https://chavelisifre.com Chaveli Sifre Thu, 26 Jun 2025 13:09:17 +0000 https://chavelisifre.com en https://chavelisifre.com/Epona Thu, 26 Jun 2025 13:09:17 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/Epona Epona I was born in Germany, not just anywhere, but on a military base. It was war, its logistics, its bureaucracies, that brought me to Germany. This unchosen beginning lingers beneath my work like a latent scent: something almost imperceptible, but persistent. In EPONA, it surfaces with force, within a space shaped&nbsp; by devotion and transformation, and also by conquest, collapse, and survival. For years, I’ve navigated two seemingly distant realms: belief systems and the hierarchy of the senses. At first glance, one operates through ritual and myth, the other through perception and physiology. But they are both structures of control and possibility, they both belong to architectures of reality, cultural and somatic frameworks we rarely question, because we are born inside of them. And because they shape us, early on, at the level of the body, we often mistake them for truth. Among the senses, smell is perhaps the most syncretic: intimate and uncontrollable, bound to memory and geography, yet resistant to translation. It leaks across categories. Like belief, it bypasses reason and enters through the skin. EPONA offers not a stable system, but a field of entangled thresholds. It asks what happens when inherited frameworks, religious, sensory, cultural, are made soft again. Not to romanticize rupture, but to explore how transformation is enacted through contact, through friction, through embodiment. Syncretism is key here, as a tactic, a way of living within imposed structures without fully surrendering to them. It names the cultural negotiations that occur under pressure: when belief systems fuse not because they agree, but because survival requires it. It is how gods pass through empires, how rituals mask insurgencies, how bodies carry knowledge that official histories refuse. Healing in this context is not understand as resolution, but as active labor. What we smell, what we crush underfoot, what lingers on our skin are not metaphors, but materials of history. I’ve long been drawn to Epona (a celtic goddess that transverse Europe acquiring meaning and layering beliefs; she’s a goddes of horses, calvary, fertility and a psycopomp)&nbsp; and to other so-called “minor” goddesses because they persist outside centralized cosmologies. Their influence is syncretic by nature: adaptive, local, partial. They accompany thresholds. Epona, guardian of passage and protection, was absorbed into empire but never fully owned. Her worship survived precisely because it transformed, reshaped by terrain, by mobility, by necessity. She is not a symbol of purity, but of permeability. In her name, this work becomes a choreography of return, to the layered sediments of care and conquest, sanctity and violence, loss and endurance, to transverse universes. EPONA is an altar to the fractured, the hybrid, the inherited. It is a place to pause, to smell, to remember, and to begin again, without illusions of purity, but with the radical softness and porosity that transformation demands. WORKS Ojo de Agua&nbsp; (Fountain)Material: Brass, copper, integrated water pump, oceanic scentYear: 2025Dimensions: 2687 mm height Ojo de Agua is the central sculpture in EPONA, installed in the choir,&nbsp; the most charged space in the church, where voice once met vault. Shaped like a tree with spiral hands and open eyes, it circulates water through its stem and weeps gently through its eyes. An oceanic scent lingers in the air. In many parts of Latin America, ojos de agua—springs—are not only sources of water, but portals: sites of memory, emotion, and spiritual communication. Revered across Indigenous and Afro-diasporic traditions, they are thresholds between the physical and the ancestral. This sculpture echoes that reverence, but also acknowledges how such portals have been mapped, mined, and mythologized through colonial desire. Throughout EPONA, there is a quiet reckoning with histories of violence, particularly the entanglements of care and conquest, of sanctity and control. Ojo de Agua gestures toward these contradictions. Ojo de Agua merges sacred European traditions of holy fountains with the extractive fantasy of the “fountain of youth,” a myth that drove Ponce de León’s doomed expedition into the Caribbean. But here, the fountain is not redemptive. It does not promise eternal life, but insists on presence. It mourns. It watches. It remembers. The hands speak of offering and labor; the eyes of vigilance and grief. The sea scent is not just nostalgia, it’s a trace of migration, rupture, and ecological precarity. As scent, water, and form combine, the sculpture becomes a syncretic altar, one that refuses purity and instead holds contradiction: sanctity and empire, care and conquest, erosion and renewal. By merging scent, water, and form, Ojo de Agua becomes an altar to memory and embodiment, to care and to the ancestral ocean that connects and divides, a place to pause, to weep, to remember, and to begin again. Epona (Rite of Return) The Poetics of CollapseMaterial: Live performance in collaboration with Joran Yonis and Tanja Evers (RV Schwagstorf); trained horse, ceremonial garment with ex-votosYear: 2025 This live performance unfolds along an infinity loop drawn through the church nave. A vaulting artist rises, collapses, and rises again on a moving horse. Each movement resists perfection—fragile, rhythmic, unresolved. The figure invoked is Epona: a psychopomp, a guide, a syncretic goddess of fertility, death, and transition. Worshipped across Gaul, the Balkans, and Rome, her cult survived through absorption. But even within empire, she remained local, animal, liminal. The rider, Joran Yonis, wears a ceremonial garment made of ex-votos—metallic offerings shaped as body parts, traditionally left at altars in exchange for healing. Here, they do not clink or shimmer. They hang heavy, reflective. A reliquary of pain and persistence. They do not dramatize trauma; they accumulate it, hold it, survive it. The body becomes an archive: one that does not seek to erase harm, but to carry it visibly. This is not catharsis. It is endurance. The horse, too, is double: creature of sanctity and empire, tenderness