Potosi

2022 - Sculpture (Sculpture)

100.01 x 64.14 x 3.49 cm

Antonio Vega Macotela


The mines at Potosí are both the site and subject of this work, also titled Potosí, by Antonio Vega Macotela. Historically, these mines bankrolled Spanish imperial coinage; the Spanish began excavating the site for silver in 1545 in what is now Bolivia. The mines themselves are situated at great altitude in the Andes, and are inhospitable to animal labor. As such, the Spanish coerced the local Indigenous Quechua people, who are more acclimated to high altitude living than most, into service to work the mines, in conjunction with imported slave laborers from Africa. Vega Macotela’s artwork is a reference to European portable altarpieces and reliquaries, yet instead of portraying Christian saints, Macotela has rendered effigies of mythical outlaw Quechuan miners who snuck into and appropriated the mine during holidays without sanction from the Spanish Crown. These effigies are rendered through an open source 3D modelling software called makehuman. As yet another representation of the site, the back of this neo-altarpiece is in turn a topographic map of the still-operational mine. As a complement to the 3D modelling software, the artist collaborated with a group of anonymous Spanish hackers working on the fringes of crypto currencies to translate the following poem by Andean poet Gauman Poma into code. Then, using digital steganography, the artist embedded the coded poem into the imagery of the work. These info points can be decoded, and as such, present a new form of artwork-as-storage. As reflection on the water, you are illusion As reflection of the lymph, you are appearance, When I think of your smiling eyes, I am in awe When I think of your playful eyes, I fall ill [Unuy rirpu llullam kanki Yakuy rirpu pallqum kanki Chay asiq nawily]kita yuyarispa ulinipuni Chay pukllay nawily/kita yuyarispa unquyman chayani] This work is joined by a series of neo-altarpieces dedicated to other historic mining sites across the globe in which indentured local communities toil with little protection. Tying the past to the present, many of these sites host the minerals necessary to run digital society, and as such, link together a non-linear history of capitalist exploitation.


Antonio Vega Macotela’s multidisciplinary practice is centered around site-specificity, and often engages marginalized communities such as prison inmates, miners, Indigenous communities, and hackers. Examining different forms of currency such as precious metals, fiat, and crypto, Vega Macotela’s work explores notions of labor, value, and exchange. His projects frame these currencies as systems through which social relations are established and negotiated. The artist’s work also investigates the effects that the extraction of these resources have on the environment.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

5 Standout Works from Judy Chicago’s Groundbreaking Career
© » GALERIE MAGAZINE

5 Standout Works from Judy Chicago’s Groundbreaking Career - Galerie Subscribe Art + Culture Interiors Style + Design Emerging Artists Discoveries Artist Guide More Creative Minds Life Imitates Art Real estate Events Video Galerie House of Art and Design Subscribe About Press Advertising Contact Us Follow Galerie Sign up to receive our newsletter Subscribe “Judy Chicago: Herstory,” 2023...

Absentia
© » KADIST

Tony Oursler

2012

Continuing Oursler’s broader exploration of the moving image, Absentia is one of three micro-scale installations that incorporate small objects and tiny video projections within a miniature active proscenium...

Avec près de 800 000 visiteurs, l’exposition Van Gogh au Musée d’Orsay établit son record de fréquentation
© » LE MONDE

Avec près de 800 000 visiteurs, l’exposition Van Gogh au Musée d’Orsay établit son record de fréquentation Cet article vous est offert Pour lire gratuitement cet article réservé aux abonnés, connectez-vous Se connecter Vous n'êtes pas inscrit sur Le Monde ? Inscrivez-vous gratuitement « L’Eglise d’Auvers-sur-Oise vue du chevet » et « Paysage sous un ciel tourmenté », peintures de l’artiste néerlandais Vincent Van Gogh présentées au Musée d’Orsay dans le cadre de l’exposition « Van Gogh/Artaud...

Scrapbook
© » KADIST

Bady Dalloul

2015

Bady Dalloul’s Scrapbook is a 48 minute video beginning from his birth, tracing major global events of the 20 th century, including the beginning and current Occupation and colonization of Palestine, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, assassination of family members and the Syrian diaspora...

