a publication by Rita Ponce de León and Tilsa Otta
Wednesday 3 May 2017
7:30pm
In 2013 Rita Ponce de León was awarded the Mexican government scholarship for young creatives. Her proposal was a close collaboration with Tilsa Otta. The project did not delve into details, its premise was powerful in its mystery: “An experience on how to dissolve boundaries and join forces”. “Count on me, the borders of my interior are open for whatever you need,” was Tilsa’s response to Rita’s invitation.
For two months they carried out a series of experiments, such as having breakfast with closed eyes, counting to a thousand, holding long conversations on colors, asking questions to people taking walks in parks; watching their thoughts begin to weave a web in order to apprehend the universe together. At the beginning, they didn’t know the fate of these experiences, which they recorded rigorously. They didn’t know that these performances would become the ingredients of a story that they would tell in a very simple way, with black ink on paper.
VA is the story of Ixtli and Xilitla, two interplanetary beings that decide to challenge distances and differences, to undertake an intense coexistence that will transform them inside and out. Throughout their daily adventures, Ixtli and Xilitla experience in their own flesh what it means to be a dog, a stone, a drop of water or become one together, with the incredible vertigo that this entails.
The book has been published by Contexto Editorial. www.contextoarteyletra.org
Rita Ponce de León (Lima, 1982) lives and works in Mexico City. She studied at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (1999-2002) and at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado La Esmeralda in Mexico (2003-2008). She forms part of the collective CLAP CLAP (Free Learning Conspirators) and collaborates regularly with Joelle Gruenberg (choreographer, dancer and somatic educator), Pablo Pérez Palacios (architect), Tania Solomonoff (body artist) and Andrés Villalobos (visual artist). Ponce de León has shown at the 32nd São Paulo Biennial (Brazil), the Museo de Arte de Lima (Peru), the Miró Foundation (Spain), Kunsthalle Basel (Switzerland), the Cuenca Biennial (Siqueiros, Mexico), The Drawing Center (United States), Livia Benavides Gallery 80M2 (Peru), Ignacio Liprandi Gallery (Argentina), Museo de Arte Moderno (Mexico), New Museum (United States), Border Cultural Center (Mexico), among others.
Tilsa Otta Vildoso (Lima, 1982) is a videomaker and writer. She has published the following collection of poems: Antimateria (Neutrinos Editions, Argentina, 2014; Pesopluma Editorial, Lima, 2015; Juan Malasuerte, Mexico, 2016), Indivisible (Album del universo bakterial, 2007), Mi niña veneno en el jardín de las baladas del recuerdo (Album del universo bakterial, 2004) and the book of stories Un ejemplar extraño (Solar Editorial, 2012). Her texts are part of several anthologies, in addition to the compilation Venus ataca. 10 historietistas peruanas. She studied cinema direction at the MA in Contemporary Audiovisual Creation LAV in Madrid. She also makes videos. Tilsa believes in the sun and the magic of love. Http://www.tilsaotta.com/
