In 1[-1] Materiality of Exile the number eleven serves as the rule to explore the dialectics between a series of oppositions (reflected in the title, the integer 11 graphed as the relationship between 1 and its absolute). Two seemingly opposites are brought together: the terrain of the desert, a place of time immemorial that exceeds human scale, and the materiality of the Latinx artist’s female body, a material bounded by time and grounded on the memorial archive contained within the layers of experience.
The installation interrogated the Southwest desert (USA) specifically in relation to the Latinx community, a community whose identity has been marked by migrations after a ‘crossing’ through the desert (whether literal or metaphoric) to carve a new life in its territory. The project invited participation from this community, specifically of women over fifty and it is their stories of crossing that form the basis of the video/audio component of the installation. The installation/project develops in two interrelated strands: a durational performance event and an installation.
See the full archive of the project at: www.materialityofexile.blogspot.com
Type of work: Multimedia installation
Sample of video content of one the 'figures'
Installation Specifications
1[-1] Materiality of Exile seeks to open a space that transforms the exhibition/performance site to a place of exchange, yet an exchange that is trying to ‘complicate’ the very transactions that are negotiated to define the ‘object’ of art-production.
Exhibition dates:
BoxoHOUSE, Joshua Tree, California, Residency and Installation, 1st November-1st December 2019.
Ruben's Ranch Cultural Arts Centre, Coachella, California, 26th November 2019.
Palm Springs Museum, November 23rd, 2019
The Sandbox, MTC Miami as part of Grass Stains art and site specific residency: 19th -29th February 2020.
Palo Alto Arts Centre, April 2020 (postponed due to Covid-19, expected new date, Spring 2021)
1[-1] Materiality of Exile was funded in part by The MAP Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in collaboration with BoxoPROJECTS Contemporary Art at the New Frontier
