Cecilia Vicuña: Spin Spin Triangulene

The title “Spin Spin Triangulene” is a poetic creation based on new scientific discoveries that the artist relates to the Guggenheim’s spiral rotunda and the quipu, to stress the connection between science and Indigenous knowledge Vicuña has observed since her early encounter with cybernetics as a young student in Chile. Showcasing Vicuña’s artistic production from the late 1960s to today, this exhibition will feature the breadth of her multidisciplinary practice, including paintings, works on paper, textiles, films, a site-specific Quipu (Knot) installation, a one-time performance of a “living” Quipu, and new paintings and works on paper created specifically for this presentation. The artist explores themes of memory, language, science, and indigenous spirituality and knowledge across her practice. Her early figurative paintings in this exhibition were conceived as a decolonizing act to subvert the oil tradition imposed on Indigenous culture by the European conquest. These works interweave her biography with the story of the rise of socialism. Also on view in textiles, film, and works on paper will be Vicuña’s language-based Palabrarmas, or “word weapons,” which are politically engaged, metaphorical riddles and poems displaying her conception of language as a living entity.