Page 53 - "he 2020 Guggenheim issue of World of Art Contemporary Art Magazine

ANDRÉS PEREIRA PAZ

Andrés Pereira Paz, EGO FVLCIO COLLVMNAS EIVS [I FORTIFY YOUR COLUMNS], 2020. Mixed media. Installation view, 11th
Berlin Biennale, Gropius Bau, 5.9.–1.11.2020. Courtesy Andrés Pereira Paz; Crisis Galería, Lima; Galería Isla Flotante, Buenos
Aires. Photo: Mathias Völzke

As fires ravaged its native Amazon habitat in 2019, a solitary guajojó
bird made an unlikely journey; it flew to extraordinary heights to
find safety in La Paz, Bolivia. Its sighting there caused a sensation
and was reported in the local press. Within the darkness of this
immersive installation, the guajojó is heard but not seen; its heartbeat
and call resonate in a space softly illuminated by spheres of slow-
burning fire and inhabited by celestial bodies, whose shadows on the
surrounding walls seem to be falling from the sky, breaking apart,
and disintegrating. Amidst this skyscape in turmoil, time seems to
stand still as history repeats itself in an endless cycle of exploitation
and anguish. For Andrés Pereira Paz, the bird’s tenacity speaks to the
contemporary collective trauma of migration and displacement, in
which escape is exceptionally arduous and return often impossible.
It also embodies the instinctual desire to overcome adversity and
flourish. The metallic sculptural stars which accompany the flying bird,
reference the line drawings in the seventeenth-century manuscripts
of Felipe Guáman Poma de Ayala (c.1535–c.1615). Born into a noble
Inca family shortly after Spanish colonization, he is known as the first
Amerindian chronicler ... (excerpt)

ANTONIO PICHILL Á

Antonio Pichillá, Installation view, 11th Berlin Biennale, Gropius Bau, 5.9.–1.11.2020,
Photo: Mathias Völzke

The video piece Golpes y Sanación [Blows and Healing, 2018] by
Antonio Pichillá shows the artist traversing a lush landscape and
striking certain elements—the leaf-covered ground, a tree branch,
rock, water from a river—with a knotted rope that makes reference
to the shamanistic practice of healing trauma by returning to the
scene of its origin. Natural materials like wood, stone, thread, and
woven fabrics as well as sacred and ritualistic objects abound in
the work of Pichillá, who draws from Mayan epistemology to create
intercultural abstractions with his textile pieces and large-scale
installations.
“Everything is amorphous, confusing,” the artist explains. “I
restlessly look for a bond that integrates with the environment as
something inexact, uncodified. I struggle to give form to transitory
states.” Titled after the feathered serpent deity worshipped in
many different forms across the diverse cultures of Mesoamerica,
Kukulkan [Feathered Serpent, 2017] appears to be a minimalist
wooden sculpture adorned with colored thread; it is actually a loom
used to create the traditional Jaspé textiles of Pichillá’s hometown,
San Juan Comalapa. Displayed vertically, in contrast to its horizontal
placement during the weaving process, this functional object
acquires ... (excerpt)

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