Cildo Meireles
The final artist to be observed is Cildo Meireles whose art is predicated on the existence of the canon explored throughout the exhibition. Red Shift I: Impregnation (1967-1984) is unapologetic in its foregrounding of the impact of colonialism on Latin American identity. The title Red Shift refers to the cosmological phenomenon of light wavelengths bending and stretching in relation to their distance from the earth as a result of the constant expansion of the universe after the Big Bang. This directly represents an inception point beyond human conception but whose influence is still felt, much like colonialism. Many of the artworks observed to this point attempt to subvert or depart from colonial power structures in order to clearly define it as ‘Latin American’ but Meireles is uninterested in this, preferring to address it explicitly. He takes Do Amaral’s conception of the anthropophagy as a foundational error from which the continued colonisation of Latin American art is reliant on. By actively consuming Western influence and attempting to retrofit and reconcile it with Latin American identity, artists have ultimately damaged it further. He invites viewers into a domestic space but, unlike Kahlo and Izquierdo, is unafraid to judge each and every object as direct outcome of colonial intervention rather than an extension of Latin American duality. By drenching every surface and object in the red ‘blood’ dripping from the nearby sink he suggests that everything from the ground up has been tainted and facilitated by continued denialism and is intrinsically incompatible with developing an identity truly disassociated from colonialism. While the artwork is an installation in the same vein as Soto it does not invite participation. Instead the viewer is well and truly made impotent as they enter the space and find themselves unable to change it. It challenges the viewer to observe the lasting effect of colonial entrapment on an individual and social level.
Red Shift is bleak but that same sense of despair is used in Volatile (1980-1994) to suggest a potential way forward. The sense of impending/imminent danger in this installation is used to draw awareness to the issues mounting beyond the art gallery. The smell of gas, the feeling of ashy talcum powder beneath the viewer’s feet, and the single burning light in the darkness is all working to generate something specific: empathy. By forcing the viewer to experience something like intense fear, Meireles is implicitly suggesting that by fully engaging and empathising with the experiences of individuals a way forward can be created. Interestingly, the experimental and visceral nature of the artwork is innately critical of the overly intellectual, self-referential art in the same way artists defined the departure from Western academic art in the early 20th century. Therefore, Meireles doesn’t truly dismiss the work of these previous artists mentioned because his practice relies on them. Instead he is continuing the legacy of their attempt to foreground individual identity to generate social transformation.