New York, 2000-2020
Collection of printed materials gathered from cultural institutions visited since December 2000, and website
Project in conjunction with Roni Mocán
Dimensions variable
Since we came to New York at the end of the year 2000, we’ve been collecting information that has been available in art galleries, museums, and other cultural events that we've visited—press releases, brochures, invitations, posters, postcards, ads, etc. This archive started as a kind of a diary, a registry of our life here, of what we see and absorb, of what motivates and inspires us.
Thanks to a comment by Guatemalan curator Rosina Cazali, we started to also see the relation the archive has with themes that interest us and that both of us have worked on independently in other projects: memory, nostalgia, the passage of time, documentation of daily activities, collections, etc.
But it was until we were invited to the Paiz 2012 Biennial in Guatemala, with the theme “Convivir/Compartir” (“Coexist/Share”), that we were inspired to make this an art project, sharing all this material with the general public. As we started scanning the files we noticed that some artists or events have inspired or influenced us more than others, so we decided to create a Favorites category.
But ARTchivo keeps growing and will be updated constantly.
ARTchivo is more than just a way of registering our cultural experiences; it’s the way we see life, and how we document it, accumulate it, treasure it...
Update 2020:
In the past few years we have noticed a decrease in the availability of printed materials—such as press releases—in galleries. A lot of the materials have moved online in each cultural institution’s website.
With the Coronavirus Pandemic we are evaluating how this project should continue, and even considering a farewell. For the time being, we will focus our time and resources to complete the digitalization process and the long and meticulous process of updating the whole ARTchivo.
Herrera Ubico, Silvia. “Historias (paralelas) del arte”. Acevedo, Anabella, Lydia Cooper, Miki García, and Emiliano Valdés (eds). “Guatemala from 33,000 km: Contemporary Art, 1960 – Present,” 2017, 181-195. Santa Barbara (CA): MCASB, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara.
Guatemala from 33,000 km: Contemporary Art from 1960-Present,
Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA,
Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
September 17–December 17, 2017
Curated by Miki García and Emiliano Valdés
ARTchivo
In conjunction with Roni Mocán.
Printed materials and website.
Dimensions variable
For the Guatemala from 33,000 km: Contemporary Art, 1960–Present exhibition almost half of the archive has been scanned for the website.
Feminicidio en Guatemala (Feminicide in Guatemala)
Artist Book hand-embroidered and -bound by the artist
Dimensions variable