and violence. Horses have carried saints and conquistadors alike. In this looped rite, the animal reanimates the church not as neutral ground, but as a site haunted by entwined histories of militarization, domination, and worship. Rite of Return is not nostalgia. It is a demand: to re-enter history not through monument, but through movement. Through weight. Through scar. Every Step is a World Material: Seashells from the North SeaYear: 2025 Every Step is a World transforms the floor of the nave into a field of shells—thousands, gathered from the North Sea. Visitors walk across them. With each step, a crack. A sound of fracture, of presence. A sonic residue that cannot be undone. Drawn from a coastline shaped by tides, trade, extraction, and erasure, the shells carry histories of both oceanic life and human violence. They speak of migration routes and maritime borders. Of ecological precarity and colonial trade. Their scent—briny, mineral—is not decorative. It is indexical. A lingering trace. Here, breaking is not failure. It is process. To be broken is not a permanent state of defeat but an active state of transformation. A seashell becomes sand, becomes glass, becomes a wine glass on the floor. The work resists stasis. The floor does not hold; it registers. Each movement marks the fragility of terrain and the consequences of passage. Every Step is a World becomes both stage and score: a ritual of accountability in which the sacred is not abstract, but material. Not separate from the body, but activated by it. Ritual CurrentsMaterial: Scent Compositions, Engraved Bronze Boxes Year: 2025 Ritual Currents is a scent installation composed of four olfactory compositions that generate an invisible cartography, navigation points or single voices that converge into an atmospheric symphony. Green - Gravitopism, Red - Soft Steel, Yellow - Umbra, and Blue - Oceanic, diffuse through engraved bronze boxes discreetly placed throughout the church. Each scent forms a sensory field, an atmosphere charged with histories that resist visibility. These are elemental accords, invoking fluid landscapes; rivers, veins, oceans, magma, the circulatory forces that irrigate the living. Everything is in motion. GREEN - GRAVITOPISM&nbsp; Hildegard von Bingen often used the Latin word “viriditas” to express a kind of divine life-force, greenness, or vitality, closely linked to growth, renewal, and spiritual illumination through nature. To grow is to split oneself in two directions. In plants, this is not a metaphor but a biological necessity: gravitropism governs the orientation of growth, driving roots downward into the subterranean while shoots and leaves stretch skyward. This opposition is not conflict but condition. Green Gravitropism proposes scent as a space to meditate on this polarity, not only vegetal, but existential. Drawing from the logic of the rhizome, (non-hierarchical, multiplicitous, decentralized, and always in motion) the composition suggests that resilience lies in multidirectional movement. It begins underground: Geosmin, the microbial molecule released when soil is struck by rain, speaks of droughts ended and thirst quenched, it is the scent of humidity. Cis‑3‑hexenyl salicylate is part of the “green leaf volatiles” (GLVs), a group of compounds emitted by plants when they are damaged or cut, it’s part of the plant’s communication and defense system. In this sense, it’s both a marker of growth, rupture, and trauma. Bay oil, distilled from a plant native to the Antilles and long used in Caribbean folk medicine against pain, introduces diasporic dimensions of healing: the botanical as pharmakon, both cure and resistance. Tomato leaf absolute ruptures the pastoral with its acrid green sharpness, it restores a sensory dimension we've largely lost. While the tomato fruit is everywhere, its plant’s sharp, green scent, once common in gardens and on hands, is now unfamiliar. Violet leaf absolute is metallic, dewy, earthy. The violet has long been a symbol of modesty, mourning, and hidden strength. In Roman antiquity, it was associated with the underworld, used in funerary rites, and planted on graves. And cis‑3‑hexenol, or “leaf alcohol,” anchors the formula in motion: it is what we smell when grass is cut, when a plant is wounded and releases its chemical SOS. Together, these molecules perform a tension between root and canopy, darkness and clarity, decay, and bloom. Green Gravitropism does not resolve this tension, it dwells in it, asking: what can we learn from the way plants grow? YELLOW - UMBRA “You burn me.” —Sappho, translated by Anne Carson Every light casts a shadow. Umbra moves within this paradox, an olfactory meditation on what is felt but not fully seen. If yellow is the color of clarity, Umbra explores its inverse: the warmth beneath brightness, the residue of radiance, the outlines that glow in the dark, the feeling of fire close to the skin. Inspired by Hildegard von Bingen’s visions of “lux vivens” (living light), this composition speaks in fire. The scent opens with Labdanum, a resin with deep roots in ancient rituals, obtained from the Cistus ladanifer shrub, native to the Mediterranean region. It has been used since antiquity, originally collected from the beards of goats that grazed on the plant.&nbsp; Birch tar adds a burnt, smoky quality, evoking charred wood and the memory of charded meat, traditionally used in folk medicine and tanning, birch tar carries antimicrobial properties and a long-standing association with preservation and transformation.Vetiver, a rooted grass native to India and widely grown in Haiti, is used in traditional medicine to cool the body, calm the nerves, and support circulation, it anchors the composition with its dry, green-brown weight and connects us to the Caribbean. Finally, Palo Santo, traditionally used in Indigenous spiritual practices across South America for cleansing and protection, introduces a soft, resinous brightness, balsamic and sweet, it can also echo the long forgotten resins that once perfumed the church turned kunsthalle. While Palo Santo evokes ritual and ancestral continuity, its presence also raises questions about cultural appropriation and ecological strain, as demand for the wood has intensified beyond its original context. In Umbra, it functions as both a fragrant trace of sacred fire and a reminder that even spiritual