“The proliferating subaltern…indicates how the powers of the subject remain with us, that the strategies of the modern Will to Truth, the tools of science and history, remain the productive weapons of global subjection.”

– Denise Ferreira da Silva, Towards a Global Idea of Race

The Toltecs, and later the Mexicas, believed that projection from the spiritual world into the physical was possible. Mahtactli on ce ilhuicatl or ‘the Eleventh Heaven’ is the location of the four spiritual energies of Tezcatlipoca, sometimes described as the ‘invisible god’ due to the scant surviving representations. Mahtactli on ce ilhuicatl is visualized by a square formation,[1] with each of the four spiritual energies occupying one corner, with scores of movement between intersecting lines of mother-thought and father-thought forming an x or cross in the center.[2] When enacted, the tracks rotate around the central axis, drawing a circle within a square. Far from the distance we see uses this geometric configuration and its spiritual significance to instigate audience participation, as the viewer must navigate the space according to predetermined routes in order to fully access the imagery contained within. Architecture elicits a compulsory performativity equivalent to our contemporary experience of screen mediation.

A solo exhibition of new work, Far from the distance we see investigates various manifestations of physical and experiential confinement: Luna considers both corporeal confinement within the carceral state and the inescapable labor economy of late capitalism, alongside conceptual confinement within an imposed subject formation and position. The notion is explored both literally––through the specific embodied experience of moving through a constructed space––as well as through didactic and transcendental means.

The exhibition necessitates two parallel forms of viewership: participants experience both watching unobstructed content, and watching others experience the same content made inaccessible by a privacy film designed to obscure only the content displayed on the video screens. The complex physical architecture and interwoven multi-media content of Far from the distance we see manufactures a viewing experience both intimate and alienating, reflecting the lived experience of the individuals for whom it was designed.

This project is supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

—

[1] Olivier, Guilhem, Mockeries and Metamorphoses of an Aztec God, Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2008.

[2] Magaña, Sergio, 2012-2021: The Dawn of the Sixth Sun The Path of Quetzalcoatl: The Path of Quezalcoatl, Italy: Blossomingbooks, 2012.

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Tags: BOLT, Chicago, Chicago Artists' Coalition, Far from the distance we see, Mev Luna, near west side