Since the 1990s, artist Teresa Margolles has used physical traces of violence to create her politically engaged art. Drawing on the interconnected histories of the United States and Mexico, and techniques she learned while working for Mexico’s national forensic service, she gathers remnants from sites of loss and death: glass shattered by shootings, blood, soil, and architectural fragments. With these charged materials, she makes visible structural violence connected to migration crises, drug wars, and the systemic killing of women and girls, honoring those who have been erased from public memory.
Aproximación al lugar de los hechos (Approaching the Scene) focuses on recent incidents in Minnesota, California, and Texas. The installation combines heated metal plates and water infused with residue that the artist has collected from places where people have been murdered in those states. Drops fall on the plates at steady intervals, creating a sharp hissing sound and rising steam. Over time, the plates rust, part of a rhythmic cycle of evaporation, erosion, and disappearance. Activating physical traces of violence, the installation creates a space for contemplation and public dialogue about how these crimes affect us all. As Margolles has said, “One murder changes the world.”
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Teresa Margolles: En el lugar de los hechos (At the Scene) at MoMA PS1. This dual presentation is co-organized by MoMA PS1 and The Museum of Modern Art by Ana Janevski, Curator, Department of Media and Performance, and Inés Katzenstein, Curator of Latin American Art and Director of the Cisneros Institute, MoMA, with Chloë Courtney, Curatorial Assistant, and Julia Detchon, Former Curatorial Associate, Department of Drawings and Prints, MoMA.