materials can become sites of extraction. The composition glows from within, like aromatic embers and smoke, a traditions ancient and transcultural as fire itself. RED - SOFT STEEL This composition isolates the metallic trace of blood, its sharp, minerality, through Rose Oxide, a molecule that smells of ruptured green stems and electrical charge. Stripped from the flower’s romantic narrative, it reveals something cooler: volatile, metallic, almost surgical. Its sharpness echoes the ex-voto garment worn by vaulting performer Joran Yonis, resembling chainmail, the armor of medieval soldiers. It is a garment of protection that invokes a legacy of violence. Here, scent becomes a medium to interrogate the aesthetics of protection and inheritance, the wound and the weapon, the ritualization of violence, and the choreography of fear. Civetone, once extracted from animal glands and now synthesized, stays disturbingly close to instinct: sweat, heat, the trace of adrenaline. Globalide, a synthetic musk, evokes skin and closeness. Raspberry Ketone, high-pitched and synthetic, slices through the blend with a chemical red brightness. It brings synesthetic intensity, like a cosmetic memory of fruit that never existed, blood that appears only on screen. BLUE - OCEANIC To dissolve is not to disappear. In water, things lose form to find suspension. Blue – Oceanic considers this movement, diffusion, not direction, as a condition of being. Where Green was grounded in polarity, Blue enters a more unstable state: one of drift, saturation, and osmotic thresholds, (to highlight the porosity and malleability of systems, one of the backbones of my practice). It is less about growth than about immersion, what happens when bodies lose their borders, like a catterpillar in its cocoon. The composition began compulsively, as an antidote to personal yearning. To formulate is to grasp at atmosphere. Here, the need was to capture the fiction of a real oceanic landscape, not as rendered through commercial scents: synthetic, overstated, impossibly clean. Calone gives this impression its volume: crystalline, marine, but ultimately abstract, more like the smell of a wave in a 90’s commercial than the sea itself. Floralozone, another ozone-rich compound, reinforces this artificial blue: airy, metallic, stretched thin. Helional, somewhere between aldehyde and aquatic floral, softens the edges and brings lift, like the scent of air before a storm. These are molecules of fantasy and simulation. Against this engineered expanse, Seaweed Absolute brings resistance: thick, saline, and faintly decomposed. It speaks to the sea as a living body, depth and tidal, dancing with the moon, while, birthing, bleaching and rotting. Gamma-Octalactone, with its milky coconut note, recalls skin exposed to sun and lotion, softening the composition with a memory of contact. A Salt Accord draws the scene to a close: mineral, evaporated, the trace left behind. Blue – Oceanic is not a return to nature, but a confrontation with its mediation. It holds together the clean and the corrosive, the synthetic shimmer and the biological residue. It asks: what does it mean to long for the sea we no longer touch? How can we metabolize this longing into protection? – Scent functions as a portal; not only to memory and individual experience, but to relation, to proximity, to shared histories. Together, these environments form a fluid topography, an astral cartography not drawn but inhaled. Each composition marks a point in an olfactory constellation, guiding the body through space not by sight, but by scent. Like syncretism, scent resists fixed form. It seeps, merges, adapts. It survives translation without becoming transparent, it gathers meaning through contact and dispersion. Here, smell becomes sensorial architecture. Not ornamental, but foundational. It lingers after bodies move on. It marks space not with presence, but with persistence. These invisible currents ask: how are we shaped by what we cannot name, but cannot ignore? In Ritual Currents, scent becomes a medium of both memory and disobedience. Like the bloodlines and belief systems that travel beneath dominant narratives, it moves slowly, insistently, through matter. A quiet insurgency. Ritual Currents extends the exhibition’s exploration of migration, histories of violence and resistance, embodiment, and transformation, situating smell as a carrier of knowledge that resists capture. Like the sea, sap, or blood, scent moves, slowly, insistently, through matter and memory. It lingers after presence, echoing the traces we leave behind and the terrains we carry within, fertilizing the future. <img width="750" height="943" width_o="750" height_o="943" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1848e2e1704b0a78416983e118dcf85811864a64661be288abc6ef431e143eac/IMG_6968.jpg" data-mid="235065042" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/750/i/1848e2e1704b0a78416983e118dcf85811864a64661be288abc6ef431e143eac/IMG_6968.jpg" /> <img width="1417" height="2126" width_o="1417" height_o="2126" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b404173feca1ed4ceb9a4451e678b662cd4f17b8bc9be42740158e2b86819459/chaveli-sifre_kho_019.jpg" data-mid="235064928" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b404173feca1ed4ceb9a4451e678b662cd4f17b8bc9be42740158e2b86819459/chaveli-sifre_kho_019.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" 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data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/81d5722af9f8d63a7faae39b8f48f5004b591892273aa79172c1a748333bf0b0/chaveli-sifre_kho_085.jpg" data-mid="235064932" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/81d5722af9f8d63a7faae39b8f48f5004b591892273aa79172c1a748333bf0b0/chaveli-sifre_kho_085.