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until 01.02. | #4514ARTatBerlin | Galerie Barbara Wien presents from 30. November 2024 (Vernissage: 29.11.) the exhibition Vùjá de – Paper Thresholds of the artist Mariana Castillo Deball.
Statement by the artist
As I often work with documents that have been altered, destroyed or stored in distant and inaccessible libraries and museums, I frequently deal with printed copies, facsimiles and digital reproductions. From a Western, art-historical perspective, these copies are seen as mere additions to the original object, without any intrinsic value. However, it was the devastation and looting during colonization that prompted us to make such copies in the first place – as a means of preserving and protecting documents so that if something is lost, other versions of it exist. I would therefore like to see this genealogy of copies as a dissonant polyphony, as a collective, anonymous heritage. We can understand these documents as objects that have experienced the same trauma as those who preserve their memory. The Nahua term ixiptla reflects this complexity. Ixiptla can be translated as “representation”, “embodiment” or “replacement” and thus encompasses all versions, representations and echoes as part of the original – even if such an original no longer exists.
Crocodile Skin of the Days 2021 Silkscreen on Pergamin paper, wood sticks, wooden spindle Siebdruck auf Pergaminpapier, Holzstäbchen, Holzspindel 71×61 cm Edition 12.
The title of the exhibition is inspired by Roy Wagner’s book Coyote Anthropology (2010), in which the US anthropologist explores the concept of vùjá de – a reversal of the more familiar idea of déjà vu. Wagner critically examines the role of anthropologists and the subject of anthropological research and shows how the presence of anthropologists changes the environment in which they work. In this context, vùjá de refers to the experience of encountering something familiar, but perceiving it in a completely new and unexpected way – as if seeing it for the first time. Wagner argues that vùjá de is a crucial aspect of anthropological thinking, as it promotes an alienation of aspects of a culture that are taken for granted. By seeing the familiar as strange, it becomes possible to understand and interpret it in new ways. When I read Coyote Anthropology, I felt that a translation into Spanish was the only way for me to really understand the text. In 2010, I contacted Roy Wagner and suggested a collaboration. Our correspondence lasted several years and led to the publication of the book Antropología del Coyote: Una conversación en palabras y dibujos in 2018.
On entering the gallery, visitors pass through Paper Portal (1), an installation of handmade sheets of paper suspended from the ceiling. When we think of paper, we often associate it with a book bound from many pages. But as the artist Dorothy Field explores in her publication Paper and Threshold (2007), paper has often been used in public spaces to define portals and thresholds. In these manifestations, handmade paper carries a spiritual and cultural significance that goes beyond its practical use, acting as a bridge between the human and spiritual worlds in the cultures of Japan, Korea, Burma, Nepal and India.
Déjà vu 2 2024 Papier-mâché relief Papiermaché-Relief 34×47 cm.
For Paper Portal, I used handmade paper created by Gangolf Ulbricht, with whom I have been collaborating since 2022 in Berlin. Ulbricht is an experienced papermaker who employs traditional techniques and advances them through experimentation with artists and other paper enthusiasts. The pulp was dyed with cochineal, a natural red pigment that can produce pink and violet tones depending on the pH level of its mixture. Cochineal originates from South America and is derived from the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), a scale insect that inhabits cacti in Central and South America. Originally developed by the indigenous peoples of the Americas—particularly the Aztecs and Maya in present-day Central Mexico—cochineal was used as a dye for textiles and art. During colonial trade, the pigment became one of the most valuable exports of the 16th century and was highly sought after in Europe. Due to its superior color brilliance and durability compared to European red dyes, Spain closely guarded the origins of cochineal as a state secret to maintain its monopoly. Some of the sheets in the Paper Portal installation are adorned with drawings referencing Retórica Cristiana (1579) by Diego de Valadés, a Tlaxcalan-Spanish friar who sought to evangelize Indigenous peoples and teach them reading and writing. These drawings explore the censorship imposed by the colonial state, which criminalized Indigenous languages and ceremonies. The “forbidden” Indigenous words and actions are depicted as insects and snakes emerging from the figures.
