Se nos cayó el teatro at Lodos

Artists: Temra Pavlović, Noa4s (Noah Barker & Oa4s), Diego Salvador Rios, Lewis Teague Wright, Dave Miko, Veit Laurent Kurz, Anna-Sophie Berger, Adriana Lara

Exhibition title: Se nos cayó el teatro

Venue: Lodos, Mexico City

Date: December 8, 2016 – January 31, 2017

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Lodos, Mexico City

We are in Mexico City, it is night, and in a few hours it will be day. It all begins Thursday December 8, 2016. I remember that night I read on Instagram “EVERYONE SHOULD MOVE TO MEXICO CITY”, of course I think about it. The city is full of bleached browns, there are tanned whites, the blacks are blacks, but still all whitewashed. Bleach. Here all English speakers would feel at home. We are the west, westerners. There are reds and blues, bicolored and tricolored. But it should be clarified: Mexico City is not Berlin, it is not New York, it is not Tokyo, it is not Istanbul, it is not Seoul, it is not Shanghai, it is not Paris, it is not Dubai, it is not London, it is not Rio de Janeiro, it is not Bogota, it is not Karachi, it is not Miami, it is not Lagos, it is not Mumbai, it is not Jakarta, it is not Cairo, it is not Buenos Aires, it is not Montevideo, it is not Sao Paulo, it is not Johannesburg, it is not Ho Chi Minh, it is not Brussels, it is not Bangkok, it is not Moscow, it is not Basel, it is not Teheran, it is not Santiago, it is not Singapore…It is Mexico City.

The only thing I can think of is: ‘Se nos cayó el teatrito’.

We the poor continue and we the rich continue; so many differences. Even today, some people resort to the use of metaphor and allegory, others don’t, others also, others neither. As little. But at the same time there is so much. Humans are full of contradictions. Let the New Manifesto of Mexican Cinema be written! : Who will write it? Who has written it? I remember talking, drinking, eating in Salon Covadonga, I believe there’s where the idea came up. Dialogues, talks. Let us make movies, let us make projections, and let us inhabit the cinemas. How to Recover? Let us do Theater, to show what there is : that there are bodies, that there is flesh, that there is soul. The spirit to do so stayed behind; we lost it out of our sight. We also lost the shade. Matthew Stirling unearthed an Olmec head, it seems we all remember that photograph, we also remember the time the angel fell, the Angel of Independence, City of Mexico, year 1957. Monuments that do not stand, they weaken on the floor, over the surface. What is their height? Value. We all live. Others. Mythology got weird; we no longer know which side to aim for. From within outward, and from outward within. From Mexico to the foreigner and from the foreigner to Mexico. So, then: The stage appears. The scene. The director appears, there are actors. Someone in the background asks: “How do you cook a turkey?” Another responds: “I want the text to have to do with the exhibition but not to try or speak directly about it.” Another one remembers: “Long live the Mole de Guajolote!” People on the proscenium. The enemy is elsewhere. There is theater. We are accomplices, there is dialogue. There is untitled, Cast at the concert, Torn Up in Tatters, Fear and Impatience, The Dance of Signs red and white, Landscape, Mummy, Territorio, Monolito, a Sculpture Garden, a rotating crank. Painting strikes back. The Rules. They placed the plaque: On August 20th, everything was closed. Trotsky was murdered in the city. From something big to something small. The space, what is meant to mean. How to play the game? ‘Don’t be like that. What is it about?’ ‘But what about some, like, so then. Get at me.’ It got weird. SOMEONE DROPPED THE ACT, WELL, WE ALL DROPPED IT. Our theater has fallen: The theater of being a dealer, the theater of having a space, the theater of moving to a larger place… The theater is the whole trap: The capitalist trap. Take part; what??!! What was it you wanted? They gather and are said to wait for the resurrection of hope. Spinning in circles. What hope? Everyone’s, yours or mine? They. Who are they? The video ends with an abrupt cut, just when it is in the climax when concentration and contemplation have been achieved, when the sound already has hypnotized you, the video cuts. Cut to black. There is silence. Lasts 4 minutes.

