ExhibitionDecember 22, 2022
Golden Worlds: The Portable Universe of Indigenous Colombia at the MFAH
The itinerant exhibition Golden Worlds: The Portable Universe of Indigenous Colombia will be on view from November 6, 2022, to April 16, 2023, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) and features more than 400 pieces from the main pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia.
The exhibition, in collaboration with the Museo del Oro at Bogota and Unidad de Artes y Otras Colecciones – Banco de la República de Colombia, showcases the diversity and different production materials of ancient Colombian cultures. Pre-Hispanic metalwork experimented with various techniques: lost wax casting, hammering and soldering, assembling, amalgamation to achieve shades of color, malleability, and different shapes. In addition, each of the metals implied specific powers and meanings for the culture and philosophy of a community that portrayed themselves and their world. In this way, the show aims to explore how indigenous people created, symbolized, and transformed their universes.
The exposition rethinks the approach to the pre-Columbian in Colombia as the Spanish conquest neglected the indigenous communities and their knowledge. Therefore, the idea is to create a cultural dialogue that moves away from the notion of progress in western society and sees each of the pieces in its own particular context. The project is based on gathering alternative visions that include the voices of contemporary indigenous people, artists, historians and archaeologists, who trace the relevance of the pieces in the past and the present. In particular, the museums worked alongside the Arhuacos of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to promote interculturalism and exchanges of knowledge.
Between May 29 and October 2, Golden Worlds: The Portable Universe of Indigenous Colombia was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art - LACMA. It will also be presented at the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas and at the Montreal Archeology and History Complex in Quebec.
The exhibition, in collaboration with the Museo del Oro at Bogota and Unidad de Artes y Otras Colecciones – Banco de la República de Colombia, showcases the diversity and different production materials of ancient Colombian cultures. Pre-Hispanic metalwork experimented with various techniques: lost wax casting, hammering and soldering, assembling, amalgamation to achieve shades of color, malleability, and different shapes. In addition, each of the metals implied specific powers and meanings for the culture and philosophy of a community that portrayed themselves and their world. In this way, the show aims to explore how indigenous people created, symbolized, and transformed their universes.
The exposition rethinks the approach to the pre-Columbian in Colombia as the Spanish conquest neglected the indigenous communities and their knowledge. Therefore, the idea is to create a cultural dialogue that moves away from the notion of progress in western society and sees each of the pieces in its own particular context. The project is based on gathering alternative visions that include the voices of contemporary indigenous people, artists, historians and archaeologists, who trace the relevance of the pieces in the past and the present. In particular, the museums worked alongside the Arhuacos of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to promote interculturalism and exchanges of knowledge.
Between May 29 and October 2, Golden Worlds: The Portable Universe of Indigenous Colombia was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art - LACMA. It will also be presented at the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas and at the Montreal Archeology and History Complex in Quebec.
Gallery
