Blog
Zona de despeje 11
The eleventh edition of Zona de despeje titled Devotion to Print: A Conversation between José Ruiz and Sagrario Berti, organized by Tráfico Visual, features a conversation between Colombian artist José Ruiz and Venezuelan researcher Sagrario Berti about the critical and affective power of print culture, archives, and graphic circulation across Latin America. The event will take place on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. at Galpón 7, Centro de Arte Los Galpones, in Caracas, where Ruiz’s typographic installation BLOQUE CARACAS is currently on view.
From a critical and historiographic perspective, the discussion will explore Ruiz’s engagement with popular graphics, printed materials, and editorial archives, with a special focus on Gráficas Molinari, a collection of prints activated across different contexts in the region. The conversation will also address Remanente, a publication directed by Ruiz, and its role as archive, editorial platform, and site of artistic intervention in Latin American graphic culture.
Ruiz’s work has been described as a form of graphic archaeology, transforming acts of viewing into experiences of public reading. Recent projects include Los grandes días están por venir (Espacio El Dorado, 2022) and Aquí roban oro (Galería Santa Fé, 2023). Drawing from her expertise in photographic and editorial archives, Berti will reflect on the material processes and discursive strategies that shape Ruiz’s work.
Participants:
José Ruiz Díaz (Bogotá, 1994)
Artist and curator. His practice is based on working with visual archives and mass-circulation documents, which he manipulates, reinterprets, and assembles into public writing installations. He has presented projects at the Bienal de Valparaíso (Chile), Museo La Tertulia, the National Library of Colombia, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Bordeaux, among others. He co-directs the editorial projects Gráficas Molinari and Ediciones Réplica, both focused on popular graphics and photography.
Sagrario Berti
Art and photography historian. MA in Art History (University of Sussex), with a specialization in photographic archives (George Eastman House). Author of Fotografía impresa en Venezuela 1945–2018 (La Cueva, R. Báez and S. Berti, 2019), among other titles. Her work focuses on the cultural trajectories of archives, visual artifacts, and printed publications. She has been recognized for her editorial and curatorial contributions in Venezuela and abroad.
Zona de despeje was originally conceived as a series of talks and gatherings organized by Tráfico Visual in collaboration with allied institutions. It aims to highlight initiatives, movements, and emerging trends that, though sometimes peripheral, resonate strongly within the languages of contemporary culture in Venezuela. The program is made possible, in part, thanks to the initial support of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
For more information and updates, visit Tráfico Visual’s website.
Image: Portrait of José Ruiz by Daniela Castro. Courtesy of the artist.
From a critical and historiographic perspective, the discussion will explore Ruiz’s engagement with popular graphics, printed materials, and editorial archives, with a special focus on Gráficas Molinari, a collection of prints activated across different contexts in the region. The conversation will also address Remanente, a publication directed by Ruiz, and its role as archive, editorial platform, and site of artistic intervention in Latin American graphic culture.
Ruiz’s work has been described as a form of graphic archaeology, transforming acts of viewing into experiences of public reading. Recent projects include Los grandes días están por venir (Espacio El Dorado, 2022) and Aquí roban oro (Galería Santa Fé, 2023). Drawing from her expertise in photographic and editorial archives, Berti will reflect on the material processes and discursive strategies that shape Ruiz’s work.
Participants:
José Ruiz Díaz (Bogotá, 1994)
Artist and curator. His practice is based on working with visual archives and mass-circulation documents, which he manipulates, reinterprets, and assembles into public writing installations. He has presented projects at the Bienal de Valparaíso (Chile), Museo La Tertulia, the National Library of Colombia, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Bordeaux, among others. He co-directs the editorial projects Gráficas Molinari and Ediciones Réplica, both focused on popular graphics and photography.
Sagrario Berti
Art and photography historian. MA in Art History (University of Sussex), with a specialization in photographic archives (George Eastman House). Author of Fotografía impresa en Venezuela 1945–2018 (La Cueva, R. Báez and S. Berti, 2019), among other titles. Her work focuses on the cultural trajectories of archives, visual artifacts, and printed publications. She has been recognized for her editorial and curatorial contributions in Venezuela and abroad.
Zona de despeje was originally conceived as a series of talks and gatherings organized by Tráfico Visual in collaboration with allied institutions. It aims to highlight initiatives, movements, and emerging trends that, though sometimes peripheral, resonate strongly within the languages of contemporary culture in Venezuela. The program is made possible, in part, thanks to the initial support of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
For more information and updates, visit Tráfico Visual’s website.
Image: Portrait of José Ruiz by Daniela Castro. Courtesy of the artist.
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