Canción para un fósil canoro (Song for a chanting fossil)
2019 - Installation (Installation)
Dimensions variable
Rometti Costales
Canción para un fósil canoro (Song for a chanting fossil) by Rometti Costales is inspired by the history of the building that currently hosts the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende (MSSA) in Santiago, Chile. The duo associated the layers of the building’s history with the vestiges of life and the processes of fossilization that have taken place in areas of the Atacama Desert, a territory that has been the stage for several episodes in Chile’s tumultuous economic and political history. The work operates as a metaphor for the strata of historical memory, condensing different materials and operations. The intrinsic appearance and characteristics of the elements with which the artists work connect to other ideas and stories that echo around them. Skeletal remains, minerals, and petrified objects evoke the successive changes undergone by the building from a family residence at the turn of the 20th century, to the Department of Humanistic Studies, a telephone surveillance center during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, to today’s cultural institution, whose archives document a crucial part of the political history of art in Latin America. In Rometti Costales’s work, the use of lost-wax casting (also known as precision casting), stands as a reference to the process of fossilization, through which one material replaces another. In the installation, a hand gesture is recast, inspired by the hands of the anonymous Chuquicamata mummy (also known as “The Copper Man”). The branches of an araucaria tree and the remains of a desert bird evoke the domestic furniture of the past residence of MSSA. These interventions invite a discussion on the conservation and transmission of narratives behind social and cultural history, and how spatial and temporal dimensions unfold in different geographical locations. As such, this installation refers to the displacement and decontextualization of objects, bodies, and materials. It represents the fragility of the human and the non-human, the consequences of colonization, and the inscription of endemic nature as cultural patrimony within nationalist discourses. It reflects the instrumentalization and decoding of history, and how interpretations and values modify over time.
Rometti Costales is an artistic collaboration between Julia Rometti and Victor Costales that began in 2007. Their research has led them to South America, and particularly Brazil and Ecuador, where Costales has also lived. During their research trips, the artist duo develop a form of attention to the environment, traditions, and micro-histories of the places they visit. Their work is based on their personal readings of environmental and cultural situations and an understanding of philosophical and anthropological debates on the relationship between nature and culture.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » KADIST
Lubaina Himid
In 2007 Lubaina Himid began a series of works she later called Negative Positives: The Guardian Archive (2007-2017)...
© » KADIST
Natasha Wheat
2011Wheat’s work is built on a strong conceptual framework that weaves together commentary on social and political issues and the radical potential for change...
© » KADIST
Nicolás Paris
2012Nicolas Paris studied architecture and worked as an elementary school teacher before he decided to become an artist...
© » ARTNEWS RETROSPECTIVE
Mary Weatherford Revisits an ARTnews Profile of Joan Mitchell – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Alex Greenberger Plus Icon Alex Greenberger Senior Editor, ARTnews View All September 4, 2020 10:27am ©ARTnews In 1957, art critic Irving Sandler paid a visit to the studio of painter Joan Mitchell , an Abstract Expressionist known for her brushy images capturing nature...
© » THEARTNEWSPER
Dutch artist Anneke Eussen’s border-questioning sculpture acquired by the city of Miami Beach Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Art Basel in Miami Beach 2023 news Dutch artist Anneke Eussen’s border-questioning sculpture acquired by the city of Miami Beach The purchase is part of the city’s annual programme to acquire a work from Art Basel in Miami Beach Elena Goukassian 9 December 2023 Share A visitor to Art Basel in Miami Beach looks at Anneke Eussen’s It’s Alright (2023) on Document's stand Liliana Mora The citizens of Miami Beach have spoken, and the annual municipal Legacy Purchase Program selection from this year’s Art Basel in Miami Beach fair is Anneke Eussen’s It’s Alright (2023), a wall-mounted sculpture that will join previously acquired works on permanent display at the Miami Beach Convention Center...
© » KADIST
Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa
2005A short video about Tate Modern by Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa depicts just two shots, both featuring the artist...
© » KADIST
Cameron Rowland
2014Rowland’s minimal installations require a focus not on the objects themselves, but on the conditions of their creation, use, and distribution...
© » KADIST
Bruce Conner
1995Bruce Conner is best known for his experimental films, but throughout his career he also worked with pen, ink, and paper to create drawings ranging from psychedelic patterns to repetitious inkblot compositions...
© » ARTOMITY
Mathew Brandt at Rossi & Rossi – ARTOMITY 藝源 Mathew Brandt / Learning to Surf Jan 27 – Mar 9, 2024 / Opening: Saturday, Jan 27, 2pm – 6pm / Rossi & Rossi 11F, 54 Wong Chuk Hang Road Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong +852 2116 5282 Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 6pm rossirossi.com The outcome of Matthew Brandt’s (b...
© » KADIST
Adrian Villar Rojas
2010The two drawings in the Kadist Collection are part of a larger series entitled Las Mariposas Eternas (The Eternal Butterflies)...
© » DIANE PERNET
MAREUNROL’S solo exhibition “Fieldwork: Invisible exercises” at Riga Art Space – A Shaded View on Fashion Dear Shaded Viewers, In a celebration of sensory experiences and the undulating narrative of creation, the fashion and art duo MAREUNROL’S presents “Fieldwork: Invisible exercises” at Riga Art Space’s Grand Hall...
© » DAZED DIGITAL
Another Man is relaunching for a new era of men’s fashion | Dazed â¬…ï¸ Left Arrow *ï¸âƒ£ Asterisk â Star Option Sliders âœ‰ï¸ Mail Exit Fashion News The cult menswear magazine will return next spring, with editor-in-chief Ellie Grace Cumming at the helm 12 December 2023 Text Dazed Digital AnOther Man Starring Robert Pattinson 6 Another Man is officially back...
© » LENS CULTURE
Cultural Changes at the Coldest Place on Earth — A Photo Story from Yakutsk - Photographs by Alex Vasyliev | Essay by Marigold Warner | LensCulture Feature Cultural Changes at the Coldest Place on Earth — A Photo Story from Yakutsk Photographer Alexey Vasyliev offers an intimate look into the life and changing culture of the Evens, an indigenous tribe in his hometown of Yakutsk — one of the coldest places on Earth...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
JENG JENG JENG: Singapore Theatre Year In Review 2021 | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints December 2, 2021 JENG JENG JENG…! Year in Review is back! Where did 2021 go? How did the year unravel, and where have we arrived at? In a year where the arts has had to acquiesce to multiple rules, hopeful for a return to normalcy, 2021 had us hurtling through an unknown abyss of multiple emotions best captured through this year’s theme: JENG JENG JENG! From anticipation, to tentative excitement, shock, surprise and even the indescribable, our beloved colloquialism JENG JENG JENG covers it all...
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
All about washi: Japanese handmade paper’s ancient Chinese roots, its uses from writing to home decor, and why it can cost US$120 a sheet | South China Morning Post Advertisement Advertisement Asia travel + FOLLOW Get more with my NEWS A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you Learn more Sheets of Hosokawa-shi, a type of Japanese washi recognised by Unesco as an item of intangible cultural heritage...