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="2048" width_o="2048" height_o="2048" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6d6845880b3bda170f9bcb267a8e1bd3a1291d7770721ab1e4b56b0e3af79740/f949a2a2-99ee-48e3-a3cf-e8051d7b210e.JPG" data-mid="235065045" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6d6845880b3bda170f9bcb267a8e1bd3a1291d7770721ab1e4b56b0e3af79740/f949a2a2-99ee-48e3-a3cf-e8051d7b210e.JPG" /> <img width="2126" height="1417" width_o="2126" height_o="1417" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c7cb3b8d453c13d9455adcb2defe4b70d0f172d202e5d7747d9df548048a7e19/chaveli-sifre_kho_182.jpg" data-mid="235064940" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c7cb3b8d453c13d9455adcb2defe4b70d0f172d202e5d7747d9df548048a7e19/chaveli-sifre_kho_182.jpg" /> https://chavelisifre.com/Spirit-Level Wed, 06 Nov 2024 09:36:45 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/Spirit-Level Spirit LevelA spirit level is a deceptively simple yet almost magical tool, a sealed glass tube containing water and a single air bubble. Its purpose is to measure balance. However, the balance it measures is an illusion, contingent on external factors such as gravity, surface stability, and even environmental conditions like temperature. While the spirit level presents itself as an objective instrument, its accuracy depends on fluctuating variables. The bubble’s movement aligns with gravitational pull, assuming the field is stable and the surface below is steady. In Spirit Level, this idea of conditional balance is transported to the depths of the Earth, into a cavern carved by the debris of time and matter. Beneath Naples, a city with roots stretching back over 2,800 years, an underground chamber becomes both womb and witness. Here, life and destruction coexist, fueled by the cave’s natural humidity. When artist Vibeke Mascini and I first visited this subterranean world, curators Alessandra Troncone and Chiara Pirozzi explained the site’s constraints. The cave’s conditions limited the materials that could inhabit the space. But out of this so-called limitation, and inspired by the region’s rich historical and mythical layers—Spirit Level emerged. We chose to work with the site’s humidity, extracting water directly from the atmosphere. Extraction of the InvisibleWater on Earth has a dual origin: cosmic and terrestrial. Some of it likely arrived via icy comets, asteroids, and interstellar dust, colliding with the young planet and contributing to its oceans and atmosphere. But Earth’s belly also generates water. Deep within the mantle, hydrogen trapped in minerals combines with oxygen under immense pressure and heat, producing water that volcanic activity eventually releases to the surface. Water embodies a state of perpetual flux, shifting forms, moving through ecosystems, and cycling between biological and geological realms. The water we encounter today is ancient, yet constantly renewing itself, embodying both continuity and transformation. This cyclical, enduring nature of water became central to our work. We conceived a sculptural dehumidifier, extracting moisture from the cave air. The resulting water was stored in speculative instruments; glass vessels attached to leather objects traditionally designed to support or correct the body. These pieces challenge the spirit level’s formal function, placing it in dialogue with the body’s perpetual quest for equilibrium. Collaboration and GratitudeSpirit Level is a collaborative project with Vibeke Mascini, curated by Alessandra Troncone and Chiara Pirozzi for their program Underneath the Arches. Exhibition DetailsSpirit Level18 October – 1 December 2024Acquedotto Augusteo del SerinoVia Arena Sanità 5Naples, Italy I am immensely grateful to Alessandra and Chiara for their trust, enthusiasm, and respect throughout the artistic process, and for inviting us to create a new, site-specific work. One of the greatest joys of this career is the opportunity to forge deep connections with artists I admire, like Vibeke Mascini—thank you for inviting me on this journey. Special thanks to Viviane Stroede, Berlin Glassworks, and Jannetje Jeanine for their remarkable glasswork contributions. This project was realized in partnership with Aqua Augusta, with the support of the Mondriaan Fund, Berlin’s Senate Department for Culture and Community, the Embassy and Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Morra Foundation. Additional support was provided by the Fondazione Donnaregina for Contemporary Art and the patronage of the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples. For more insights into the exhibition, you can read a thoughtful review on Juliet Art MagazinePhotos by Maurizio Esposito <img width="1920" height="1281" width_o="1920" height_o="1281" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a69f005da2446173d7fd708e550ba8d8a473ac927f04dc2b7066a26a966a8c90/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-1.jpg" data-mid="221261993" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a69f005da2446173d7fd708e550ba8d8a473ac927f04dc2b7066a26a966a8c90/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-1.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1281" width_o="1920" height_o="1281" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/987ff81024131f7d74346729cc5d9f585f31b86d892ba2e418dd56463c6670a2/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-9.jpg" data-mid="221261989" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/987ff81024131f7d74346729cc5d9f585f31b86d892ba2e418dd56463c6670a2/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-9.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1281" width_o="1920" height_o="1281" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/92b9ea64557f6f1ec3d648be865aa6d5c1f46b637c06ee5901e7592583e3c059/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-12.jpg" data-mid="221261987" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/92b9ea64557f6f1ec3d648be865aa6d5c1f46b637c06ee5901e7592583e3c059/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-12.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="1281" width_o="1920" height_o="1281" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/813026f9165f1c60b1e968aff452b12fb4cc62f51407d4c1c72e6da83d180a2e/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-2.jpg" data-mid="221261994" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/813026f9165f1c60b1e968aff452b12fb4cc62f51407d4c1c72e6da83d180a2e/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-2.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="2878" width_o="1920" height_o="2878" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/71b984eaec5d85bed778781a628a11b1481240f7036d0d043ec325c3cb170587/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-5.jpg" data-mid="221261995" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/71b984eaec5d85bed778781a628a11b1481240f7036d0d043ec325c3cb170587/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-5.