Cecilia Vicuña

A complement to Cecilia Vicuña’s exhibition on view in the galleries, this film was created while the artist was in exile from her native Chile. She interviews people in the streets, dance halls, and public parks of Bogotá, Colombia, including beggars, businessmen, sex workers, street performers, and students, asking simply: “What is poetry to you?” Ranging in tone from the philosophical and lyrical to the political, their responses point not just to the manifold ways poetry circulates in the minds and lives of individuals, but also ask for whom poetry exists, where it can be accessed, and what potency and potential it holds in turbulent times. (23:20 mins., 16mm film transferred to video)