Exhibitions
BOG25: The Biennial that transforms Bogotá into an open-air museum
For seven weeks, the Colombian capital will experience an unprecedented cultural experience with the first edition of the BOG25 International Biennial of Art and City, an event that transforms urban space into a vast open museum. More than 200 artists from 12 countries will occupy thirty venues and activate dozens of interventions in public spaces, bringing art directly to the streets, parks, squares, and emblematic corners of the city. The entire program is free to attend, making art a shared right and a collective celebration of the intersection of contemporary creation and urban life.
The curatorial theme, titled Bogotá, Essays on Happiness , invites a profound reflection on the relationship between the city and its inhabitants' constant pursuit of well-being. What does happiness represent in the context of a city? This is the question the Biennial aims to explore in this year's edition.
The opening ceremony of BOG25, Bogotá's most important public cultural event of the year, took place at Plaza Cultural La Santamaría with the start of La Casa Común , a grand immersive experience that combines a large-format audiovisual co-production with a vibrant display of color, music, lighting, and performing arts presentations.
The title of this event, The Common House , alludes to Bogotá as a city that maintains a constant dialogue with its territory: its páramos, wetlands, and the Eastern Hills. At the same time, it connects with the cities of Ibero-America, a region that, like a great "common house," embraces and reflects the multiple cultural diversities that characterize it.
With the opening of the International Biennial of Art and City, Bogotá's Environmental Axis became an ephemeral garden thanks to the collective intervention Canto del río (Song of the River) , which covered the iconic reflecting pool designed by Rogelio Salmona with 150,000 flowers. This striking action marked the official start of the Biennial and paid tribute to friendship, the city, and the memory of the Vicachá River, a fundamental symbol in Bogotá's history, according to the event's organizers.
With Mexico City as its guest of honor, BOG25 is presented as a free event that invites us to view Bogotá as a living work of art. The biennial seeks to foster a broad and diverse conversation about the city, exploring topics such as public space, urban planning, the relationship with nature, and the meaning of happiness in the Colombian capital.
