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During the decade of the 1990s, the city of Cali began to be perceived through a lens, the distortion of which still persists. The boom of the phenomenon of the narco-unit, along with the aesthetic conservatism, resulted in a crisis and an opportunity for the best contemporary artists of this city: they didn\u2019t sell any work, but had ample time to experiment. One of the fields that benefitted most from this lack of interest of one the sectors acquiring the most art during this time was the production of works in video. We interview the researcher from Cali, Juli\u00e1n Montenegro, for whom it became necessary to extend the radar of his research, documenting the results of this phenomenon in a city quite distinct from that of Bogot\u00e1, complicating the socio-economic reading, without attributing all the good fortune of contemporary experimentation in Cali to any calculated disdain for less conventional formats. <\/strong><\/p>\n Why did you concentrate your analysis on the decade of the 1990s ?<\/strong><\/p>\n One could say it is during this decade that video art began to develop in Cali. Despite the fact there are some precedents of exhibitions and workshops realized in the city, the city was more characterised by developments in cinema (that made by the generation of Caliwood, with the directors Luis Ospina and Carlos Mayolo). Moreover during this decade the country suffered profound changes, such as the signing of a new constitutional charter, which resulted in the greater support of cultural development. Another important fact was the opening up of the economy initiated by the president C\u00e9sar Gaviria, which enhanced the options for the average man in the street to acquire technology (before this, the elevated cost of video cameras made their purchase almost impossible). <\/p>\n But the boom of video art in Cali was not due solely to a series of political and economic factors: equipment could be acquired, but the market was not even slightly interested in sponsoring it, so what was the reason that it experienced such a strong impetus during this time? <\/strong><\/p>\n There are several reasons, on the one hand, the school of Communication at the Universidad del Valle, opened up slots in local television, such as Rostros y rastros<\/em> and Rayuela<\/em>, that made it possible for communicators to see the possibilities of video within television, and how this could serve as a platform to show their works. On the other hand, local artists picked up on video as a possible way to record their actions. <\/p>\n During its twelve years of transmission, Rostros y rastros <\/em> had a documentary focus, dealing with local issues, while at the same time enabling the appearance of new directors, who were creating new narratives, and generating all sorts of material. Their works were short experimental films, video art and documentaries. <\/p>\n Video art in Colombia didn\u2019t receive any overt private support, so the first film-makers of Colombian video art took advantage of their professional ties to access free recording cameras and editing studios. Was it like this in Cali? <\/strong><\/p>\n There something different happened. There were spaces within local television that were controlled by the School of Communication in the Universidad del Valle. This enabled students as well as people linked to the school to show their works and develop them with university equipment without any class of restrictions. These programmes in addition showed video experiments that other spaces wouldn\u2019t admit. <\/p>\n Could one say the same of exhibition spaces? Did they also offer such sustained support to this type of production? <\/strong><\/p>\n Yes. During this period various exhibitions were carried out in the city. What is more, in 1992, the Colombian-French Alliance realised the I Franco-Latin-American Festival of Video Art, where the works of international and international artists were shown. The Museo La Tertulia also made some shows where video was included, regularly bringing artists who were investigating in this area. At the end of the nineties, the local collective Helena Producciones, inaugurated the Performance Festival in Cali, opening up another space to show works in this technique. <\/p>\n What happened with the production of video art in Cali during the decades of 2000 and 2010, did it wane? <\/strong><\/p>\n No. In fact artists such as Oscar Mu\u00f1oz or Rosemberg Sandoval continued to work with video. Video additionally continues to be a platform used within local artistic production, despite the disappearance of programmes such as Rostros y rastros<\/em>.<\/p>\n The exhibition of video art called Circuito cerrado <\/em> was realised in public spaces in Cali in 1995, what was its most distinctive feature?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a piece made by Jorge Navas, at that time a student in the school of communication at the Universidad del Valle. It consisted of archive images broadcast on a circuit of televisions arranged along the Ortiz bridge in the city of Cali, while an artist developed a performance in front of the passers-by. A recording was made of this action that was later presented in Rostros y rastros<\/em>.<\/p>\n In the generation that is closest to the end of your research you highlight the work of Carlos Moreno, Sof\u00eda Su\u00e1rez and Jorge Navas. Could you tell us what these artists are doing now?<\/strong><\/p>\n