In the depths of the Colombian jungle, hours from the nearest city, is an old rum distillery. A place that would have once been crowded with workers and echoing with the din of machinery now lies abandoned; the only sounds to be heard are the roars of howler monkeys and a chorus of tropical birdsong. Iguanas crawl along the rusting rooftops and jaguars ghost walk through the buildings in the dead of night.

Rather than leaving this enchanting and inspirational place to disappear and be overrun by the jungle, Dictador Art Masters, a newly-established foundation with the aim of promoting art and creativity through one-of-a-kind experiments, is aiming to turn it into the world’s largest graffiti museum with their new project #ArtDistilled.

In the depths of the Colombian jungle, hours from the nearest city, is an old rum distillery. A place that would have once been crowded with workers and echoing with the din of machinery now lies abandoned; the only sounds to be heard are the roars of howler monkeys and a chorus of tropical birdsong. Iguanas crawl along the rusting rooftops and jaguars ghost walk through the buildings in the dead of night.

Rather than leaving this enchanting and inspirational place to disappear and be overrun by the jungle, Dictador Art Masters, a newly-established foundation with the aim of promoting art and creativity through one-of-a-kind experiments, is aiming to turn it into the world’s largest graffiti museum with their new project #ArtDistilled.

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#ArtDistilled is reimagining the way in which street art is created and exhibited. The first edition brought both fresh faces and well-established graffiti artists to the Colombian jungle.

The location of the distillery certainly aided their creativity, sandwiched between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and Perija Mountains, #ArtDistilled sits in the shadow one of the world’s most irreplaceable and biodiverse ecosystems and is home to a wealth of endangered and endemic species. The project also has an environmental element: many of the finished murals will be taken on a global tour and ultimately auctioned off, with the money going to charities working to protect the beautiful and fragile surroundings.  

In a space where a street artist would normally expect to be looking over their shoulder for a security guard or forced to hurriedly work in the middle of the night, #ArtDistilled grants complete artistic freedom and time to create truly memorable pieces. And what a canvas on which to paint: giant distillery tanks, miles and miles of pipes and huge brick walls surrounded on all sides by wild rainforest. Artists such as Toxicomano, Stinkfish, D*Face, M-City, ERRE, and MONSTFUR were all part of the first edition.

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New artists will continue to be invited to add their work to this ever-expanding graffiti museum and, according to professor Marius Waras – one of the curators of the project – it has the potential to become “one of the most important places on the urban art global map.”

This is the dream of #ArtDistilled: to transform an abandoned distillery from a forgotten space in the jungle into a globally recognized graffiti museum hosting the work of some of the most talented street artists in the world.

@dictadorartmasters on Instagram to follow the second edition of #ArtDistilled

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