As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture
An exhibition recentring work from the peripheries of the Department of Tropical Studies archive
Albert Brenchat-Aguilar
Mariana Castillo Deball has developed her own fabulographic practice following theories on object biography (the life of the object) and necrography (the violence that an object has been involved in). She investigates and engages with archives of all kinds, from Roman ruins to Spanish colonial codices and British archaeological explorations. In this exhibition, Castillo Deball reflects upon the disposition of papers in archival boxes, reducing them to fragments and remaking them from pieces of the documents they contained. Her work engages with those who make the archive, bringing them to the forefront of the visitor's encounter with its contents.
Detail of Archival Boxes, 2022 , 13 papier-mâché reliefs made from archival boxes (each 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm), Installation view in the Exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association Gallery, London, UK.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Archival Boxes, 2022 , 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm, papier-mâché relief made from archival boxes.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Archival Boxes, 2022 , 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm, papier-mâché relief made from archival boxes.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Archival Boxes, 2022 , 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm, papier-mâché relief made from archival boxes.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Detail of Archival Boxes, 2022 , 13 papier-mâché reliefs made from archival boxes (each 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm), Installation view in the Exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association Gallery, London, UK.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Archival Boxes, 2022 , 13 papier-mâché reliefs made from archival boxes (each 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm), Installation view in the Exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association Gallery, London, UK.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Archival Boxes, 2022 , 13 papier-mâché reliefs made from archival boxes (each 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm), Installation view in the Exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association Gallery, London, UK.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Archival Boxes, 2022 , 13 papier-mâché reliefs made from archival boxes (each 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm), Installation view in the Exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association Gallery, London, UK.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Detail of Archival Boxes, 2022 , 13 papier-mâché reliefs made from archival boxes (each 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm), Installation view in the Exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association Gallery, London, UK.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Archival Boxes, 2022 , 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm, papier-mâché relief made from archival boxes.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Detail of Archival Boxes, 2022 , 13 papier-mâché reliefs made from archival boxes (each 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm), Installation view in the Exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association Gallery, London, UK.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Archival Boxes, 2022 , 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm, papier-mâché reliefs made from archival boxes, Installation view in the Exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association Gallery, London, UK.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Detail of Archival Boxes, 2022 , 13 papier-mâché reliefs made from archival boxes (each 41 x 60 x 3,5 cm), Installation view in the Exhibition As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association Gallery, London, UK.
Courtesy of Mariana Castillo Deball and Architectural Association
Ceremony
(Burial of an Undead World)
Group Exhibition at Haus Kulturen der Welt
October 23 – December 30, 2022
During the summer of 2022 I worked together with the paper producers Gangolf Ulbricht and Ulrich Kühle at Keystone editions printing workshop in Berlin, developing a new series of 30 unique prints, for the exhibition Ceremony (Burial of an Undead World) at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin.
It was a very interesting process with different steps in which I printed the motives in blue, red and yellow, on three different papers developed by Gangolf Ulbricht.
Once these prints were ready, I ripped them apart into small pieces, and blended them into tiny particles. These crushed prints were added into paper pulp during the making of new sheets. Afterwards I returned to keystone editions, and we printed on top of the new paper sheets.