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="2878" width_o="1920" height_o="2878" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8ff5a441a65db66d9f667dbe743a3b47b70b590f7a1e84ae9da3a9cfe0d36ca8/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-10.jpg" data-mid="221261988" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8ff5a441a65db66d9f667dbe743a3b47b70b590f7a1e84ae9da3a9cfe0d36ca8/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-10.jpg" /> <img width="5304" height="7952" width_o="5304" height_o="7952" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f3b084b6a028b454c14aa281b60f60dfe9c68793c7aed8d1729517a1547735a9/_DSC0538_smaller.jpg" data-mid="221262019" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f3b084b6a028b454c14aa281b60f60dfe9c68793c7aed8d1729517a1547735a9/_DSC0538_smaller.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b5d9e2b7251370aa7842d1b2087debd5bc5ec366dd32fda75ca7858a8c1523a2/IMG_4181.jpg" data-mid="221261985" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b5d9e2b7251370aa7842d1b2087debd5bc5ec366dd32fda75ca7858a8c1523a2/IMG_4181.jpg" /> <img width="5304" height="7952" width_o="5304" height_o="7952" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7952b4ad3998f88d512c4c8b39f18bd01c908bd409b76dcb9d90e7de7a9309b7/_DSC0527.jpg" data-mid="221262146" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7952b4ad3998f88d512c4c8b39f18bd01c908bd409b76dcb9d90e7de7a9309b7/_DSC0527.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="2878" width_o="1920" height_o="2878" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b7cd190e45b34c055be059355b6fe00e188dde7fc2b628fc240a450fb8f2ef0c/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-6.jpg" data-mid="221261992" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b7cd190e45b34c055be059355b6fe00e188dde7fc2b628fc240a450fb8f2ef0c/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-6.jpg" /> <img width="5304" height="7952" width_o="5304" height_o="7952" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/856874c1ec2c40d3c1c95609c57b627e44e4beb54e0c79a6e41446fac1748180/_DSC0747_smaller.jpg" data-mid="221262062" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/856874c1ec2c40d3c1c95609c57b627e44e4beb54e0c79a6e41446fac1748180/_DSC0747_smaller.jpg" /> <img width="1920" height="2878" width_o="1920" height_o="2878" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/322bc118bb15d495d78f549e03ffc71e936abb06c55709908df8d69bd02a3ed0/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-7.jpg" data-mid="221261990" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/322bc118bb15d495d78f549e03ffc71e936abb06c55709908df8d69bd02a3ed0/Mascini-Sifre_Spirit-Level_Ph.-Maurizio-Esposito-7.jpg" /> https://chavelisifre.com/Perpetual-Renewal Wed, 18 Dec 2024 12:29:53 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/Perpetual-Renewal Perpetual Renewal Incorporating scent into a museum setting is always a challenge, especially when sharing space with other artists and their work. For Flow States, La Trienal del Museo del Barrio, this "limitation" shaped my approach. I covered the entrance walls with Little Trees air fresheners in the scent of Caribbean Colada. This installation continues my exploration of the scent of the sea, but from a different perspective. Here Caribbean Colada introduces a commercially produced scent that reflects the frequent exploitation and commercialization of Caribbean imagery as paradise. At the same time, this scent evokes feelings of longing and demonstrates the powerful ability of smell to create spaces of belonging and recovery. The Caribbean Colada scent, with its notes of coconut and pineapple, serves as a vivid reminder of the tropics as idealized realms. This choice also connects to the history of the Little Trees company, founded by Julius Sämann, a German-Jewish migrant who fled persecution during World War II and settled in Canada. Sämann's invention of Little Trees is a testament to the resilience of migrants who, despite displacement, contribute profoundly to global culture. By using this scent, the installation subtly honors this legacy, weaving together narratives of migration, survival, and the commercialized imagery of paradise that often obscures deeper histories. This installation blends utility and accessibility, creating a sensory experience that resonates with museum visitors and the broader community. Initially, the plan was to completely cover the walls in an overlapping pattern, making it difficult to immediately identify the objects. However, the intensity of the scent required adjustments, allowing each visitor to take a Little Tree with them, dispersing the scent beyond the museum walls. Crowning the installation is a neon piece titled Perpetual Renewal. This sculpture features two intertwined profiles with conjoined respiratory tracts, forming a 2.5-foot diameter neon ring that bathes the entryway in hues of pink and blue, reminiscent of a sunset. It serves as a tribute to shared rhythms and a longing for synchronized experiences. Originally produced in 2013 but later lost, the piece has been re-created with the help of Sony, the neon artist I’ve collaborated with since art school. These elements tie together my artistic journey, linking early explorations to the themes I am deeply invested in today. <img width="5556" height="7408" width_o="5556" height_o="7408" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7533dda0676244c620b80dc94535ad3d7c4e1f10d0c24753ff39e15cd631d67a/241004_EmDB-Trienal-Installs_Entry_07-Main.jpg" data-mid="223517315" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7533dda0676244c620b80dc94535ad3d7c4e1f10d0c24753ff39e15cd631d67a/241004_EmDB-Trienal-Installs_Entry_07-Main.jpg" /> https://chavelisifre.com/Metamorfica Wed, 06 Nov 2024 10:49:42 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/Metamorfica MetamórficaMetamórfica, now permanently nestled within the majestic expanse of El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico, stands as a tribute to the island's powerful geodynamic forces. Unveiled as part of Arte Yunque: Ensayos en la Naturaleza, the work honors the elemental processes that have shaped not only the forest's landscape but also the rich, complex cultural identity of Puerto Rico. Metamórfica draws from the elemental processes