Hesselholdt & Mejlvang - Please Rest In Peace For We Shall Not Repeat The Error - 2019 - Variable dimensions – Inflated Balloon installation
Earth – Body Museo de Geología UNAM, Mexico City
Abraham Gómez, Ane Graff, Anna Rún Tryggvadóttir, Gabriel Mestre Arrioja, Héctor Vargas, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang, Marja Helander, Nikolina Ställborn, Pablo Castillo, Pepe Mogt, Raymundo Barnet.
Curated by: Jonatan Habib Engqvist and Gabriel Mestre Arrioja
The exhibition Earth - Body takes its title from the work that artist Ana Mendieta elaborated at the end of the 1970s during visits to Mexico. It is specifically designed for the Geological Museum of Mexico City where it is still on view until April 7th 2019. The unique venue in a downgraded luxurious Porfirian neighbourhood is the honorary headquarters of all geological societies in Mexico and houses collections of minerals, fossils and meteorites. It belongs to the National Autonomous University (UNAM), which is the oldest in the Americas, founded centuries ago, with parts of the collections dating back to that time. The museum opened its doors in 1906, four years before the Mexican Revolution and was closed during a large portion of the following decade of conflicts. The site is in other words both congested and important for historical and scientific reasons besides the unique architectural qualities that create a particular atmosphere to experience and produce contemporary art.
Museo de Geología, UNAM, Mexico City
Twelve artists were invited to present site-specific works that engage with the collections and a unique 19th century interior that represents the ideals and dreams of the time, both in science and in politics. Bringing contemporary art into this museum is a means to reflect on earlier statements of modernity, ideas of failed progress and development. The exhibition addresses questions of feminism, nature, immigration and decolonization through different notions of body and earth, while also attempting to introduce indigenous knowledge in order to reclaim and recover the space beyond stigmatisation.
A program of live performances, talks and screenings also accompanies the exhibition.
Meterorite collection, Abraham Gómez - Lik xchuvajil - The madness started. Selection of photographs (2013 – 2014), pine needles, candles, Mayan cross. 2019
Anna Rún Tryggvadóttir, Precious / Precarious, 2019. Processual installation including mineral specimens from the collection of the museum and found mineral specimens, salt, watercolour, computers and motors
Mineral room. Nikolina Ställborn – Azúcar refinada, una breve historia de la humanidad (Refined sugar, a brief history of humanity) 2019 - Books and clamps. Poem and sculpture
Mineral collection. Gabriel Mestre Arrioja, UnReal State (Cooper), in memory of the dead miner children, 2019. Detail.
Marja Helander – Silence (photographs on screens) / Flowers of the Kola Peninsula (projection), 2014 - Duration: 2:43“ loop
Fossil room. Pablo Castillo, Noir Desire, 2018
Fossil collection. Héctor Vargas, The War of Bones 2019. Drawings on plexiglass sheets, laser cut, 3D print
Museum entrance. Nikolina Ställborn, Sufocación briliante (Brilliant Suffocation) 2019. Site specific installation made of plastic waste and museum vitrines
Hesselholdt & Mejlvang - Please Rest In Peace For We Shall Not Repeat The Error - 2019 - Variable dimensions – Inflated Balloon installation. Detail.
Images/Photo credits: Courtesy of Mariana Barreiro
www.magmatism.earth