Contemporary Art Laboratory in Lima
Directed by Martin Gustavsson and Rodrigo Gómez Olivos
February 2 – March 5, 2026
Monday to Friday, 10h – 13h and 15h – 17h
Application deadline: December 5, 2025
Selected participants announced: January 5, 2026
Exhibition opening: March 5, 2026
Apply by clicking here
proyectoamil
Lima
proyectoamil, together with artists Martin Gustavsson and Rodrigo Gómez Olivos, invites art students, self-taught practitioners, and artists from across the country to participate in the collaborative laboratory of contemporary art HACIENDO CONTEXTO IX, titled Colorismos.
As children, many of us grew up with boxes of colored pencils that included a shade labeled “skin color.” That seemingly innocent designation carried a subtle yet powerful conditioning effect: the idea that a single hue could stand for what is human. By associating the notion of “the human” with one specific color, others were relegated—less visible, less valued.
Throughout history, judgments based on color have structured complexly intertwined racial and aesthetic hierarchies. From the exclusion and erasure of certain bodies to the exaltation of an imagined purity, chromatic discrimination has operated as a tool of separation, shaping visual discourses that reproduce inequality. In Peru—and beyond—since the sixteenth century, images have both reflected and legitimized these divisions, naturalizing social discrimination through artistic representation.
Colorismos explores the entanglement between art, race, and representation.
Does a moral value still attach to color?
To what extent have pictorial traditions defined aesthetic canons that also validate systems of exclusion?
And in what ways might rethinking color open new possibilities for identity and belonging?
Just as chromatic perception has conditioned both individual and collective identities, humanity’s identity as a species is now being redefined in relation to the environments it inhabits. The drive to secure human well-being has often manifested as an imposition of artificiality, frequently at the expense of other species and ecosystems. If color once operated as a symbolic boundary between bodies, today it can also be understood as a metaphor for our relationship with the planet. These reflections take on particular urgency in the context of the Anthropocene.
The laboratory therefore poses a central question:
Must security necessarily imply destruction, or can new forms of identity emerge—ones that acknowledge our interdependence with the rest of the living world?
The collaborative work will develop along multiple paths, according to the dynamics and interests of each participating artist. The laboratory encourages individual research and experimentation, to be shared and expanded through collective processes.
Active engagement is expected throughout the program, both in attendance and dedication. The work will begin online, and from February 9, 2026, it will continue in person in Lima.
For participants traveling from other regions, proyectoamil will cover transportation, expenses, and accommodation, ensuring the full participation of artists from across the country.