that formed El Yunque, intense heat, tectonic shifts, and volcanic activity, reminding us of the power and resilience of the tropical rainforest as a living entity. This work pays homage to El Yunque as a vital energy center, revered since ancestral times, and considers how the forces of nature mirror the complexities of Puerto Rican identity. At the heart of Metamórfica lies the ancient spiral, a transcultural symbol of transformation, rebirth, and the cyclical nature of existence. Found in petroglyphs, architecture, and ritual objects across cultures, the spiral connects the physical and spiritual realms, embodying a universal rhythm shared by all life. In Puerto Rico, the spiral reflects the cultural and natural forces that have continuously shaped the island, much like hurricanes, whose spiraling patterns bring both destruction and renewal. <img width="1134" height="2016" width_o="1134" height_o="2016" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c9f69af9181d20fbb29643afdeeb885cd71e3aaf54a64596d3c41ac0746b0100/be607bd6-354a-45bd-b5cd-4bb65a91da16.JPEG" data-mid="221263719" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c9f69af9181d20fbb29643afdeeb885cd71e3aaf54a64596d3c41ac0746b0100/be607bd6-354a-45bd-b5cd-4bb65a91da16.JPEG" /><img width="1134" height="2016" width_o="1134" height_o="2016" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/34fdd18b11a673e4b06ab6d777e4756661a0cd3c45c41799a38c646a01b801ad/16391ddb-23cd-477b-bc65-2fb2977de47f.JPEG" data-mid="221263717" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/34fdd18b11a673e4b06ab6d777e4756661a0cd3c45c41799a38c646a01b801ad/16391ddb-23cd-477b-bc65-2fb2977de47f.JPEG" /><img width="1200" height="1600" width_o="1200" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/135f22e602b3a09d12cd7c77e75b4bcfd5e6ab6807e6899d1c84c62abfdbbd90/9139caad-5487-453b-b2b5-f5a83860fde7.JPEG" data-mid="221263715" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/135f22e602b3a09d12cd7c77e75b4bcfd5e6ab6807e6899d1c84c62abfdbbd90/9139caad-5487-453b-b2b5-f5a83860fde7.JPEG" /> https://chavelisifre.com/Adonia Mon, 23 Sep 2024 14:34:28 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/Adonia Adonia Adonia consists of four glass limbs made of transparent opalescent glass, each filled with camphor, resting in the center of the room. The title references an ancient Greek festival dedicated to Adonis, a figure embodying beauty and desire, connected with cycles of life, death, and rebirth. Women would plant quick-growing herbs that flourished rapidly only to wither, mirroring Adonis‘ tragic and cyclical story. These rituals of mourning and rebirth were intimate, private, and primarily observed by women.My work engages with body parts and ex-votos, votive offerings that transcend time and culture. They’ve historically been given in gratitude for divine favors, but also as a form of bargaining.Camphor, a resin native to Southeast Asia, has been revered across cultures for centuries. In Puerto Rico, it plays a vital role in spiritual cleansings and is also used as an insect repellent. This remarkable substance sublimates, transforming directly from a solid to a gas, releasing a distinct mentholated aroma that lingers while it disappears into thin air.It’s a true honor to be part of this powerful show. My deepest congratulations to the artists, curators, and the amazing team at JSF.Works by:Jo Baer, Rosa Barba, Theresa Baumgartner, Paul Chan, Trisha Donnelly, Laurel Halo, Lotus L. Kang, LABOUR (Farahnaz Hatam &amp; Colin Hacklander), Ghislaine Leung, David Medalla, Carsten Nicolai, Norbert Pape &amp; Simon Speiser, Giovanna Repetto, Chaveli Sifre, Jesse Stecklow, Anicka Yi.After Images11 September 2024 - 27 April 2025Julia Stoschek FoundationLeipziger Strasse 60, 10117 Berlin, Germany Showcased in&nbsp; Berlin Art Week Fotorückblick 2 024 Vougue Germany <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/99d92b42052fdad45178081a9820ebf9112e2169ad4d4d172aa36e7587cb4f2b/Adonia-full.jpg" data-mid="218540276" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/99d92b42052fdad45178081a9820ebf9112e2169ad4d4d172aa36e7587cb4f2b/Adonia-full.jpg" /> <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/30420e653c12e0b73d9db3b4173a36b3a422c0e1bcaaad2dcdc5152c7e33ef5b/Adonia-Hand.jpg" data-mid="218540265" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/30420e653c12e0b73d9db3b4173a36b3a422c0e1bcaaad2dcdc5152c7e33ef5b/Adonia-Hand.jpg" /> <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/beace49f8864c9b7a3c50d7932ed9c3bb8dba97d9d5e12cb4f962f802a2d2503/Adonia-Leg2.jpg" data-mid="218540267" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/beace49f8864c9b7a3c50d7932ed9c3bb8dba97d9d5e12cb4f962f802a2d2503/Adonia-Leg2.jpg" /> <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/71d37470adb2a850a5844bfe6ba7abdd3fa64ae6e2b649aa113bb47ecf2fae4f/Adonia-Leg.jpg" data-mid="218540268" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/71d37470adb2a850a5844bfe6ba7abdd3fa64ae6e2b649aa113bb47ecf2fae4f/Adonia-Leg.jpg" /> <img width="2206" height="3307" width_o="2206" height_o="3307" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/628794786a7ac2cb3d9b16daf78bba88582d6f58058cc12c02c13bcc3785d857/2024-JSF-After-Images-15_CHAVELI-SIFRE_29-4.jpg" data-mid="221261393" border="0" alt="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." data-caption="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/628794786a7ac2cb3d9b16daf78bba88582d6f58058cc12c02c13bcc3785d857/2024-JSF-After-Images-15_CHAVELI-SIFRE_29-4.jpg" /> <img width="2206" height="3307" width_o="2206" height_o="3307" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c0c171aaa9054484e34cf9030f98a932b7cca1bfd31ef88dda8034c7b3ee2643/2024-JSF-After-Images-15_CHAVELI-SIFRE_29-2.jpg" data-mid="221261572" border="0" alt="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." data-caption="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c0c171aaa9054484e34cf9030f98a932b7cca1bfd31ef88dda8034c7b3ee2643/2024-JSF-After-Images-15_CHAVELI-SIFRE_29-2.jpg" /> <img width="2206" height="3307" width_o="2206" height_o="3307" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/aa272c4f709308b8b06a961b2ff69fe4dea885b01934d74d12d507e29869b825/2024-JSF-After-Images-15_CHAVELI-SIFRE_29-3.jpg" data-mid="221261591" border="0" alt="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." data-caption="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/aa272c4f709308b8b06a961b2ff69fe4dea885b01934d74d12d507e29869b825/2024-JSF-After-Images-15_CHAVELI-SIFRE_29-3.jpg" /> <img