum after more than 30 works are removed
More than 30 objects came off the walls at the National Museum of Colombia in Bogotá, and the street outside filled in response.
The government of Abelardo De La Espriella announced the removal on Friday. The works taken from view related to the struggles of the LGBTQ+ movement, feminism and the political left, according to ARTnews.
Protesters gathered around the museum on Saturday 17 October and Sunday 18 October. Their slogans carried anti-censorship sentiment. Some turned the pavement into open-air theatre. There were clashes with police.
Sunday was the second consecutive day of demonstrations. Feminist collectives, artist collectives and social organisations joined the protest in Bogotá that day.
Some brought copies. Around a dozen young people recreated some of the removed artworks in the street on Saturday, Reuters reported. Other participants placed reproductions of the removed works outside the building to denounce their absence from the galleries.
Police responded with force. Officers used water cannons and riot-control equipment against opponents of De La Espriella's campaign against so-called wokismo.
The gaps left behind spread across at least three exhibition halls. An earlier count documented about 30 dismantled pieces, El Colombiano reported. The affected material included objects and documents linked to feminist and LGBTQ+ causes, the history of Colombia's political left, and the 2016 peace agreement with the former FARC.
The museum in Bogotá is Colombia's largest museum.
In a separate incident, the museum reported damage to a familiar bronze. Its website carries a 6 October notice about The Dove of Peace by Fernando Botero. A visitor leaning against its pedestal to take a photograph knocked the sculpture over. Conservation staff then found abrasions, loss of paint and dents in the metal, especially on the beak.
The Museo Nacional de Colombia traces 203 years of history. It also runs Colecciones en línea, a free digital site with more than 19,000 pieces of national heritage available for consultation without a prior appointment.
What stood out at the weekend was the method. Protesters did not only chant. They tried to put the missing display back together, in copy form, where passers-by could see it.
