Misplaced Ruins

Pavilion of Peru La Biennale di Venezia 2015

By Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Entrance structure

The first station of "Misplaced Ruins" is a large staircase-like sculpture at the entrance of the Pavilion.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

The structure blocks the view of the pavilion, hence demands engagement (in this case climbing it) to access the complete installation.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

The pyramidal structure formally hints at pre-Columbian architecture. The act of climbing stands for the "translational effort" required to obtain a perspective of a given presentation (or culture).

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

General view of the installation

The vantage point from atop of the entrance structure offers an overview of the installation.

The installation is comprised of several stations: Scores (on the floor), Calendar (to the left), Sky without Heaven (in the back) and vitrines (center and right), plus sound piece and publication.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Vitrine

This vitrine
contains a sheet of recycled cardboard, half submerged in water.

The vitrine displays an on-going physical process of transformation, where the cardboard will progressively break down into a sort of pulp.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Calendar

This structure alludes to the passage time, and our standard ways of measuring it.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Standing some 3 meters tall, the Calendar recalls a billboard but in a severely abstract form.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

The colors chosen for the Calendar correspond to the daily sky conditions, as recorded by the artists during a one year period, and to political events (e.g. the "black month" alludes to a massacre).

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Scores

There are 22 scores. These parallelepiped
structures are made out of non-industrial recycled cardboard and metal.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

The layout and the texture of the scores brings to mind pre-Columbian ruins, but its materials refer to contemporary precarious construction techniques.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Sky without Heaven

This curtain-like piece evokes Lima’s sky (usually overcast throughout the year).

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

The curtain falls from the top of the pavilion, extending several feet into the ground (tracing a curve), as if the "sky" had been brought down to earth.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

The work is built from sheets of recycled cardboard screwed together. It can also be seen also as a sort of textile, echoing Peru’s millenary textile traditions.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Vitrine

This vitrine contains pieces of recycled cardboard, packed and stacked in wads.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

These wads of cardboard (the size of Peru's currency bills) appear as "building blocks," evoking economic dynamics of accumulation, speculation, investment (housing bubbles), and money laundering.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Vitrine

Placed in the center of the installation, this horizontal vitrine contains shredded cardboard

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

The shredded cardboard points towards the cycles of decay and destruction, which the installation itself, made mostly of cardboard will have to endure.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

General view

View of the installation from the ground, looking at the entrance structure.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Inauguration of the Pavilion of Peru.

Misplaced Ruins (2015) by Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves (photo: Varianti / Fundación Wiese)Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

Credits: Story

Pavilion of Peru at the 56th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Commissioner: Armando Andrade de Lucio
Curator: Max Hernández - Calvo
Artists: Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves.
Production: Fundación Wiese and El Comercio
Supporters: Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism / PromPeru
Acknowledgments: Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Exhibit installation and coordination: EILETZ | ORTIGAS Architects

Credits: All media

The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

Peru - Biennale Arte 2015

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