fabiano kueva

For over ten years, artist Fabiano Kueva (Ecuador) has been building a vast archive by appropriating the strategies of 19th-century scientific travelers, such as walking, mapping, journaling, correspondence, landscaping and the collection of natural and cultural specimens.  Taking as his point of departure the voyage of German explorer-naturalist Alexander von Humboldt between 1799 and 1804 through regions now known as Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Cuba and parts of the USA, Kueva re-enacts this journey in performances that become the subject of a film. At the same time, he builds up an impressive collection of artifacts, botanical specimens, journals and images, found or simulated, whose presentation in the form of an installation calls into question the imperialist viewpoint that guided the scientific inventory of the territory by travelers such as Alexander von Humboldt. In a way, the aim is to make visible the grey areas where complex relations between power and knowledge are played out.

The first parts of the project were presented in Quito, Lisbon, Mexico City, Berlin, Cuenca and Bogota. Archive Alexandre de Humboldt Montréal, conceived in collaboration with curator Emmanuelle Choquette, brings the journey to a close, linking South, Central and North America. This Montreal iteration aims to continue enriching the dialogue between the Americas, addressing ecological perspectives beyond coloniality, the politics of archives and museum collections, and artists’ questioning of hegemonic discourses, notably through performative strategies.

Curator: Emmanuelle Choquette

OBORO

4001 Berri #301, Montréal

11 nov – 16 déc 2023