Federico Torres de los Rios
The Forces That Move The World
barazani.berlin
Spreeufer 6 |12017 Berlin
Exhibition: September 12–28, 2025
Opening: Friday, September 12, 18:30
Opening Hours: Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, 16:00–20:30, and by appointment (press@barazani.berlin)
Curated by Christoph Balzar
Special Event: Zemí Workshop with the artist, Sat. 13.09.2025, 15:00–18:00
With The Forces That Move the World, barazani.berlin presents new works by Federico Torres de los Rios, a Colombian painter and storyteller based in Berlin. His practice draws upon the ancestral memory of the Panche and Pasto peoples, two Indigenous lineages deeply scarred by Spanish colonial violence. His large-format canvases transcend mere depiction of indigenous motifs. Torres de los Rios understands painting as a threshold: a site for the manifestation of spiritual presence – painting as a ritual invocation.
Working primarily in oil, he incorporates ash, earth, and charcoal gathered from ceremonial sites. These materials do not function metaphorically; they are relational agents that embed memory and place into the work. His approach challenges Western notions of artistic autonomy, inviting viewers to engage not as spectators, but as participants, open to dialogue with forces beyond the visible world. His work is grounded in the concept of Zemí, a term from the Taino cultures referring to spirit beings that inhabit carved or painted forms. Zemí are not symbols, but living beings, shaped through material practice and oral tradition, stories passed down in Malocas (shamanic huts), through song, ceremony, and embodied knowledge. The Zemís that Torres de los Rios calls into form echo the resilience of Panche and Pasto warriors who resisted the Spanish conquest.
About the Artist
Federico Torres de los Rios is a Berlin-based painter and oral historian. His work is rooted in the cosmologies, healing traditions, and aesthetic practices of his Panche and Pasto ancestry. Developed outside institutional frameworks, his practice unfolds through ritual, storytelling, and solitary acts of making, merging Indigenous worldviews with contemporary artistic inquiry.
Special Event:
Zemí Workshop
with Federico Torres de los Rios
Saturday, 13 September 2025, 15:00-18:00
RSVP: press@barazani.berlin
In this open-format workshop, Federico Torres de los Rios will guide participants in exploring how spirit and matter can coalesce through attentive creation. The goal is to create Zemí, spirit beings that inhabit carved or painted forms and are considered living presences rather than symbols or artworks. All attendees are asked to bring at least one personally meaningful material such as stone(s), wood, clay, cloth, or pigment to begin from. A selection of materials will also be available on site. No prior experience is required. Openness is all that’s needed.
„I kindly ask participants to bring materials that speak to them and through which they wish to honour and manifest spirit.“ – Federico Torres de los Rios
Federico Torres de los Rios
The Forces That Move The World
barazani.berlin
Spreeufer 6 |12017 Berlin
Exhibition: September 12–28, 2025
Opening: Friday, September 12, 18:30
Opening Hours: Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, 16:00–20:30, and by appointment (press@barazani.berlin)
Curated by Christoph Balzar
Special Event: Zemí Workshop with the artist, Sat. 13.09.2025, 15:00–18:00
With The Forces That Move the World, barazani.berlin presents new works by Federico Torres de los Rios, a Colombian painter and storyteller based in Berlin. His practice draws upon the ancestral memory of the Panche and Pasto peoples, two Indigenous lineages deeply scarred by Spanish colonial violence. His large-format canvases transcend mere depiction of indigenous motifs. Torres de los Rios understands painting as a threshold: a site for the manifestation of spiritual presence – painting as a ritual invocation.
Working primarily in oil, he incorporates ash, earth, and charcoal gathered from ceremonial sites. These materials do not function metaphorically; they are relational agents that embed memory and place into the work. His approach challenges Western notions of artistic autonomy, inviting viewers to engage not as spectators, but as participants, open to dialogue with forces beyond the visible world. His work is grounded in the concept of Zemí, a term from the Taino cultures referring to spirit beings that inhabit carved or painted forms. Zemí are not symbols, but living beings, shaped through material practice and oral tradition, stories passed down in Malocas (shamanic huts), through song, ceremony, and embodied knowledge. The Zemís that Torres de los Rios calls into form echo the resilience of Panche and Pasto warriors who resisted the Spanish conquest.
About the Artist
Federico Torres de los Rios is a Berlin-based painter and oral historian. His work is rooted in the cosmologies, healing traditions, and aesthetic practices of his Panche and Pasto ancestry. Developed outside institutional frameworks, his practice unfolds through ritual, storytelling, and solitary acts of making, merging Indigenous worldviews with contemporary artistic inquiry.
Special Event:
Zemí Workshop
with Federico Torres de los Rios
Saturday, 13 September 2025, 15:00-18:00
RSVP: press@barazani.berlin
In this open-format workshop, Federico Torres de los Rios will guide participants in exploring how spirit and matter can coalesce through attentive creation. The goal is to create Zemí, spirit beings that inhabit carved or painted forms and are considered living presences rather than symbols or artworks. All attendees are asked to bring at least one personally meaningful material such as stone(s), wood, clay, cloth, or pigment to begin from. A selection of materials will also be available on site. No prior experience is required. Openness is all that’s needed.
„I kindly ask participants to bring materials that speak to them and through which they wish to honour and manifest spirit.“ – Federico Torres de los Rios