Created by two of Latin America’s leading artists – José Falconi from Peru and Santiago Montoya from Columbia – “Bittersweet” expands upon their original collaboration in Columbia, titled, “El Dorado Chocolaterie.” 

 

This reference to the foundational myth of “El Dorado”— that elusive city where everything was covered in gold, derives from the earliest days of colonization in the 16th century when countless explorers mounted expeditions in search of it.

Over the years, the myth has served as an allegory for the ongoing search and exploitation of Colombia’s immense natural wealth, a symbol for get-rich-quick schemers who traffic in its resources from gold to quinoa, from emeralds to cocaine.

 

 

Sure to attract the attention of critics and art-lovers from Somerville and beyond, “Bittersweet” reimagines the elusive paradise of gilded beings long sought by South American explorers. Instead of gold, however, these explorers will enter into the subconscious world of sweets, turning the Museum into an enormous chocolate factory where with the exchange for a hot cup of cocoa will be the visitor’s time.