Page 48 - "he 2020 Guggenheim issue of World of Art Contemporary Art Magazine

For exp. 3, Sinthujan Varatharajah and Osías
Yanov explore different tracings of the body and
the imprints of its collective geographies. Their
contributions center around the obstacles and
objects that keep us apart, but that occasionally
EXP. 3: become penetrable, allowing bodies to press
11TH BERLIN BIENNALE together, move through, and flow. How can we
THE BONES OF THE WORLD understand bodies as reservoirs of historical and
sensual memories, bodies as borders in and of
Affect Archives. Sinthujan Varatharajah – Osías Yanov
themselves? Varatharajah is a researcher building
an archive of living memory; Yanov is an artist who
Since September 2019, the 11th Berlin Biennale for
excavates the body, queering it into a source of
Contemporary Art has been unfolding as a process through
archaic meaning. At stake are not only different
a series of lived experiences with exp. 1, exp. 2, and exp. 3.
modes of reconstructing lost journeys but also ways
In a fourth step, conceived as an epilogue, the 11th Berlin
of shaping the future memories of ourselves.
Biennale will bring these experiences together with artistic
participation from around the world. In their diverse modes
of articulating solidarity, vulnerability, and resistance, these
contributions rise up to materialize the complicated beauty The umbilical cord of a newborn child holds special meaning. It is a
of life amidst the turbulent times we inhabit. reminder of the link between the child and his mother and, by extension,
her family, her community and her culture. When the chord falls off it is
preserved in a hide container embroidered with prayes for protection and
long life. Typically shaped like a turtle for a girl and a lizard or snake for a
Umbilical Cord Amulet (Niitsitapi, 1830–1856) and Belt with Umbilical Cord boy, these amulets are attached to cradles as a baby’s first toy. They are
Amulet (Oceti Sakowin, 1930–1950) from the McCord Museum’s Indigenous later worn throughout a child’s life and in some cases buried with him or
Cultures collection, Montreal, Canada her in old age.

48 WORLD of ART