Essay: The Ceremony Can(Not) Be Found in the Serpent(ine) by Zairong Xiang
The Ceremony Can(Not) Be Found in the Serpent(ine)
Zairong Xiang
https://www.xiangzairong.com/_files/ugd/f667f5_13c7fe9deb1a4e74b869c080d1591980.pdf
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, 2022, linoprint on handmade custom paper,
installation view in the exhibition Ceremony(Burial of an Undead World), HKW, Berlin, Germany, 2022
Photo: Studio Bowie
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, 2022, linoprint on handmade custom paper,
installation view in the exhibition Ceremony(Burial of an Undead World), HKW, Berlin, Germany, 2022
Photo: Studio Bowie
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, No 30, 2022
76 x 56 cm, Linocut print on custom handmade paper
Paper made by: Gangolf Ulbricht
Werkstatt für Papier
Printing: Keystone Editions
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, No 10, 2022
76 x 56 cm, Linocut print on custom handmade paper
Paper made by: Gangolf Ulbricht
Werkstatt für Papier
Printing: Keystone Editions
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, No 13, 2022
76 x 56 cm, Linocut print on custom handmade paper
Paper made by: Gangolf Ulbricht
Werkstatt für Papier
Printing: Keystone Editions
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, No 17, 2022
76 x 56 cm, Linocut print on custom handmade paper
Paper made by: Gangolf Ulbricht
Werkstatt für Papier
Printing: Keystone Editions
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, No 9, 2022
76 x 56 cm, Linocut print on custom handmade paper
Paper made by: Gangolf Ulbricht
Werkstatt für Papier
Printing: Keystone Editions
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, No 20, 2022
76 x 56 cm, Linocut print on custom handmade paper
Paper made by: Gangolf Ulbricht
Werkstatt für Papier
Printing: Keystone Editions
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, No 21, 2022
76 x 56 cm, Linocut print on custom handmade paper
Paper made by: Gangolf Ulbricht
Werkstatt für Papier
Printing: Keystone Editions
She bends to catch a feather of herself as she falls, No 27, 2022
76 x 56 cm, Linocut print on custom handmade paper
Paper made by: Gangolf Ulbricht
Werkstatt für Papier
Printing: Keystone Editions
ESTAS RUINAS QUE VES
Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City
November 18, 2006 – February 2007
Mexico’s relationship with archaeology is a complex one. In addition to studying the distant past through its material vestiges, archaeology is deeply engaged in more recent aspects of politics, education, national identity, and public works. The various layers of our historical past are always present, giving rise to constant interpretation, reconstruction, demolition, and annexation.
The interpretation of Mexico’s archaeology is made in the present, and in turn, our hi story is being modified, as evidenced in city landscapes, public policies, and textbooks. The project Estas ruinas que ves oscillates between politics, history, heritage, and identity in an attempt to find, in the present, the vestiges of archaeological practice.
Some very prominent archaeological objects have had an unsettled life, shifting between courtyards, cellars, pedestals, display cases, museums, touring exhibitions, and private collections. The representation of archaeological objects has been spread through copies, illustrations, models, and souvenirs. The meaning and the authenticity of archaeological material are caught up in a chain of infinite manifestations.
Estas ruinas que ves is a project investigating the various parts that constitute archaeology’s “background” or “context.”The piece features an empty museographical environment, an archive of documentary images, an audio guide, and a publication. The various objects, texts, and images forming part of Estas ruinas que ves revolve around an anthology of stories, which include, among others: the deciphering of the Mayan language by a Russian linguist who never visited Mexico; a sighting of the Virgin in the corridors of the subway; the story of how it began to pour when the rain god (the Coatlinchan monolith) reached the city of Mexico; the movements of the Sun Stone over the centuries; the forger who requested a piece of clay in prison to prove his artistry; the president who believed himself to be the reincarnation of Quetzalcoaltl; the patrol that landed on the base of a pyramid; the archaeologist who protected his discoveries with dynamite and a sign to warn of the danger; etc.
Estas ruinas que ves, 2006. Estas ruinas que ves, 2006. Showcases from the Natural History Museum, México D.F. Photo: Ramiro Chávez.
Estas ruinas que ves,. casting moulds of original statues. 2006. Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Estas ruinas que ves, 2006. Estas ruinas que ves, 2006. Showcases from the Natural History Museum, México D.F. Photo: Ramiro Chávez.
Estas ruinas que ves, 2006. Estas ruinas que ves, 2006. Showcases from the Natural History Museum, México D.F. Photo: Ramiro Chávez.
Estas ruinas que ves, 2006. Estas ruinas que ves, 2006. Showcases from the Natural History Museum, México D.F. Photo: Ramiro Chávez.
