Duets and dialogs between objects from artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña’s “living archives” arranged alongside the items inhabiting David Ireland’s dining room.
August 3rd, 2023 – February 17, 2023 (extended until March 18, 2024)
This evolving exhibition is the first in an ongoing project and residency between Mission-based organization La Pocha Nostra and 500 Capp Street through 2023 involving performative interventions, rare objects on view and conversations about artists personal collections, home museums and the collection and display of cultural artifacts.
Both partners have been investigating topics vital to a wider dialogue about decolonization and the nature and future of museums and collecting—including who is served and represented by museums, what it means to curate an archive for artistic reinvention, political exchange and spiritual survival.
During lockdown, La Pocha Nostra became obsessed with reimagining our two headquarters – one in California and one in Mexico – as utopian spaces for artistic conversations and community re-building, initially virtually and slowly reopening to in-person visitors & guest artists. It was during those days that we connected with the David Ireland House curatorial staff and began to conceptualize this collaboration.
The Dining Room displays objects from David Ireland’s travels in Africa and Southeast Asia. Before becoming a serious artist, Ireland ran an African import and safari business. With Gómez-Peña’s interventions, the audience are made aware of parallel dialogs and respective subjectivities of each artist. These themes will be explored, discussed and written about as part of our ongoing residency.
Curated by Emma Tramposch (La Pocha Nostra’s Executive Director and Curator of the Living Archives) and Lian Ladia (Curator, Exhibitions and Programs, 500 Capp Street).
To know more about Guillermo Gómez-Peña’s living archives, click on this link.
The residency and project with La Pocha Nostra and Guillermo Gómez-Peña would not be possible without the support of La Pocha Nostra and Teiger Foundation.
Image Credit: Bart Sanchez & the Angels, an ongoing project and residency of Guillermo Gómez-Peña and La Pocha Nostra at the 500 Capp Street Dining Room. Photo by Geloy Concepcion.