6 April – 21 July 2018

Opening: Thursday 5 April, 7pm

Proyecto AMIL

Lima

Lima … April 5, 2018, Proyecto AMIL is pleased to present Horror Vacui, a solo show by the Peruvian artist based in Berlin, David Zink Yi. The exhibition consists of a video installation of the same name, in an architectural construction and intervention that takes over the two main exhibition rooms at Proyecto AMIL.

Filmed in Havana between 2005 and 2006, Horror Vacui represents the result of an on-going research on the grammar and polyrhythm of the Afro-Cuban musical tradition that traverses Zink Yi’s practice; as well as a decisive moment in the collaborative relationship between the artist and De adentro y afuera, a Latin band that he co-founded in Cuba.

With a length of two hours and seventeen minutes and in two channels, Horror Vacui documents the rehearsals of Zink Yi’s band, combining them with images of religious rituals -which although of African origin, such as Batá and Wiro from the syncretic Yoruba religion (also known as Santería) and the Cajón from Palo Monte – are deeply rooted in Cuban culture and at the base of a wide range of religious traditions in the Caribbean.

By juxtaposing the band rehearsals and ritual practices as equivalent elements, Zink Yi allows fascinating parallels between the secular and religious space to emerge. Beside the intense performative force, the common denominator of both social universes is the complex interaction and dependencies that are generated among its protagonists. This “collective plethora”, based on overlapping intervals and differences, is inherent in the Afro-Cuban musical tradition. Horror Vacui allows the spectator to become a reconciling agent, unifying the fragments and intervals that produce an abstract, timeless and spaceless image; but at the same time participating in the emotions that music evokes.

Zink Yi edited Horror Vacui during a scholarship at the Accademia Tedesca di Roma. The piece was initially presented at the Kunsthalle St. Gallen (St. Gallen, Switzerland, 2009) and since has been shown at major contemporary art institutions around the world, such as: Midway Contemporary Art (Minneapolis, USA, 2011), Neuer Berliner Kunstverein- nbk (Berlin, Germany, 2012), ArtUnlimited (Basel, Switzerland, 2013) and Prospect3 (New Orleans, USA, 2014).

Horror Vacui was filmed by Frank Peter Lehmann and David Zink Yi. Among the musicians and participants who made this project possible are: Michel Alonso Castro, Alberto Cuadra Molina, Yuliesky González Guerra, Wiljoph Mounkassa Williams, Adonis Panter Calderón, Jari Rojas Ramírez, Yusleidi Sosa Blen, Alexei García, Leonardo Varela Poey, José Luís Quintana, Gerardo de Armas Sarria, Yoaimis Campis Duvergel, Franky Betancourt Serrano, Luisito, Wicho, Suazo, Odalys, Michel, Perengó, Felix, el Moro.

About the artist

David Zink Yi (Lima, 1973) is one of the most recognized artists of his generation. He studied in Germany at the Berufsfachschule (1995-1998), the Kunst Academie in Munich (1997-1999) and the Universität der Künste, Berlin (1998-2002). Recent solo shows include: David Zink Yi, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown (2016); David Zink Yi, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Emily Carr University, Vancouver (2015); oxidacción / reducción, MALI Museum of Art of Lima (2012), Horror Vacui, Neue Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (2012); Untitled (Architeuthis), Tate Modern, London (2012); Pneuma, Hauser & Wirth, New York (2011); Horror Vacui, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2011); David Zink Yi. Manganese Make my Colors Blue, MAK Museum, Vienna (2010); Borrowed Light, Kunsthalle Saint Galle, Switzerland (2009); Rome 395, Franco Soffiantino Gallery, Turin, Italy (2007). He has also participated in various group exhibitions such as: Blind Faith, Haus Der Kunst, Munich (2018); Prospect 3. New Orleans (2014); 8 Berlín Biennial (2014); 9 Mercosur Biennial (2013); Itinerarios, Fundación Botín (2013); No Lone Zone, Tate Modern Londres (2012); Cut & Mix – Cultural Appropriation and Artistic Statement Contemporary Art from Peru and Chile, IFA Galerie, Berlin and Sttutgart (2011); Was tun? Was geschieht?, Sammlung Rheingold, Dusseldorf (2010); Brave New Worlds, Fondation Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg (2010); and Backyard, Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, The Netherlands (2009). He participated in the 10th Havana Biennial (2009). He lives and works in Berlin.