The Museo Experimental El Eco presents two new exhibitions. This constructed disorder, allows geological surprises for the most abandoned memory by Mariana Castillo Deball and Unfolded Architecture by Pablo Rasgado. Both exhibitions on view March 24–May 15, 2011
Mariana Castillo Deball (Mexico, 1975) has produced a large installation in the main gallery, whose rectilinear metal structure unfolds through the space like a giant serpent. Supported by this frame are irregular constructions made from papier mâché. Printed on the papers from which these forms are made are hundreds of images taken from diverse contexts: ethnographic objects, tropical plants, architecture and mathematical models. A dialogue between geometric and organic elements is established within the installation, while the textured paper pieces create shapes and enclosures that recall rock configurations found in caves. Castillo Deball is interested in how figurative rock formations are often visually confused with the background of cave walls, creating a “figure-ground reversal”; a perceptual experience she has referenced through her use of images imbedded within the papier mâché structures. Informed by anthropology, fables and natural science, the installation speaks to her on-going investigation of what she calls Uncomfortable objects—the things that humans make, as emotive products of desire, research and imagination—and how these objects, in turn, change us and transform our conception of the world.
Pablo Rasgado (Mexico, 1984) is presenting five works in the upstairs gallery, Sala Mont. Trained as a painter, this series Unfolded Architecture, forms part of a larger project by the artist involving “found paintings.” Each of the artworks is made from drywall recuperated from several museums. These fragments have been reconfigured into flat rectangular formats, which in scale and composition reference abstract paintings. Having previously been used to create three-dimensional spaces, the two-dimensional structuring of this drywall performs an “unfolding” of the previous temporary architecture. These drywall paintings evidence their previous contexts, displaying a variety of decisions taken in the design the exhibitions of which they were the physical support; such as the various colors of the walls, vinyl or photographic murals used, or the fonts engaged in the wall labels. These details are often involved in curatorial and exhibition design strategies that consciously or unconsciously present museum spaces as atemporal, conveying permanence or the feeling of a space outside of everyday time. Tautological and filled with humor, the pieces by Rasgado deconstruct this temporal structure, revealing museum spaces as ephemeral and dynamic, in constant change and movement.
Museo Experimental El Eco
Located in Mexico City, this intimate museum presents temporary contemporary art projects by Mexican and international artists. It forms part of the network of art institutions run by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). El Eco is a meeting place for the arts. It seeks to offer various contexts for new artistic practices and the development of cultural knowledge. Emphasizing experiment, emotion and interdisciplinary thinking, the space continually takes inspiration from its unique architecture and the diverse conceptual interests of its founder, the artist Mathias Goeritz (1915–1990).
Museo Experimental El Eco
Sullivan 43 Colonia San Rafael
Delegación Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City CP 06470
www.eleco.unam.mx