Straight, McMahon-Hussein correspondance (1916)
© » KADIST

Bady Dalloul

2017

The Great Game is a series of works composed of a number of card combinations illustrated by the faces of key political figures shaping the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East...

Weekly Picks: Indonesia (19 – 25 November 2018)
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Weekly Picks: Indonesia (19 - 25 November 2018) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Weekly To Do November 19, 2018 Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Solo and Jakarta from 19 – 25 November 2018 We start our picks this week from Sanur, Bali...

The Best Art Galleries in Engadin Valley, Switzerland
© » OBSERVER

The Best Art Galleries in Engadin Valley, Switzerland | Observer In the southeastern part of Switzerland in the Swiss canton of Graubünden lies the Engadin Valley...

Top Collector Ronald Lauder Donates Significant Arms and Armor Gift to the Met - via ARTnews
© » LARRY'S LIST

More than 90 objects are headed to the museum, which will rename 11 galleries after him....

Missing UK Museum Objects: The Latest Story Behind The Vitrine
© » ARTLYST

In recent months, UK Museum collections have come under intense scrutiny, with headlines echoing the 'alleged' thefts of up to 2000 objects.....

Virtual Reality Brought Van Gogh’s Masterpieces to Life and Broke the Musée d’Orsay’s Attendance Records
© » ARTNEWS

Musée d'Orsay's Van Gogh Exhibition Breaks Historic Attendance Record Skip to main content By Francesca Aton Plus Icon Francesca Aton Associate Digital Editor, ARTnews and Art in America View All February 12, 2024 3:00pm Visitors taking pictures of van Gogh's The Self-Portrait in the exhibition "Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, the Final Months" at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France, 2023...

Sargent and Fashion Britain
© » TATE EXHIBITIONS

Sargent and Fashion | Tate Britain Fashion, identity, painting: explore the unique work of John Singer Sargent Celebrated for his striking portrait paintings, this exhibition sheds new light on John Singer Sargent ’s acclaimed works...

Mega-Collector Steve Cohen Buys South Florida Mansion for Nearly $22M - via The Real Deal
© » LARRY'S LIST

New York Mets owner and billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen paid $21.6 million for a waterfront home in South Florida....

Masterpieces from Britain’s prestigious National Gallery to go on show at Hong Kong’s Palace Museum for first time from Wednesday
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

Masterpieces from Britain’s prestigious National Gallery to go on show at Hong Kong’s Palace Museum for first time from Wednesday | South China Morning Post Advertisement Advertisement Hong Kong culture + FOLLOW Get more with my NEWS A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you Learn more Vincent van Gogh’s “Long Grass with Butterflies”, painted in 1890, is one of the artworks from a British National Gallery tour on show at the city’s Palace Museum from Wednesday...

Argentine Collector Eduardo Costantini Revealed as Buyer of Record-Breaking Wifredo Lam - via ARTnews
© » LARRY'S LIST

The Lam painting now holds the record for the most expensive Latin American artwork sold at auction....

See the Monumental Tiffany Stained-Glass Window the Met Just Acquired
© » ARTNET

The 1912 work will be installed in the museum's American Wing in 2024...

Page 95, The Latest Practical World Map
© » KADIST

Hong Hao

1995

Selected Scripture is a series of silkscreen prints that Hong Hao has been working on since the 1980s...

John Akomfrah: Arcadia review – celebration of Mayflower overwhelms the senses
© » THE GUARDIAN

John Akomfrah: Arcadia review – celebration of Mayflower overwhelms the senses | John Akomfrah | The Guardian Skip to main content Skip to navigation Skip to navigation There is always a man on the shore, his back to us … a still from John Akomfrah’s Arcadia...

An Exemplary Tiffany Stained-Glass Window Is Coming to The Met
© » HYPERALLERGIC

An Exemplary Tiffany Stained-Glass Window Is Coming to The Met Skip to content Agnes F...

Below The Deep South
© » KADIST

Noémie Goudal

2021

Noémie Goudal’s short film, Below the Deep South , is based on the work of palaeoclimatologist James Bendle who, while drilling in Antarctica, discovered coal beneath the ice...