The result of an examination of public sculpture and urban monuments, the exhibition Monumentos, anti-monumentos y nueva escultura pública surveys contemporary artistic practices in Mexico and Latin America that question the idea of public sculptures, monuments, and memorials, inviting viewers to rethink the issues connected with both the real and the symbolic occupation of public space.
The exhibition is divided into three sections. First, there is a photographic archive of Mexican monuments assembled by Helen Escobedo and Paolo Gori in the 1980s, which includes images of public sculptures all over Mexico. The collection contains motifs that have come to be a part of Mexico’s national identity –busts of heroes, allegorical representations of the nation, reinterpretations of pre-Hispanic history–but also includes sculptures of wider imaginative scope, such as a monument to the snail, and others to aspects of everyday life.
The second section presents historical material related to the international project organized by Mathias Goeritz for the 1968 Olympic Games: The Route of Friendship, a series of monumental abstract sculptures installed in the vicinity of the various sporting venues, which involved the participation of twenty-two artists of different nationalities. These works are still preserved in Mexico City.
The exhibition continues with the work of contemporary artists who have dealt with these same themes. The roles played by political figures in dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, the commemoration of tragedies, and collective histories are documented through photography, videos, installations, and monumental sculptures that question the very nature of the format.
The project invites reflection on various pressing issues. What constitutes public space and who is authorized to use it? Is the erection of monuments an effective strategy for building an identity? Is public art a mechanism for the construction of ideologies? What possibilities are offered by contemporary art in our cities to engage us responsibly with public space, as agents and not just as spectators?
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Although we do not know exactly when gypsum began to be used by human beings, the first historically recorded use of calcium sulfate dihydrate was by the Egyptians, who used it in construction, in the manufacture of pottery, and in bandages for mummifying.
The ancient Greeks called this material gypsos. The term was transformed into gypsum in Latin, through which it spread across Europe and into the Iberian peninsula, developing into Spanish and Portuguese gis, Catalan guix, and Galician xiz. The word then crossed the ocean, taking root in Mexico, where it is still the common word for chalk. The same substance was also used in pre-Hispanic Mexico. Curiously enough, the Spaniards learned the Nahuatl word tizatl (literally, “white earth”) in colonial times, and now tiza is the usual word for chalk in peninsular Spanish.
As we can read on the webpage of the SNTE (the Mexican teachers’ union), chalk was for many years an indispensable tool in the classroom, as teachers spent hours writing on blackboards of slate or wood. Their hands would be thoroughly white by the end of the day. In more recent times, chalk has been replaced by water-based markers and blackboards by “whiteboards,” or even in some cases by electronic surfaces.
Chalk is a piece of participative public art by the duo Allora & Calzadilla. The project began in 2002 in a public square in Lima, Peru, as part of the Bienal Iberoamericana de Arte. Since then, it has been presented in numerous places around the world.
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Aunque no existe una fecha exacta de cuando se empezó a utilizar el material conocido como yeso, los primeros antecedentes históricos del uso del sulfato de calcio hemihidrato se remontan al periodo de los egipcios, quienes lo utilizaban en la construcción, fabricación de vasijas y en vendajes para envolver a las momias.
Los griegos llamaron a este material gypsos. En otra época los romanos lo llamaron en latín gypsum, el nombre se extendió por toda Europa hasta la península Ibérica, recibiendo el nombre en catalán de guix, en gallego xiz y en portugués gis. Esta palabra cruzó el océano y echó raíces en México, donde hasta la fecha, usamos la voz gis para nombrar a ese “lápiz de yeso”. La tiza es una arcilla que fue utilizada en el México prehispánico. Curiosamente durante la época colonial, los españoles aprendieron la palabra náhuatl tizatl “tierra blanca”, de ahí que ahora al gis lo llamen tiza.
Según información recogida de la página del SNTE, el gis por muchos años fue una herramienta indispensable de los maestros que pasaban horas escribiendo sobre un pizarrón de madera; al final de la jornada terminaban con las manos blancas. Desde hace varios años el gis fue sustituido por marcadores de agua, especiales para pizarrones blancos y en menores casos pizarrones electrónicos.
Chalk (Gis) es una pieza de arte público participativo del dúo Allora y Calzadilla. Este proyecto inició en 2002 en una plaza de la ciudad de Lima, Perú, como parte de la Bienal Iberoamericana de Arte, y desde entonces se ha presentado en diversos sitios alrededor del mundo.
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