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EXHIBITIONS

 

Siphonophora
Thomas Glassford

 

Thomas Glassford is exhibiting at the Museo Universitario del Chopo for the fourth time. On this occasion, he presents the installation Siphonophora, a vertical work that hangs from the ceiling of the Central Gallery.

 

Siphonophorais a site-specific work that echoes earlier chapters in his career—above all his work on the articulation of neo-botanical structures—as well as a glossary constructed in the present.

 

In direct allusion to the siphonophores, colonies of planktonic marine organisms with a peculiar morphology that places them between animals and plants, Glassford constructs a sculptural organism that recalls the building’s former incarnation as a natural history museum. The work combines reference points ranging from the human microbiome—the collection of microbes that colonize the body and that together comprise one hundred times more genes than in our own genome—to the classic children’s story Jack and the Beanstalk, by way of the artist’s own experiences on a farm, weaving together his extensive knowledge and love for plants, which form an important part of his everyday life.

 

In both the siphonophores and the microbiome, there is a social parallel with the community, the family nucleus, a neighborhood, or city. This dependency and correlation allows unity and divergence.

 

The encounter with this complex installation fluctuates in the perception between a fossil, plant elements, or an animal organism. Depending on the viewpoint, its monumental character situates us walking on the ocean floor, entering a cave, observing from the sea surface, or seeing a climbing plant from cloud level. This ambiguity highlights the construction of parallel worlds in which viewers recognize themselves in the astonishment of a single, unrepeatable yet collective reflection.

 

Until july 24

Central Gallery

 

 

Thomas Glassford (Laredo, Texas, 1963). Studied Fine Arts at the University of Texas in Austin. He has lived in Mexico City since the 1990s. His solo shows include:Afterglow, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, Texas (United States, 2014);Xipe Totec, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco - UNAM, Mexico City (Mexico, 2010);Cadáver Exquisito, Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Artes (MUCA), UNAM, Mexico City, (Mexico, 2006); Event Horizon, Laboratorio de Arte Alameda, Mexico City, Mexico; and Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico (2003);ASTER, La Torre de los Vientos, Mexico City, (Mexico, 2001).

 

 

 

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Siphonophora 1

 

Siphonophora 2

 

Siphonophora 3

 

 

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