Calderón & Piñeros (La Decanatura)

Centro Espacial Satelital de Colombia (Colombian Satellite Space Center)

In Centro Espacial Satelital de Colombia, La Decanatura pay tribute to two “stunning” satellite antennas installed in the small municipality of Chocontá where, in 1970, the Space Communications Center of Colombia was inaugurated. That same year, the first antenna, responsible for the transmission (via microwave) of radio and telephone signals was put in place and eleven years later, the second antenna or Ground Station for International Communications would complete the complex known as Space Communications Center. Excursions to visit what became known as the “Satellite City of Colombia” were common for decades. Today, due to unforgiving weather, change in political interests, and the “advancement” of technology, the antennas are now relics of an all-but-forgotten technological prime. Forewarning the rapid acceleration of technological obsolescence under late-capitalism, they are in physical deterioration and their cultural allure has waned. As a performance, Centro Espacial Satelital de Colombia, is at once a tribute, a “lullaby” and a farewell to the abandoned satellite station. In the video, the Chocontá Symphonic Youth Band, whose members range from seven to fifteen (and are too young to have known the antennas in their splendor), perform an interpretation of a requiem replete with nostalgia, not so much for the antennas themselves, but rather, for a grandiose future that never came to fruition. The imposing natural landscape and gloomy weather complete the atmosphere, as the antennas appear to be slowly absorbed by the surrounding bucolic meadow. Among the trees, the obsolete antennas, and children full of potential, the performance evokes a glorious past, an agonizing present, and an uncertain future.