Online TALK | FIEBRE Ediciones, Kaqjay Moloj, and Beatriz Cortez

Kaqjay Moloj (Edgar Esquit, Ixmukané Choy and Edie Tocón), FIEBRE Ediciones (Carla Lamoyi and Antonio Medina), and Beatriz Cortez, moderated by LACE Chief Curator Daniela Lieja Quintanar, will talk about the collaborative project based on the Mayan Kaqchikel community idea of “Objeto antiguo” (Ancient object), its processes, results and critical thinking.

Objeto Antiguo explorations are on view at LACE as part of Intergalactix: against isolation/contra el aislamiento through August 14, 2021.

Objeto antiguo (Ancient object) is a collective project by Kaqjay Moloj, Beatriz Cortez, and FIEBRE ediciones that imagines ancient objects as time machines that allow communities to form across time and space. Based on the idea that the lands that we, the Maya, inhabit are filled with fragments and objects that reveal themselves and are linked to men and women through their k’u’x, the force that bonds life across time and space.

The fragments that are in don Toribio’s garden house, allowed themselves to be seen by his grandparents, his father, and mother, and later also by him, while he cultivated his lands. The Altar of Kaqjay –ru k’u’x ya’, ru k’u’x jäb, ru k’u’x palo’—and a tenon sculpture with a face emerging from its jaws, decided to reveal themselves to don Julián in his home’s backyard, in what is now the village of Cerritos Asunción. The tenon sculpture under the lemon tree at don Gabino’s house was placed in the same orientation as when they emerged: now he paints and bathes them to keep as decorations. The candle offerings in the altars created by ancient peoples, or in the cones that people create today with the ancient objects, keep the memory of the life of the beings that have inhabited the earth. These links with the long count calendar and with space are continuous. The kab’awil as protector of travels, the stone mushroom that accompanies the crop, the tenon sculpture as a signal of the path, are shown here as a living continuation of that long count calendar.

We present these objects because they have the same importance as the tales of our grandparents, knowing that they have been nurtured by personal and collective spiritual needs. We gathered all this laying a giant body that follows the same path as migrants do, round trip, breaking borders, and jumping maps. This collective project was developed virtually and through distance during times of the pandemic.

CHARLA VIRTUAL | FIEBRE Ediciones, Kaqjay Moloj, and Beatriz Cortez
21 de julio, 6:30pm a 8:30pm

Kaqjay Moloj (Edgar Esquit, Ixmukané Choy y Edie Tocón), FIEBRE Ediciones (Carla Lamoyi y Antonio Medina) y Beatriz Cortez, será moderada por la curadora en jefe de LACE Daniela Lieja Quintanar, hablarán sobre su proyecto colaborativo basado en la comunidad Maya Kaqchikel.

Las exploraciones de “Objeto Antiguo” se pueden ver en Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) como parte de la exposición “Intergalactix: against isolation/contra el aislamiento” hasta el 14 de agosto de 2021.

“Objeto antiguo” es un proyecto colectivo de Kaqjay Moloj, Beatriz Cortez, y FIEBRE ediciones que imagina los objetos antiguos como una especie de máquina del tiempo que permite formar comunidad con otros a través del tiempo y del espacio. Se basa en la idea de que los objetos antiguos que surgen de las tierras en que habitan los mayas se muestran y se vinculan a los hombres y mujeres a través del k’ux’, que es la fuerza que vincula la vida a través del tiempo y del espacio.

Los fragmentos que están en el jardín de la casa de Don Toribio se dejaron ver ante sus abuelos, padre y madre, y más tarde también ante él, mientras cultivaba sus tierras. El Altar de Kaqjay –ru k’u’x ya’, ru k’u’x jäb, ru k’u’x palo’– y una espiga con un rostro emergiendo de las fauces, quisieron mostrarse ante don Julián en el mismo patrio de su casa en la actual aldea Cerritos Asunción. Las espigas bajo el limonero de la casa de don Gabino fueron colocadas de la misma manera en que se enseñaron; ahora las pinta y baña para mantenerlas como adornos. Las candelas ofrendadas en los altares creados por los antiguos, o en los que la gente crea actualmente con objetos antiguos, mantienen el recuerdo de la vida de los seres que habitan la tierra. Estos vínculos con el tiempo largo y con el espacio, son continuados. El kab’awil como protector del viaje, la espiga como señal del camino, los mostramos como continuación viva de ese tiempo largo.

Presentamos estos objetos porque tienen la misma importancia que los relatos de nuestros abuelos, sabiendo que han sido alimentados por necesidades espirituales personales y colectivas. Conseguimos todo esto teniendo un cuerpo gigante que hace el mismo camino del migrante, de ida y de vuelta, rompiendo fronteras y saltando mapas. Este proyecto colectivo fue trabajado de forma virtual a través de la distancia durante tiempos de pandemia.

Kaqjay Moloj
Kaqjay, as the Kaqchikel red house, evokes the need of gathering to build in community. We take action from within the arts and interdisciplinary research (archaeology, anthropology, and history), which as the threads of the long counts of time of our existence as Indigenous peoples, transgresses the cartographies and the chronologies of modern life. Kaqjay has undergone a long process of self-critique and constant redefinition. It began in 2006 with the formation of a Community Museum, having as its main objective to create dialogue around the memory and the history of Maya communities. The Kaqchikel Research Community was formed in 2016, and it generated epistemologically decolonial reflections and writings. Currently, it remains in constant collaboration with other local and international communities with which we share political and creative objectives.

Beatriz Cortez
Is a Los Angeles-based artist and cultural critic. Her work explores the experience of migration, the concept of simultaneity, life in different temporalities and different versions of modernity, and the future. As a scholar, her research explores the construction of memory, cynicism, and posthuman imaginaries. She received an MFA in Art from CalArts and a Ph.D. in Literature and Cultural Studies from Arizona State University. Cortez is a professor of Central American and Transborder Studies at California State University, Northridge.

FIEBRE Ediciones
Is an artistic and independent publishing collective established in 2016 by the Mexican artists Antonio Medina (b. Coahuila, 1990) and Carla Lamoyi (b. Mexico City, 1990) whose objective is to research and disseminate Latin American and Caribbean creative practices produced starting the 1980s. Up until now, FIEBRE has published the following titles: Que no se calmen las Aguas: CADA (1981), ANCIEZ/EZLN (1992), GAC (2001), México, 2019; KAQJAY (2006-////), México, 2018; BESTIAS (1984-1987), México, 2017; and De fantasmas se cubre el polvo, Tegucigalpa, 2016. Since 2016, besides their publications, FIEBRE has developed different activities of pedagogical and expositive nature.