The Eternal Return of the New World
The urgencies of our present warrant revisiting the processes of conquest and colonisation of the American territory. What mechanisms of domination have survived throughout our history? How to look at this legacy and our heritage for a better understanding of our present? Our proposal here is a dialogue between different productions by young artists and pieces from the collection of the Complejo Museográfico Provincial Enrique Udaondo. The contemporary reading put forward by Garcilazo, Poblete, Colin and El Bondi Collective stems from their attentive and critical reflections on pre-Hispanic documents, iconographic traditions and the narrative style of the various Amerindian peoples. These pieces, from the oldest to the most recent, convey stories of the dissidence and resistance of subjugated civilisations and racialised bodies. The images are updated, thus enhancing their capacity to question the crises of the present in their imbrications with the oppression that established the New World.
On the basis of the proposed approaches, Udaondo’s collection of native cultures allows this critical dialogue to occur. In addition to their archaeological value, the utensils, tools and products reveal ways of life that are in harmony with the environment and the cosmos, the search for everyday beauty and the respect for aesthetic traditions as an element of identity. Faced with climate chaos, a consequence of the extractivist realities of capitalism, the harmonious shape of a bowl encapsulates a cosmovision that makes our despondent present burst from an active memory in the matter and in the bodies of those who acknowledge themselves as descendants of the creators of these objects and of their struggle.
Marina Aguerre, Florencia Qualina, Leandro Martínez Depietri
Links:
Español
https://bienalsur.org/es/single_agenda/345
English
https://bienalsur.org/en/single_agenda/345
Newspaper
El Museo Udaondo participa de la tercera edición de BIENALSUR