April-June 2024, Bogotá, Colombia — In response to the evolving role of museums as community-driven spaces and the concept of co-creation within museum practices, Susana Vargas proposed and led a new course at the Faculty of Art and Humanities at the University of the Andes in Bogotá. Titled “Digital Museums: Mediation and Content Creation,” this course ran from April to June 2024 and comprised 16 intensive sessions with 30 students from various disciplines, including Art History, Fine Arts, Digital Narratives, Literature, Law, and Design.

The course aimed to explore the relationship between digital platforms and cultural institutions, examining the challenges and opportunities museums face in the digital age. Through a combination of theoretical discussions and practical activities, students learned how social networks and new digital channels impact public interactions with culture, becoming fundamental tools for mediation.

As part of the course, we visited four notable exhibitions in Bogotá: the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO), the Miguel Urrutia Art Museum (MAMU), Fragmentos, and NC-Arte. Each visit provided unique insights into various aspects of museum mediation.

At MAMBO, students explored an exhibition featuring works by Carlos Cruz-Diez, Alexander Apostol, and Carlos Castro Arias. The show reflected on the Latin American modern dream, presenting a critical examination of regional history and mythologies.

The MAMU exhibition, “Cultivating Doubt” (Sembrar la duda), marked a pioneering effort by a Colombian institution to engage with indigenous art. It sparked reflection on how institutions should approach and integrate indigenous art into their programming.

Fragmentos offered a powerful counter-monument experience with its floor composed of 37 tons of melted weapons from the Colombian armed conflict, serving as a platform for discussion on violence and peace-making strategies.

NC-Arte presented an exhibition featuring Mateo Lopez, a Colombian artist known for his diverse materials and mediums. This exhibition honoured Lopez’s extensive body of work and artistic contributions.

Throughout these visits, students engaged with various perspectives on mediation and reflected on their roles as art educators in the digital realm. They were encouraged to create blog articles, podcasts, or digital curatorial exercises based on their experiences and the public collections they interacted with.

At the end of the course, students shared their reflections on the impact of their experiences. Paula, an undergraduate in Digital Narratives and Design, noted, “This experience has prompted me to reconsider the way I engage with museums. Previously, I didn’t think it was possible to do so through digital means, but now I understand it differently. It has also made me consider the opportunities I have as a viewer to create something significant to enhance visitors’ experiences.”

Isabela Sanchez, a Law student, remarked, “The museum, through its digital and physical content, offers you an interpretation of the work or invites you to question yourself. It raises reflections and guides decisions to steer the reflection in some direction. I love having the possibility of a person who is just like us, a person visiting a space, with their experiences and knowledge, offering a vision of the work that you could have had… that it’s not the museum as such.”

Laura Zamudio, an undergraduate Art History student, said, “The possibilities that institutions open up allow both the viewer and the institution itself to understand that there are many perceptions of art. Surely, the discourse the museum is conveying will not be the only possible one, but there are diverse voices that will think differently. Having the possibility to showcase it on their platform allows them to move away from the notion of ‘what we want to show is solely that’ and allows them to broaden the discussion.”

In conclusion, this course represents a significant shift in how we perceive and engage with museums, embracing collaborative and participatory approaches in the digital era. As museums continue to digitise their collections and explore new ways of engaging with the public, initiatives like this course promote collaboration and inclusivity within museum spaces.

Photo by Gregorio Diaz. Courtesy of the Bogota Museum of Modern Art.