Opening: 11.11.2022, 19 h
Press preview: 10.11.2022, 9.30 h (registration via Mira Starke, presse@portikus.de)

Corn is one of the most important crops in the global economy. While it held a central position in Pre-Columbian mythology and was a major source of nourishment, its origin as a plant native to the Americas has been widely overlooked. Considered the origin of humanity by the Aztecs and Maya, the cultivation of corn has shaped all aspects of life, from social environments to the measurements of time. In Ximena Garrido-Lecca’s exhibition Inflorescence at Portikus, the artist explores the crop’s multilayered meanings in relation to ancient beliefs, the colonial appropriation of knowledge and wealth, and the processes of modernization. Conceived in the fall months, the harvesting season of maize in Europe, the exhibition is a landscape that links traditional techniques of stacking and threshing corn in Latin America with the telecommunication systems that populate today’s fields. Both haystacks and antennas are also evocative of the rural landscape, whose abandonment by capitalism the artist’s work has revolved around for many years.

Enhancing ancient rituals centered around corn and the communal value of broadcasting, the exhibition becomes a site where cultural transmissions and social exchanges can take place. Considering the museum not only produces but also transmits knowledge, Portikus acts as a radio station during the exhibition, airing a weekly program developed in collaboration with radios from Mexico City, Lima, and Frankfurt. Inflorescence reflects on the radical shifts in our relationship to the natural world, following industrial revolutions, social paradigms, and the current configuration of the information age.

Ximena Garrido-Lecca (b. 1980 in Lima, Peru) is an artist based in Mexico City, Mexico. Her works have been exhibited among others at the Museo Madre, Naples (2021), 34th Bienal de São Paulo (2020), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Lima (2019), Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (2018), Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros (SAPS), Mexico City (2017). Inflorescence is the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany.

Inflorescence is generously supported by Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, and Städelschule Portikus e.V.. Special thanks to Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne. Additional support is provided by Feuerlord.de.

More information: www.portikus.de