Founding Promises

With his artwork the Founding Promises, Jorge Vaca seeks to visualize the complex relationship that emerges from a statistical analysis of the 1957 founding act of the European Union. By identifying the most frequently used words in this historic document, he crafts a phrase and inscribes it into the work, a declaration shaped by the values the Union promotes to advance society. This arrangement of words invites reflection on the promises, tools, and shared principles essential for building a more equal and modern society.

Jorge Vaca is a Colombian artist whose work moves between media, memory, and the political construction of history. With a background in Media Arts from Universidad de los Andes and graduate studies in Art History and Electronic Arts, his practice unfolds through installations and research-led projects that examine how narratives, particularly those surrounding Colombian identity and nationhood are shaped, stored, and reactivated.

His work approaches memory not as a fixed archive, but as something coded, fractured, and rewritten. Through simple, repetitive actions and material metaphors, using wood, motors, printers, and paper, he questions the national imaginary and the ways history is inscribed, erased, and reactivated. Rather than illustrating the past, his pieces interrupt it, generating tension and reflection as tools for thinking the present and imagining possible futures.
Vaca has presented his work internationally and has taken part in key platforms like the International Image Festival and ISEA. His voice also resonates in academic and editorial contexts, contributing to publications like Errata# and Cronopio. A recipient of several national and international distinctions, he moves fluidly between the gallery, the archive, and the screen, making visible the invisible threads that connect memory, media, and territory.