ART CITIES: N.York-Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas

The multimedia works featured in the exhibition “Projects: Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas” explore the complex histories and cultures present in the territory of Somi S’ek, the lands of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe commonly known as West Texas. Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas foreground the stories and voices (both human and non-human) that shape the landscape, and articulate the ways in which they have been historically affected by the built environment.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: MoMA Archive

Originally commissioned by Ballroom Marfa, the works of “Projects: Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas” are the result of a lengthy research process that involved fieldwork in the region, with archival work at the University of Texas in Austin. A single-channel film called “The Teachings of the Hands” (2020) will be the focal point of the exhibition. The film recounts the region’s complex histories of colonial and environmental violence by weaving together archival footage, re-enactments, archaeological artifacts, and observations. Created in collaboration with Juan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo, who narrates the film, it documents the tribe’s relationship to their land and their struggles against ongoing forms of colonization. Caycedo and de Rozas focus on key locations across the state: the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis; the Amistad Dam on the Rio Grande; and the Permian Basin oil fields, highlighting the interconnected cultural, scientific, industrial, and sociopolitical forces in the region. A site-specific sculpture, Measuring the Immeasurable (2020–22), will also be on view. Comprised of historical and contemporary surveying tools made to measure and map land, the work speaks to the ways in which land privatization in Texas has been achieved through surveying practices that transform complex territories into straight lines, numbers, and economic value. Accompanying these original works are four watercolors painted by Forrest and Lula Kirkland. In the 1930s, the Kirklands copied all of the major known ancient pictograph sites in West Texas, motivated by a desire to highlight and conserve their complexity. In certain cases, these reproductions are the only remaining evidence of some of the large murals across the Lower Pecos Canyonlands and the canyons and cliffs along the Rio Grande, after many were damaged due to private land ownership, as well as the harsh climate conditions resulting from natural erosion and the effects of the nearby Amistad Dam. Spanning millennia, these sacred paintings are evidence of the area’s Indigenous written languages, prophecies, and cosmologies. Through their research-based, collaborative practice, Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas underscore the importance of recognizing Indigenous knowledge and leadership in discussions around land. The works in this exhibition challenge the idea of the landscape as a flat and clearly delineated area that can be divided for profit, advocating instead for alternative geographies that center human beings’ connections to their surrounding environment and other species.

Photo: Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas. Measuring the Immeasurable (detail). 2020-22. Vintage and contemporary surveying tools and artifacts. Courtesy Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin. Photo: Sandy Carson

Info: Curator: Anna Burckhardt, MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art), 11 West 53rd St, New York, NY, USA, Duration: 18/6/2022-2/1/2023, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri & Sun 10:00-17:30, Sat 10:30-19:00, https://www.moma.org/