Act 1: Within Heritage Movements

1.4 Within Heritage Movements – Exhibitions

The public materialization of Within Heritage Movements underscores the notion that the distribution of art projects is not merely a visual representation but an integral part of the project’s process itself. Each public exhibition serves as a strategic platform, enhancing the project’s content and instrumentalizing it for broader aims.

Within Heritage Movements – MALI in Situ, Museo de Arte de Lima 2017-2018

At the MALI Museo de Arte de Lima, we harnessed the arrival of the second shipment of original textiles from Sweden just two months prior to the exhibition opening. This timing was particularly significant, as MALI was concurrently hosting its largest-ever exhibition of ethnographic material, the Nazca Exhibition, which featured several original pieces from the Paracas collection.

Positioning my replicas in an installation that mirrored a section of a Swedish museum in front of this prominent exhibition provided a poignant setting for bringing Within Heritage Movements to life within the artistic realm. This deliberate placement not only facilitated a dialogue between the replicas and the original artifacts but also highlighted the complexities of cultural exchange and ownership, amplifying the project’s relevance and impact within the public sphere.

Within Heritage Movements – The Ghost Ship and the Sea Change GIBCA, Museum of World Culture 2021

For my chapter at the Gothenburg International Biennial of Contemporary Art 2021, the proposal was sparked by a significant moment: the arrival of the third and final shipment of the Paracas collection back to Peru, coinciding with the installation process for the biennial. This timing presented a unique opportunity to explore the themes of repatriation and cultural power.

In response to this context, I proposed replicating the transport boxes used by Gothenburg City to ship the original textiles back to Peru. The sophisticated logistics employed by Gothenburg City for this process were described as impressive by officials from the Peruvian National Museum, highlighting a manifestation of cultural power that informed my project interpretation. By recreating these transport boxes, I aimed to draw attention to the inherent dynamics of power in the movement of cultural heritage and to question the narratives surrounding ownership and responsibility in the exhibition space.