From the paper pulp left over from the production of the sheets, we made a series of papier-mâché reliefs in the studio. In the exhibition, I am showing both the ceramic molds we used to make these reliefs, Vùjá de (2), and the papier-mâché works, Déjà vu (8). This combination blurs the Western hierarchy of original and copy – very much in the spirit of ixiptla. I have been working with natural pigments from Mexico – such as cochineal – and their history since 2018, when I developed natural dyes with researcher Tatiana Falcón for the exhibition In Tlilli in Tlapalli, Imágenes de la nueva tierra: Identidad indígena después de la Conquista at the Museo Amparo in Puebla, Mexico. For this, we created a garden for trees, wild seasonal plants, shrubs, insects and lichens, which are mentioned in the Florentine Codex (ca. 1540-1569) as the necessary ingredients for the production of the most important color pigments and dyes of the Nahua (one of the indigenous peoples of Mexico).
For Contra Infantium Adustione (3a–d), a series of framed watercolor drawings in the southern room, I used pigments made by Tatiana Falcón. Both the pigments and the motifs of the drawings are based on plants depicted in the Codex Cruz-Badiano. This 1552 codex contains Nahua recipes for medicinal remedies, compiled by Indigenous scholars from the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco. I began by sketching from a drawing on plate 53 of the codex, which particularly captivated me. The plant’s roots grow out of a rock from whose center water flows, twisting and encircling the stone. I imagined what it would be like to enter this center—stone, root, water—and draw the plant from within that space. I was drawn to this approach because it shifted the focus away from simply replicating or copying the original drawing, instead finding a new perspective from which I could feel the plant’s growth. After many sketches, I eventually felt ready to paint with Tatiana’s pigments, which took time as I had to understand how to mix and prepare them. Gradually, the drawings moved further away from their initial reference point, the Codex Cruz-Badiano. They became a way for me to let the vibrant, precious colors flow, allowing the pigments, with their brilliance and materiality, to take center stage.
Installation Mariana Castillo Deball: Vùjá de – Paper Thresholds, Galerie Barbara Wien, Berlin, 2024.
The two murals in the south and north rooms of the gallery also refer to manuscripts from the region of present-day Mexico. The mural entitled Burning of Idols (4) in the south room is based on a drawing with the same title from the historical manuscript Descripción de la Ciudad y Provincia de Tlaxcala (1581-1584), which was written by Diego Muñoz Camargo, a mestizo – a person of both indigenous American and Spanish origin – and historian from New Spain. The manuscript emphasizes the role of the province of Tlaxcala as an ally of Spain and its contribution to the fall of the Aztec Empire. It combines traditional Mesoamerican pictorial styles with European influences. The drawing depicts the destruction of images, masks and religious artifacts of Nahua deities by Catholic monks in the 16th century, shortly after the Spanish conquest. As a Catholic and loyal servant of the Spanish crown, Muñoz Camargo supported the destruction of these “idols”, yet he detailed the masks of Nahua deities such as Quetzalcoatl and Ehecatl above the flames. Muñoz Camargo’s report thus records both the pre-colonial past and its destruction and the beginning of a new Christian era. The second mural Crocodile Skin of the Days (5), which stretches along one wall of the north room, refers to plates 39 and 40 of a Tonalamatl (Nahuatl for “Book of Days”) known as the Codex Borgia (ca. 1300-1500). This codex is one of the few pre-colonial calendars of the indigenous peoples of Mexico that survived colonial destruction. Crocodile Skin of the Days (2024) is based on an image from the historical calendar, which shows a reptile skin engraved with glyphs and symbols for the 20 signs of the day and 13 numbers. These are combined in various ways to form a cycle of 260 days.
I have been working with different versions of this motif for several years. The first version was a small watercolor drawing that was part of my last exhibition, The Skin Ego (2018), at Galerie Barbara Wien. I then developed the motif further – in wooden floor panels for the exhibition Amarantus in Mexico City (2021) and as a floor painting in the current exhibition Forgive Us Our Trespasses at HKW in Berlin.
In the north room of Galerie Barbara Wien, Crocodile Skin of the Days appears in three different forms: as a paper dragon (6), fragmented in the ceramic and papier-mâché reliefs (2; 8) and finally as a wall painting (5).
In the North Room, a selection of prints from the series She Bends to Catch a Feather of Herself as She Falls (7) is on display. I originally developed this work in 2022 for the exhibition Ceremony (Burial of an Undead World) at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, collaborating with papermakers Gangolf Ulbricht and Ulrich Kühle in the print studio of Keystone Editions in Berlin. The process was intricate and involved multiple steps. First, I printed the motifs in blue, red, and yellow on three distinct types of paper, all handcrafted by Gangolf Ulbricht. Once the prints were completed, I tore them into small pieces and shredded them into tiny particles. These fragments were re-integrated into paper pulp, which was then used to create new sheets. The resulting paper sheets were subsequently reprinted at Keystone Editions. The printed motifs draw upon forms from a 2010 print series titled Coatlicue #1–3. These earlier works reference the monumental statue of Coatlicue, the Aztec mother of the gods. This statue, believed to have been created a few decades before the Spanish invasion, is a significant artifact in the collection of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. In She Bends to Catch a Feather of Herself as She Falls, Coatlicue appears as a fragmented yet majestic figure. Her disjointed form, reproduced across the series, underscores her central and generative role within the cosmological matrix of the Aztec belief system and its social structure. The fragmentation evokes a sense of both reverence and transformation, reflecting the enduring power and adaptability of the deity’s legacy.
Vùjá de 1 2024 Ceramic relief Keramik-Relief 52×63 cm.
Mariana Castillo Deball pursues a kaleidoscopic approach in her artistic practice, mediating between science, archaeology and visual arts and exploring how these disciplines describe the world. Her installations, performances, sculptures and editorial projects emerge from the recombination of different languages – with the aim of understanding the role of objects in our identity and history. Her works are the result of a long research process. This enables her to investigate how a historical object can be read as a version of reality that fits into a polyphonic panorama. In search of a dialog with institutions and museums that goes beyond contemporary art, Castillo Deball collaborates with ethnographic collections, libraries and historical archives.
Mariana Castillo Deball (born 1975 in Mexico City) lives and works in Berlin. She has received numerous grants and awards, including the ARCO Award (2015), the National Gallery Prize (2013), the ars viva Prize (2009) and the Prix de Rome (2004). In 2022, Castillo Deball represented Mexico at the 59th Venice Biennale. She has had solo exhibitions at the Museu delle Culture, Milan (2023), Pivo, São Paulo, Brazil (2023), MUAC, Mexico City (2021), Artium – Basque museum-Center of Contemporary Art, Araba (2021), Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen (2021), New Museum, New York (2019), Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam (2019), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2014), CCA Glasgow (2013), Chisenhale Gallery, London (2013), Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen (2009), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2004).
Castillo Deball has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including Forgive Us Our Trespasses/Vergib uns unsere Schuld at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2024); Spaces of Possibility at the Triennale Bruges (2024); Ten Thousand Suns at the Biennale of Sydney (2024); Mixed up with others before we even begin at mumok, Vienna (2022); Undefined Territories. Perspectives on Colonial Legacies at MACBA, Barcelona (2019); Is this tomorrow? at Whitechapel Gallery, London (2019); Universal History of Infamy at LACMA, Los Angeles (2017); the Liverpool Biennale (2016); the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo (2016); Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim at the Guggenheim Museum, New York (2015); the 8th Berlin Biennale (2014); and dOCUMENTA 13 in Kassel (2012).
Vernissage: Friday, 29 November 2024, 6 to 8 Pm
Exhibition dates: Saturday, 30 November 2024 until Saturday, 01 February 2025
To the gallery
Image above: Mariana Castillo Deball, She Bends to Catch a Feather of Herself, as She Falls 21, 2022
Exhibition Mariana Castillo Deball – Galerie Barbara Wien | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
