Kurimanzutto, Mexico City
April 2022
April 30–August 27, 2022
Over the course of the last two years, Rirkrit Tiravanija traveled several times to the state of Oaxaca to meet and learn from master potters from different regions. During his journeys, he practiced pottery techniques preserved for centuries within local families who have passed their craft down from one generation to the next. With the help and collaboration of Cooperativa 1050º—a cooperative of potters from Oaxaca, Puebla, and Chiapas, and led by Kythzia Barrera—Tiravanija worked on special designs for vases, cups, and other vessels that will be shown in the exhibition Mezcal vs. Pulque at kurimanzutto from April 30 to July 16, 2022, in Mexico City.
During one of his visits to Rio Blanco Tonaltepec with Cooperativa 1050º and its community, Tiravanija discovered an abandoned stone house that became the inspiration for the exhibition. A wooden reproduction of this house resides in the middle of the gallery and serves as an intimate shelter for viewing the pottery pieces created for it. The structure on view at kurimanzutto was built to recall his encounter with this construction in the middle of the Oaxacan landscape, made of fired wooden planks that emanate the burnt smell of the potters’ ovens.
In previous exhibitions, Rirkrit Tiravanija created spatial environments for Asian tea ceremonies where the act of serving allows the participants to pause their regular activities and observe the present moment for the duration of the ritual. For the exhibition in Mexico, the artist wishes to create a similar environment where mezcal and pulque are served in the clay pieces as a means of honoring the two native beverages.