width="2206" height="3307" width_o="2206" height_o="3307" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1cdbee1884953d7e862878ef2f35bee066f774058a51f692fb3835b6b8d2007f/2024-JSF-After-Images-15_CHAVELI-SIFRE_29-1.jpg" data-mid="221261596" border="0" alt="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." data-caption="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1cdbee1884953d7e862878ef2f35bee066f774058a51f692fb3835b6b8d2007f/2024-JSF-After-Images-15_CHAVELI-SIFRE_29-1.jpg" /> <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/703183dbfb791c6ae4b605ddd4cb785b5240e3e82dbaa77b1420392b73f032ad/Adonia-Camphor.jpg" data-mid="218540274" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/703183dbfb791c6ae4b605ddd4cb785b5240e3e82dbaa77b1420392b73f032ad/Adonia-Camphor.jpg" /> <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/58a69b97d693dd33f1494d298603a2e79f7e41357eb97600454f86128d0b0c69/Adonia-yo.jpg" data-mid="218540275" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/58a69b97d693dd33f1494d298603a2e79f7e41357eb97600454f86128d0b0c69/Adonia-yo.jpg" /> <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ca354c8522da8624231bf1a9d255e0ce85fbe34369b4f1c760b8c44414cc0abd/Adonia-Flora-y-Yo.jpg" data-mid="218540273" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ca354c8522da8624231bf1a9d255e0ce85fbe34369b4f1c760b8c44414cc0abd/Adonia-Flora-y-Yo.jpg" /> <img width="4488" height="2994" width_o="4488" height_o="2994" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/53f9a3f8c17a92c24cd42c7463317a43e6dcb1502f9aedb9028a8b068af6d201/ADONIA-at-Julia-Stoschek-Foundaton.jpg" data-mid="221261599" border="0" alt="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." data-caption="Chaveli Sifre, Adonia, 2024. Installation view, AFTER IMAGES, JSF Berlin. Photo: Alwin Lay." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/53f9a3f8c17a92c24cd42c7463317a43e6dcb1502f9aedb9028a8b068af6d201/ADONIA-at-Julia-Stoschek-Foundaton.jpg" /> https://chavelisifre.com/Rest-Riot Mon, 23 Sep 2024 14:47:04 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/Rest-Riot Rest &amp; Riot Rest&amp;Riot is an olfactory installation, that occupies the Miriam Makeba auditorium inside Haus der Kulturen der Welt transforming it into a space for rest, contemplation, and reimagination through sound and scent. Abanicos, standing fans, and scent recreate a gentle sea breeze, a stimulating pathway towards remembrance and connectivity, and an immersive moment to ruminate sensorially on oceans as contextual and contested spaces, isolating and uniting people around the world.“Ausente de mis playas rumorosas” or “Absent from my murmuring beaches” the concoction of multiple sea accords has become a soothing excercise on remembrance and proximity, as if every new composition opened up a portal, transatlantic, transtemporal, bringing me closer to my island and my people.I love that the fans diffuse the scent, they remind me of drifting away in my grandmother’s house or waiting eternally at a governmental office, the ac has been dead for years and time takes another consistency, more melao and less sand.These fans together as in a chorus generate an oceanic breeze and their sound also takes you to the shore. This composition blends the potent aroma of sargasso algae with fresh green cilantro leaves, coconut pulp, and other subtle saline notes.The installation took place as part of Bwa Kayiman—Tout Moun se Moun, I, curated by Marie Helene Pereira and Atabey (Carlos Maria Romero) <img width="2500" height="1667" width_o="2500" height_o="1667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/21380793b5e1faa1861354a6ffc0dbc9d08bb17e2da5fdfde49c2bd69f8ed2ac/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-1.jpg" data-mid="218540547" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/21380793b5e1faa1861354a6ffc0dbc9d08bb17e2da5fdfde49c2bd69f8ed2ac/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-1.jpg" /> <img width="2500" height="1667" width_o="2500" height_o="1667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e30ba241d7d03c85cddffb8d0d9d94d1e8cb4b4d5c01ecab744ed4033a0890e8/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-2.jpg" data-mid="218540550" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e30ba241d7d03c85cddffb8d0d9d94d1e8cb4b4d5c01ecab744ed4033a0890e8/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-2.jpg" /> <img width="2500" height="1667" width_o="2500" height_o="1667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fb8c59153e7347aa5f4df338801e1bba071bf950956bad99014f528e5189f29f/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-3.jpg" data-mid="218540549" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fb8c59153e7347aa5f4df338801e1bba071bf950956bad99014f528e5189f29f/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-3.jpg" /> <img width="6240" height="4160" width_o="6240" height_o="4160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/662a4bb521920b36e576eac21e58737f7191b0c2b2bf39458c81155d16767931/philipp-albers-bwa-kayiman-2024.jpg" data-mid="218540551" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/662a4bb521920b36e576eac21e58737f7191b0c2b2bf39458c81155d16767931/philipp-albers-bwa-kayiman-2024.jpg" /> <img width="1667" height="2500" width_o="1667" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/da74f212e176d0ee9c797c403206b50f194d57265f9e09df4d039761d2c39378/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-4.jpg" data-mid="218540548" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/da74f212e176d0ee9c797c403206b50f194d57265f9e09df4d039761d2c39378/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-4.jpg" /> https://chavelisifre.com/HKW Wed, 25 Sep 2024 09:11:57 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/HKW Rest &amp; Riot Rest&amp;Riot is an olfactory installation, that occupies the Miriam Makeba auditorium inside Haus der Kulturen der Welt transforming it into a space for rest, contemplation, and reimagination through sound and scent. Abanicos, standing fans, and scent recreate a gentle sea breeze, a stimulating pathway towards remembrance and connectivity, and an immersive moment to ruminate sensorially on oceans as contextual and contested spaces, isolating and uniting people around the world.