Estas ruinas que ves,. casting moulds of original statues. 2006. Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Estas ruinas que ves,. casting moulds of original statues. 2006. Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Installation view Estas ruinas que ves, 2006 . Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Installation view Estas ruinas que ves, 2006 . Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Estas ruinas que ves, 2006. Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Estas ruinas que ves,. casting moulds of original statues. 2006. Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Installation view Estas ruinas que ves, 2006 . Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Installation view Estas ruinas que ves, 2006 . Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Installation view Estas ruinas que ves, 2006 . Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Installation view Estas ruinas que ves, 2006 . Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Installation view Estas ruinas que ves, 2006 . Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Installation view Estas ruinas que ves, 2006 . Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
Installation view Estas ruinas que ves, 2006 . Photos: Ramiro Chávez.
paper insert in the publication Estas ruinas que ves,
paper insert in the publication Estas ruinas que ves,
paper insert in the publication Estas ruinas que ves,
paper insert in the publication Estas ruinas que ves,
paper insert in the publication Estas ruinas que ves,
paper insert in the publication Estas ruinas que ves,
paper insert in the publication Estas ruinas que ves,
paper insert in the publication Estas ruinas que ves,
Publication These Ruin You See, 2008
Spread publication These Ruin You See, 2008
Spread publication These Ruin You See, 2008
Spread publication These Ruin You See, 2008
It rises or falls
depending on whether
you’re coming or going.
If you are leaving, it’s
uphill; but as you
arrive it’s downhill.
Mercury In Retrograde, DeAppel, Amsterdam
April 8 – June 4, 2006
It rises or falls depending on whether you’re coming or going. If you are leaving, it’s uphill; but as you arrive it’s downhill 2006. Lithograph on paper
A series of interviews with Antique dealers on the Spiegelstraat in Amsterdam develops into a journey throughout different periods of time and place. The Antique dealer is a peculiar char cter who can legitimate what is val able, what should be kept and how an object can become a status symbol. This narrative is mixed with a particular event in Mexican archaeology: the colossal stone statue to Tlaloc, a rain divinity, who lay for centuries in a dry stream bed in the village of Coatlinchan, 30 miles from Mexico City. In April 16th 1964, he was removed and transported on the back of a giant purpose-built trailer to his present location, the entrance to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. After 24 hours journey, it was night when Tlaloc arrived in Mexico City yet 25,000 people awaited him in the Zócalo, traffic was stopped and the streets were thronged.
Ironically, the arrival of the rain god was greeted by the heaviest storm ever recorded for this ordinarily dry season.
It rises or falls depending on whether you’re coming or going. If you are leaving, it’s uphill; but as you arrive it’s downhill 2006. Lithograph on paper
It rises or falls depending on whether you’re coming or going. If you are leaving, it’s uphill; but as you arrive it’s downhill 2006. Lithograph on paper
It rises or falls depending on whether you’re coming or going. If you are leaving, it’s uphill; but as you arrive it’s downhill 2006. Lithograph on paper
It rises or falls depending on whether you’re coming or going. If you are leaving, it’s uphill; but as you arrive it’s downhill 2006. Lithograph on paper
It rises or falls depending on whether you’re coming or going. If you are leaving, it’s uphill; but as you arrive it’s downhill 2006. Lithograph on paper
It rises or falls depending on whether you’re coming or going. If you are leaving, it’s uphill; but as you arrive it’s downhill 2006. Lithograph on paper
It rises or falls depending on whether you’re coming or going. If you are leaving, it’s uphill; but as you arrive it’s downhill 2006
7 Lithographs placed inside of antique shop window and audio piece
Mercury in Retrogade. 2006 Amsterdam
It rises or falls depending on whether you’re coming or going. If you are leaving, it’s uphill; but as you arrive it’s downhill 2006
7 Lithographs placed inside of antique shop window and audio piece
Mercury in Retrogade. 2006 Amsterdam
