Curatorial
Writing
Events
3. Limpia
Curator
Limpia - live art performance by artist Dodi Espinosa
11.03.2023, Beautiful Distress House, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Dodi guided the audience through a ritual intended to heal wounds, reflect upon systems of gender violence, and comfort those affected by trauma, particularly within the LGBTQAI+ community. Through formalist Zen meditation techniques - the step-by-step instructions and uniform ringing of a singing bowl - participants entered a trance-like state. Mictalantechuhtli, the Aztec deity of death and contemporary cult figure for queer and marginalised communities, was invoked as copal incense smoke seeped through its ceramic shell, a purifying breath descending over the participants. Dried chilis made homes in the palms of hands, instruments for setting personal intentions in a collective action. It was in these moments of stillness, where the boundaries between artist and audience melted away, and personal trauma was addressed with others. Now, a bed of dried red chilis lie scattered upon swathes of black paint on newspaper, the remnants of Dodi’s performance, where the ready-made and the symbolic meet. Though beyond the aesthetic is a harvest of collective mourning, a reminder of how personal healing can be reached through collective action.
Part of a lateral programme of events for the group exhibition Mind the Gap
