In this project, the artist addresses the idea of the tent as a temporary living space. The series, initiated during the pandemic, has been expanded since then. The two-dimensional collage constructions have been elaborated mainly from recycled materials, some with small drawings.

In 'Nicomachean Ethics', Aristotle distinguishes three types of life: the contemplative life (of the philosopher), the life of pleasure and the political life. ‘Temporal’, because of its various connotations, makes us think about these three states of being, or imaginary possibilities of man. The three lives come together in the life of the philosopher-ascetic who derives his pleasure from the bond with nature, in a construction that is also linked to political identities, alternative culture and social protest.

The tent as 'temporary architecture' refers to the modern ideal of direct contact with nature, individualism and freedom, where the hermit builds a harmonious life in solitude. Henry David Thoreau, in 'Walden', praises communion with a pristine natural environment; similarly, Jean Jaques Rousseau in 'The Daydreams of the Solitary Stroller', devotes himself to the observation of nature, to political and moral reflection, and the contemplation of his personal life. The utopia of the solitary stroller, surrounded by an immaculate landscape and detached from corrupt civilization, becomes an ecological ideal, opposed to the reality of mass tourism and consumption, forged in the full expansion of late capitalism.

Already in the 21st century, movements such as Occupy took over central spaces in London to protest the growing economic segregation, or Documenta 13 in Kassel, or the spaces of Wall Street. As a recent trend, 'glamping', a luxurious way to visit nature reserves in Africa, India and other countries, is an experience of outdoor life, among an imaginary of ecology, luxury and adventure.

But the tent takes us to another state of society: from the 'homeless' that occupy blocks and blocks in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco or Sao Paulo, to the temporary cities of refugees like the 'Jungle of Calais', a camp for displaced people located on the French coast, on a landfill, which was built by migrants waiting for a chance to cross to England. The 'jungle' came to have more than eight thousand inhabitants, restaurants, hairdressers, worship centers and boxing ring before being demolished in 2016. Without going very far, while Mejía was building his images of tents over the last three years, the Parque Nacional in Bogota has been occupied for long periods by the Embera indigenous people, who have made a presence in the city claiming peace for their territories in the Colombian Pacific, or we could remember the case of the Moravia landfill in Medellin, largely occupied by displaced people.

Today more than six million people live in refugee camps, mainly in Bangladesh, Kenya and Jordan, without counting the constant creation and destruction of refugee citadels of war and natural disasters around the world.

Juan Mejía's work plays with the ambiguity of our feelings. A video where the artist plays guitar and sings next to a campfire in the forest accompanies the exhibition, ironically re-establishing our romantic idealization of a night counting stars, watching the fire vanish at night to the sounds of the earth.

Ana Patricia Gómez - Director