Naomi Rincón Gallardo
In a lush environment created through songs, video, and costumes, murdered Mixtec activist Alberta “Bety” Cariño goes on an imagined, psychedelic journey, where indigenous rights and speculative fictions wind together through the underworld.
En un ambiente deslumbrante creado con canciones, video, y vestuarios, esta producción nos presenta una narrativa psicodélica de la activista Mixteca Alberta “Bety” Carino quien fue asesinada. En esta trayectoria la imaginación nos guía en una aventura en que los derechos indígenas y la ficción especulativa se enredan juntos dentro de un inframundo.
Featured images
Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Axolotl Healing Capsule from The Formaldehyde Trip, 2017.
Photo: Fabiola Torres Alzaga, courtesy of the artist.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Enigma from The Formaldehyde Trip, 2017. Video still.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Alex(ander) and Axol(otl) from The Formaldehyde Trip, 2017.
Photo: Kathrin Sonntag, courtesy of the artist.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Accumulation from The Formaldehyde Trip 2017. Video still.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Bety from The Formaldehyde Trip, 2017.
Photo: Fabiola Torres Alzaga, courtesy of the artist.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Widows from The Formaldehyde Trip, 2017.
Photo: Claudia López Terroso, courtesy of the artist.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Descent from The Formaldehyde Trip, 2017. Pictured: Bárbara Lázara.
Photo: Claudia López Terroso, courtesy of the artist.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Mud from The Formaldehyde Trip, 2017.
Photo: Elianna Cetto, courtesy of the artist.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Mundo Zurdo from The Formaldehyde Trip, 2017. Video still.
Image courtesy of the artist.About the Event
This performance is presented mostly in Spanish, with some moments in English and German. English supertitles will be provided throughout the performance.
Esta presentación se presenta principalmente en español, con algunos momentos en inglés y alemán. Se proporcionarán supertítulos en inglés durante la presentación
What alternate futures can we imagine? What do they look and sound like? How does that dreaming shape how we deal with loss and violence in the past and the present, and our desire for change?
Cuales alternativas nos podremos imaginar? Como aparecen y como los soñamos? Y este sueño, como da forma a la manera en que soportamos la perdida y la violencia del pasado y del presente? Cuales son nuestros deseos para cambiarlos?
A Deeper Look
In this psychedelic speculative fiction, Mexico City-based artist Naomi Rincón Gallardo has written and directed a cycle of songs and videos dedicated to murdered activist Alberta “Bety” Cariño, who defended indigenous territorial rights. The work is performed live with idiosyncratic and ornate props and costumes that echo Mexican B-side Sci-Fi films of the 60s and 70s, weaving together Mesoamerican cosmologies, decolonial feminist and queer perspectives, and lyrics addressing indigenous women's struggles against the background of the dispossession of their bodies, cultures, and territories.
On an imagined journey through the underworld, Cariño encounters women warriors, witches, and widows, the dual-gendered goddess of death, and animals preparing her rebirth party. An axolotl, or Mexican salamander, in formaldehyde is the storyteller, agitating between fact, fiction, and friction as sounds and voices from the past lurk into the future.
Vocals are performed by Danishta Rivero, David Katz, and San Cha; music composed and produced by Federico Schmucler with vocal effect processing and sound co-arrangements by David Molina.
En esta ficción especulativa y psicodélica, la artista Naomi Rincón Gallardo, desde la Ciudad de México, ha escribido y dirigido un ciclo de canciones y videos dedicados a la activista asesinada Alberta “Bety” Cariño, quien defendida los derechos territoriales indígenas. La obra es realizada en vivo con utilerías idiosincrásicas y ornamentadas, referencias al cine mexicano de ciencia ficción de los 60s y 70s, enrollando juntos cosmologías mesoamericanas, perspectivas feministas y queer descolonizadas, y letras que abordan a las luchas de mujeres indígenas sobre el fondo del desposeimiento de sus cuerpos, culturas, y territorios.
Por un trayecto imaginada a través del inframundo, Cariño se encuentra a guerreras, brujas, y viudas, la deidad de la muerte de ambos sexos, y animales preparando su fiesta de retorno. Un axolotl preservado en formol juega el papel de narrador, agitando entre hechos, ficciones y fricciones durante que sonidos y voces del pasado cantan hacia el futuro.
Reviews
The Formalydehyde Trip makes a mess of, celebrates, and toys with the predictable humanist construction of the animal as a contaminating threat to humanity.
–Xandra Ibarra, performance artist and curator, quoted in ArtNews.com
Even though the work is grounded in the harsh realities of environmental devastation, Rincón Gallardo uses fantasy and puts together combination that have not been seen before…she is trying to address landscapes of dispossession through a narrative that is not a pain narrative…[but] a narrative based in desire.
Special Performances
Fri, April 3
Victor Cole provides an optional live audio description for patrons who are blind or have low vision. Headsets can be reserved by calling our Box Office at 312-397-4010 or by emailing BoxOffice@mcachicago.org
Victor Cole aporta descripción de audio en vivo para visitantes ciegos y de visión limitada. Llame 312-397-4010 o mande un email BoxOffice@mcachicago.org a la taquilla para reservar audífonos.
Funding
This project appears courtesy of the National Fund for Arts and Culture of Mexico.
Proyecto apoyado por el Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes.
