Gala Porras-Kim.
Sights Beyond the Grave

Dates: March 9 - Septembrer 3, 2023
Curator: Juan Antonio Álvarez Reyes
Coordinator: Alberto Figueroa y Elisa Espiau Cubiles
Space: Monumental Zone

The contradictions and tensions inherent to museums that are the product of both the Enlightenment project of modernity and recent centuries of colonialism remind us that the accumulation of cultural assets from other places and cultures—often obtained by outright looting—is an example of the dark side of social science research and scholarship initiatives. The museum as an institution is one of several tools—which in North America are often linked to universities—that have been used to construct discourses which often collide with and undermine the original purpose and meaning of items now considered works of art and/or historical artefacts. The potential for harm is magnified when dealing with objects that once served a sacred or funerary purpose, especially if they contain or consist of human remains.

Gala Porras-Kim often begins her research in the storage areas and back rooms of archaeological and/or anthropological museums. She also likes to explore archives. Sometimes a letter to the person in charge of such an institution unleashes or explains a whole host of questions, using practically the same tools that museum professionals employ in their rigid scientific cataloguing and restrictive conservation methods. How can we preserve the spiritual as well as the material essence of those objects or implements? Collecting an item always entails a claim of possession, but how legitimate is that claim in comparison to the less symbolic rights of the people who created it or their descendants? What would we need to ensure that a hypothetical restitution process is more than just a transfer of ownership, and what marks would that process leave on the encyclopaedic museums of former colonial powers?

The dust, spores, fungus and salt that pose a threat to collected treasures—sometimes hoarded like the spoils of war—are some of the tools that Gala Porras-Kim uses. The infrathin, almost imper- ceptible quality of those elements should not make us forget their steady, silent burrowing action. The decision to display her work at the CAAC is fraught with intention and resonates with particular intensity in its monumental settings, now stripped of their original functions. Gala Porras-Kim’s pieces, displayed here in spaces layered in history and meaning, reverberate with the echoes of the absent: whether they emanate from the Baroque folds of fabric painted by Zurbarán or the now-empty tomb of Christopher Columbus, in this exhibition those echoes seem to whisper the words of Gilles Deleuze or Édouard Glissant, respectively.

Gala Porras-Kim was born in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1984, and has lived in Los Angeles, California, since 1996. She has exhibited at the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea (2021), the São Paulo Biennial in Brazil (2021), the Whitney Biennial in New York (2019), and Made in L.A. at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016). Last year she had two major solo shows at Gasworks, London, and Amant, New York. In addition to the CAAC, she is currently exhibiting at the MUAC in Mexico City.

 

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION

[Leaflet]

[Press Dossier (In Spanish)]

[High Resolution Images]

[Photo Album on Flickr]