Descripción de la Exposición
In Coordenadas, Jesper Just confronts ideas of social difference in post-colonial territories, geopiracy, and collective and individual autonomy. Through a complex soundscape and intervention in the existing architecture, consisting of abstract structures both inside and outside Anahuaccali. Two films are shown in two different spaces inside and outside the museum, creating an immersive, multi-faceted environment.
In the exhibition, Jesper Just focuses on the presence of gender fluidity in traditional Oaxacan culture, as well as the post-colonial political struggle facing the inhabitants of that region, specifically indigenous organizations who strive for autonomy over their territory in the face, especially regarding privatization of traditionally collectively-owned land.
To achieve this, Just filmed on location among the istmo area in Oaxaca state, an issue in the US Army-supported bowman expeditions of the early 2000’s which sought to map and analyze the local Zapotec population, driven by an idea geographer and social theorist Joel Wainwright describes as “representing social difference in spatial form.”
To investigate and deconstruct this concept, as well themes of cultural appropriation, a preventive archeological tent has been installed in the courtyard, facing the museum’s building, as if something of historical value has been located in the middle of the museum grounds.
In that tent, the architectural landscape made of earth is the setting and extension of Jesper Just’s movie : an organic universe playing with the repetitious and intensified electronic sound of locusts. Around this, the exuberant nature of the coast is contradicted by the snow’s invasive presence in the scenery. The mismatch between the movie, the smell of the earth, the striate’s soil and the humidity inside creates a vertical landscape that only appears once the visitor enters it.
In the film, the snow is juxtaposed against a treacherous and ancient ceremonial site that is filled with majestic cacti. The snowflake comes as an assymetric image to lead us in an idyllic world formed by maping. This geographic metaphor points to an ambivalence toward power structures and justifications behind the recent government acquisition of local indegenous land, viewed by natives as a type of geopiracy.justifications behind the recent government acquisition of local indegenous land, viewed by natives as a type of geopiracy.
Crafting a narrative between the museum and the tent - an invisible thread - he second part of the exhibition takes place in Diego Rivera’s studio The movie installation explores the themes and examines ideas about social differences and belonging, autonomy and the body by using the muxes community as a point of departure. The use of the muxe’s embroidery, one of their iconic skills and traditions, and the focus on the violent act of needles puncturing fabric, serve as a commentary on desire and the silent act of defiance. The repetitive rhythm becomes its own system, with the image of the camera following the path of the thread and the needle creating a poetical landscape of flowers.
By taking over Diego Rivera’s studio and where his most personal and emotional collection – la collectiones del occidente - is exhibited, Jesper Just spacial film installations form a dialogue with Diego Rivera’s own act of resilience mirrored by the muxes’ struggle. Both navigate their inner strength and resolve through nature and cosmos. By using a poetic gesture, the assymetrical image of the snow, Just points the ability of all communities to withstand pressure from outside and return to their original structure, showing their capacity to live and to develop despite adversity.
Exposición. 19 nov de 2024 - 02 mar de 2025 / Museo Nacional del Prado / Madrid, España
Formación. 23 nov de 2024 - 29 nov de 2024 / Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) / Madrid, España
