Come celebrate the closing of our summer Marcus Exhibition, Future Dreaming... A Path Forward, with a special Open Access event with musician and composer Benjamin Cortez and Beatriz Cortez's sculpture Ilopango, the Volcano that Left through a live improvisational human and non-human conversation. The performance will strive to communicate across species and to create a speculative language of matter and the energies that sustain life.
The evening will begin with curator-led tours of Future Dreaming… A Path Forward from 5:30–6:30pm, followed by a 30-minute performance in the Garden Theatre at 7pm. The evening will conclude on the Side Veranda of the Villa with a wine reception with artist Beatriz Cortez and Benjamin Cortez.
Ilopango, the Volcano that Left:
Ilopango, the Volcano that Left (2023) is a speculative reconstruction of an ancient volcano that erupted in the sixth century C.E. in what is now El Salvador. Working in steel, Cortez fashions her work by hand, improvising to create undulating surfaces and organic forms that echo the landscape. In this work, Cortez considers the ash deposited by the eruption, an event known as Tierra Blanca Joven, as part of the sacred Mayan underworld. Cortez imagines how the eruption’s resulting migratory patterns reverberate across time, drawing a connection to events such as the movement of the Maya or her own migration amid the Salvadoran Civil War in 1989. Reinforcing nature’s disregard for human boundaries, Cortez explains, “Lava flows under the volcanic range that unites my two homes, Los Angeles and San Salvador. The Underworld is not divided by these borders.”
Unveiled for the first time on the West Coast, Ilopango, the Volcano that Left was made by the artist between Atelier Calder in Saché, France and her Los Angeles studio. It was exhibited at Storm King Art Center in New York; navigating the tidal waters of the Hudson River over the JJ Harvey Fireboat; and at the Experimental Media Center for Performing Arts (EMPAC) at RPI in Troy, NY. Cortez explains, “In part, its travels are speculative. They are an effort to trace some of the trajectories followed by Tierra Blanca Joven centuries ago. They are meant to imagine migration as part of the future and not only as part of our present.” As its title suggests, Ilopango, the Volcano that Left moves with a sense of agency, disrupting distinctions between here and there, and past and present, as it charts its own future.
Tours of Future Dreaming… A Path Forward:
Curatorial tours of Future Dreaming… A Path Forward featuring works by Ana Teresa Fernández, Rayos Magos, and Marie Watt will take place from 5:30 – 6:30 pm, or you may view these works on your own before the performance. Be sure to try our new permanent living land acknowledgement—A Path Forward: Honoring Ohlone Land & Spirit. Download the Kinfolk app before attending the event to better experience the augmented reality elements. Click here to learn more about the project.
The Marcus Exhibition is made possible through the support of the Marcus Family Foundation, the Jo and Barry Ariko Fund for Artistic Programs, and the California Arts Council. A Path Forward is made possible through a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Award, a California Arts Council Impact Projects Award, and the generous contributions of the George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation and the Jo and Barry Ariko Fund for Artistic Programs. Additional support was provided by Kinfolk and the School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza.