The conflicts of the 21st century are indisputably a reaction to the deep crisis of humanism and a consequence of the concepts that have sustained the current civilising paradigm dominated by modern thought and positivism; Two forms of thought that by splitting life and knowledge in isolated spheres have ended up establishing insurmountable asymmetries in the development of the different areas of human activity and existence.

It is in this context, as a result of an exercise of introspection, that humanity seeks to return to it’s essence, to the starting point that characterises us as humans, to propose alternatives for future life on this planet. Art, in its essence, stripped of centralism and of the preconceptions of modernity has become a dynamic space, reactive and rich in multiplicity of visions, from where human beings can have dialogue and build mutual knowledge.It is a space devoid of cultural, political, social or economic frontiers, in which all knowledge converges to rescue humanism.

In Latin America, the unprejudiced view of contemporary art makes ancestral cultures - in which the essential is present and based on various world views, ways of relating to nature, life and death and the gregarious spirit of the human species is now meaningful, bursting from the rural sphere to turn in urban areas into expressions of great strength that add to art with undeniable relevance.

Today’s society has gained impetus through the expanded and democratised use of technological means, which have not only made continuous connection possible, but have also definitively destroyed walls, borders and any form of entrapment. The new social facet opens spaces of knowledge and exchange from which the established power is constantly questioned, proposals are built from the grassroots, and human issues are shared and ironised. It is in this area where the essential, what makes us unique and at the same time partakers of a common essence, is permanently put into play.

Essence celebrates art as a space in which all the relationships of humans and humanism have been preserved and concentrated, as the essences extracted from the products America contributed to the culinary world. The proposals of our artists carry an inevitable burden of conflict, but does not leave out humour, freedom and utopia. They invite us to re-read different areas of contemporary reality from Bolivia.