Since October 1997, Federico Guzmán, an artist from Seville, has lived in Bogota, and for his recent show in Madrid he used Colombia’s luxuriant vegetation as a point of departure for his art, which straddles anthropology, science, and daily life. Titled “Echando raices en el aire” (Taking root in the air), the exhibition transformed the gallery into a kind of lush greenhouse, to resplendent effect.

One of Guzman’s installations comprised a set of metallic-green slates made of iron or wood with flange edges. Some of the slates were originally part of an interactive exhibition (held last May at