Meanwhile some names resonate in the minds: ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —–,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—–,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—–,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, ——, —– ,—– ,—–, —–, …

Staging.

Junked monuments, one is unearthed and the other has fallen, none is broken, both are monuments.

Temra Pavlović (b. 1990) Works and lives in Amsterdam. Her work has been shown in Lambdalambdalamda, Kosovo; Centro de la Imagen, México; Et al., San Francisco; Otras Obras, Tijuana; amongst others. Next year she will have a solo exhibition in Lodos, Mexico City. She is a member of Oa4s.

Noa4s (b. 2016) Noa4s is a collaboration between Noah Barker and Oa4s. Noah Barker is an artist based in New York. Oa4s is a working group active since 2013 and based in Amsterdam and Mexico City, their work has been exhibited in 1857, Oslo; Lock Up International, Los Angeles; and Lodos, Mexico City.

Diego Salvador Rios (b. 1988) Lives and works in Mexico City. His work has been exhibited in Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Oaxaca; Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City; May Day Rooms, London; Museo Experimental el Eco, Mexico City, among others.

Lewis Teague Wright (b. 1987) His work has been show in Preteen Gallery, Mexico City; Union Pacific, London; Parallel Oaxaca; The Sunday Painter, London; and Tate Modern, London. He lives and works in Mexico City.

Dave Miko (b. 1974) Lives and works in New York City. His work has shown in Lodos, Ciudad de México; Green Gallery, Milwaukee; Real Fine Arts, New York; Galerie Parisa Kind, Frankfurt; and Algus Greenspon, New York.

Veit Laurent Kurz (b. 1985) Lives and works in Berlin. His work has been exhibited in Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö; Off Vendome, Dusseldorf; White Pipeline, Detroit; Bedstuyloveaffaire @ The Whitney, New York.

Anna-Sophie Berger (b. 1989) Lives and works in Vienna and New York City. Her work has shown in MUMOK, Vienna; Kuntshaus Bregenz, Austria; MINI/Goethe-Institut Curatorial Recidencies Ludlow 38, New York; JTT, New York.

Adriana Lara (b. 1978) Mexico City. Recent exhibitions include The product & The Post-product, Nasssauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Germany; Eggsplotion, Air de Paris, Paris, France; The Club of Interesting Theories, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin; Less is More, Liga, Mexico City; Underlying Patterns: Tragedy and Comedy where improvisations at first, Algus Greenspon, New York; Less is More, 21er Haus Raum , Vienna, Austria; Let’s not jump into Concrete, Indipendenza Rome; Adriana Lara, White Flag Projects, St. Louis, Missouri.

Anna-Sophie Berger, Dance of signs (white), 2016, C-print, acrylic glass, pharmaceutical cream, 76 x 102 cm; Dance of signs (red), 2016, C-print, acrylic glass, pharmaceutical cream, 76 x 102 cm

Dave Miko, Cast at the Concert, 2015, Spray paint on canvas, 46 x 76 cm

Temra Pavlovic, Untitled, 2016, Video and audio, Duration: 10 min featuring ‘Fr3sh’ by Kareem Lotfy and Jean Marie Straub in “Où gît votre sourire enfoui?”

Diego Salvador Rios, Paisaje (de la serie 4 Colores), 2016, Four plastic containers used by poulterers from Mercado de San Juan in Mexico City.(Color black, brown, orange, and red), MDF, and triplay, Dimensions variable; Monolito, 2016, Carved lint remover stone vertically placed on a qudrangular base of mahogany wood, 10 x 10 x 18 cm; Territorio, 2016, Bottlecap worn out with dirt, dust, and automotive laquer, 2.5 x 3.3 x 1.5 cm; Momia (Catarina), 2016, Insect corpse (ladybug) placed inside a resealable plastic bag previously used to store marijuana and hashish, 11 x 8 x 14 cm; Jardín de Esculturas, 2016, Velvet paper (blue), enamelled high temperature ceramic, and oxidized hinge, 20 x 20 x 5.5 cm

Lewis Teague Wright, They gather, and are said to be waiting for the resurrection of hope, 2016, Copper sheet, steel wire, wood, motor, Dimensions variable