Lowell Lecture
Curated Conversations: Quipus: Ancient and Contemporary
Date & Time
Nov. 11, 2018 at 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Location
Museum of Fine Arts
465 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115
Driving Directions
Speaker(s)
Dennis Carr, Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture and Caroline Kipp, Curatorial Research Associate, Contemporary Art
Presenting Organization
Topics
Explore the extraordinary textile traditions of ancient Peru through a new installation work by New York–based Chilean artist and poet Cecilia Vicuña. Join Dennis Carr, Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture; and Caroline Kipp, Curatorial Research Associate, Contemporary Art, in a discussion of the exhibition “Disappeared Quipu.” The exhibition, co-organized with the Brooklyn Museum, pairs five Inka quipus on loan from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University with a newly commissioned, site-specific installation by Vicuña that combines monumental strands of knotted wool with a four-channel video projection.
Through an intricate system of knotted cords, quipus (khipus) represent an ancient Andean mode of writing, record keeping, and remembering that was banned by the Spanish in colonial times. Drawing on her indigenous heritage, Vicuña channels this ancient, sensorial mode of communication into immersive installations and participatory performances. Learn about Vicuña’s new work and the MFA’s remarkable collection of ancient Andean textiles in this engaging conversation in the exhibition.