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Como un Caracol
Video, loop, 1’53”, digital film; woven textile, belt: 158 (l) x 8,5 (w) cm; 2017.
‘Como un Caracol’ (‘As a Snail’) is linked at what can be considered the geo-astronomical capital of the world, the pre-Inca observatory called Catequilla (around 800 AD). It is located exactly on the equator near Quito, Ecuador. I was there, on the day my grandmother passed away. A red woven belt, traditionally worn by women, was dragged along the middle line of the earth, as if it represents a connection with the entire circumference of the world.
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‘Como un Caracol’ (translated: ‘As a Snail’) is the continuation of a series of interventions made on places that are geographically and astronomically related to each other. In collaboration with local inhabitant Daniel Pico, and using a traditional, handcrafted women’s belt, this work documents an intervention at the ‘Middle of the World’: Catequilla. This is an ancient pre-Inca site that used to be an astronomical observatory, and it is also the only pre-colonial archaeological place in America located at the Earth’s Equator. Here the solar cycle can be measured thanks to its surrounding mountains. This work is part of a research and project in process on the meanings embedded in such a site and how we can learn and retake this knowledge, challenging our contemporary education and cultural pretensions.
Presented at Directed to the Sun, Quartier am Hafen, Cologne; Quitsa, CINNNAMON, Rotterdam. Work made with Daniel Pico.