Banana Valley

Digital surveillance devices collect data that we, as citizens, do not control nor have access to. This inspired Tatyana Zambrano to dive into Medellín’s history and economy to create a virtual reality that overlaps the country’s past, present, and future social contexts. She created this artwork for the MATZA EDGELANDS MEDELLÍN art residency and COMMON GROUNDS exhibition, in collaboration with Hernán Rodriguez. The Colombian artists are deeply critical of the possibility of imagining institutional social contracts in the city, considering that Medellín has experienced many processes of establishing peace with paramilitary and guerrilla groups. Shedding light on the existing privileges in Colombian society, Tatyana Zambrano arises questions concerning the purpose of social contracts and their beneficiaries.

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Inspired by Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World and Suely Rolnik’s thoughts on the contemporary capitalist production of the world, the political fiction BANANA VALLEY is a powerful denunciation of the way people’s creativity is exploited by capitalist interests, especially in Latin America. The artists created a metaverse in three channels, where the old promise of Colombian agrarian reform is finally celebrated in a world inhabited by post-humans, post-animals, and post-plants. The first channel, “Avatar”, presents the manifesto of a “virtual post-republic”, which introduces the second video, “Fiesta de la reforma agrária”. Tatyana Zambrano plays with different formats by making the second video the recording of a videogame in which the goal is to collect bananas and dance. Finally, in the third video, “Los minadores”, we see mechanics working on the blockchain that maintains the metaverse.

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