Citizens of the World, Bath Edition was a result of creative investigation that started with an interest in culture and its conservation, as well as the role of museums in the 20th and 21st Century.
Camilo Villota organized a pop-up museum that was held in a public cafe in the city of Bath. The object exhibited was the human being. Among Bath’s inhabitans you can find people from different parts of the world that for diverse reasons have made Bath their home. The ethnic diversity of this small town allowed it to be the main objective of the project. There was never an idea to show different nationalities, but various ethnicities gathered at one place.
The magical connections were created, while participants sat on a stool for 20 minutes and audience was invited to talk to them. In addition, each contributor presented a label with the information they wanted to share with the crowd (such as their lives, interests, personal stories and/or experiences).
Furthermore, Camilo made a book with black and white portraits of participants, taken at the event. In his words: “Although colour is helpful to get visual information, it is also so descriptive, allowing no second interpretation.”
Personally, I have to say I loved this project. It was not just an opportunity for meeting new and interesting people, but to connect with other cultures and humans!
Unfortunatelly, not many people came to experience it. That’s why Camilo has to keep making similar projects around other cities. Hopefully it will stick. We need something like this in those frightful times. To put humanity back into people..
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS:
- featured image: personal archive
- Overment, S. (2017) Citizens of the World. ⌈photograph⌋ Available from: http://camilovillota.com.co/citizens/ ⌈Accessed 7 July 2017⌋.
- Overment, S. (2017) Citizens of the World. ⌈photograph⌋ Available from: http://camilovillota.com.co/citizens/ ⌈Accessed 7 July 2017⌋.
- personal archive
- personal archive
Research adventureS of a curator 