ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the concept of the collection as a pedagogical exercise, using the collection of the Fundación Proyecto Bachué (the Bachué Project Foundation) and its exhibition space, Espacio El Dorado (the El Dorado Space), as a case study. The collection focuses on Colombian experimental photography from the second half of the twentieth century and aims to provide a platform for research and education that invites creative interventions. The collection is understood as a research tool that leads to a creative curatorial process, allowing for a continuous contrast and contextualization between the present and a given period. The chapter also discusses the challenges of a private collection as a site for pedagogical exercises concerning the dependence on the art market and the bureaucracy of institutions that define what art should be. Overall, the Proyecto Bachué and Espacio El Dorado generate new readings from the collection that were not possible when the archival images were made and provide a new appreciation of their aesthetic content, forming a social and political corpus of national history.