“Ausente de mis playas rumorosas” or “Absent from my murmuring beaches” the concoction of multiple sea accords has become a soothing excercise on remembrance and proximity, as if every new composition opened up a portal, transatlantic, transtemporal, bringing me closer to my island and my people.I love that the fans diffuse the scent, they remind me of drifting away in my grandmother’s house or waiting eternally at a governmental office, the ac has been dead for years and time takes another consistency, more melao and less sand.These fans together as in a chorus generate an oceanic breeze and their sound also takes you to the shore.This composition blends the potent aroma of sargasso algae with fresh green cilantro leaves, coconut pulp, and other subtle saline notes.The installation took place as part of Bwa Kayiman—Tout Moun se Moun, I <img width="2500" height="1667" width_o="2500" height_o="1667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9f4cfe1b75f2923ad2defa7f85af2707770fde8abd5baf12d5e4d75d47a4b963/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-1.jpg" data-mid="218658772" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9f4cfe1b75f2923ad2defa7f85af2707770fde8abd5baf12d5e4d75d47a4b963/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-1.jpg" /> <img width="1667" height="2500" width_o="1667" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/30134b9e642f4dc086b6aa2a6ca0759c8e11c0bd6da9e8d7fc4da94b8caf258d/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-4.jpg" data-mid="218658775" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/30134b9e642f4dc086b6aa2a6ca0759c8e11c0bd6da9e8d7fc4da94b8caf258d/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-4.jpg" /> <img width="1667" height="2500" width_o="1667" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/30134b9e642f4dc086b6aa2a6ca0759c8e11c0bd6da9e8d7fc4da94b8caf258d/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-4.jpg" data-mid="218658775" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/30134b9e642f4dc086b6aa2a6ca0759c8e11c0bd6da9e8d7fc4da94b8caf258d/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-4.jpg" /> <img width="2500" height="1667" width_o="2500" height_o="1667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/885c1031b977b8a28043055898ea08ad0a4310186d56d78d367c942b72099afa/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-3.jpg" data-mid="218658774" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/885c1031b977b8a28043055898ea08ad0a4310186d56d78d367c942b72099afa/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-3.jpg" /> <img width="2500" height="1667" width_o="2500" height_o="1667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ae35312e7ed953d79bd109518e349d0df939834f1b074fa0743cb0ea3897a36e/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-2.jpg" data-mid="218658773" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ae35312e7ed953d79bd109518e349d0df939834f1b074fa0743cb0ea3897a36e/silke-briel-bwa-kayiman-2024-2.jpg" /> https://chavelisifre.com/Brindis-Animista Wed, 25 Sep 2024 08:41:09 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/Brindis-Animista &nbsp; Brindis Animista The many incarnations of a ritual -A distillation of ashes and sea water, a verbena, sage, lavender, thyme, rosemary, and artemisa elixir, a toast to cycles, to fragility and impermanence to transformationWhat are ashes? They are what the fire left us: alkaline, fertilizing, and purifying. Evidence that nothing ends, it only transforms; life is a ray of light that passes through everything. Brindis Animista explores two versions of the same ritual and connects them through a distillation, an extraction of matter, a metamorphosis. The Night of San Juan is an example of syncretism and how traditions transmute over time, layering multiple meanings. We approach these ancestral gestures, which today are cultural traditions, through the steam distillation of the ashes from San Juan bonfires with water from the Mediterranean Sea. The distillation process extracts the aromatic molecules of the materials, capturing their intangible essence, revealing aspects that transcend their immediate physical properties. The Convent dels Àngels, formerly an underground crypt, becomes the stage for this transformation. The work unites two traditions from the Night of San Juan: the bonfires and the burning of herbs in Barcelona, and the ritual baths in the sea practiced in Puerto Rico on the same date. Distilling the ashes with seawater produces an aroma that encapsulates both practices, like a photograph without an image, an invisible essence. The ashes, as remnants of combustion, demonstrate the transformation of matter, acting as fertilizers that enable continuity and fertilize the future. The seawater, the origin of life, speaks to us of purification, of passages and connection between territories and shared tradition. Both fire and water, opposing elements, share the symbolic function of purification. Through distillation, we extract a perfumed liquid that synthesizes their aromatic profiles and reveals their symbolic essence. Brindis Animista also takes the form of a fountain, an offering to visitors made with water from the Font de Santa Anna, famous for its healing properties, infused with the herbs of San Juan. This oasis in the crypt subverts the original intent of the space, as one of perpetual rest and death, exploring beliefs in healing and folk medicine. The herbs used, known for their healing and protective properties, infuse the water and scent the space of the crypt. The humidity, the steam, the smells of the herbs, and the ashes intertwine, inviting us to discuss the metamorphosis of matter as a unifying process of the earthly body.This performance took place on 28.06.2024 at the Cripta del MACBA as part of the program INVOCACIONS. <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/729e4f81bcd620d9519107456876827ccc5725b26aff46e48e917f20e9c546d4/IMG_7360-1.jpg" data-mid="218657558" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/729e4f81bcd620d9519107456876827ccc5725b26aff46e48e917f20e9c546d4/IMG_7360-1.jpg" /> <img width="567" height="1008" width_o="567" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7826479dfd4baacb7073d54424a8eda2233622397020d463955994900aed5d4a/7C5B8919-6F72-42DC-BB09-5FDC60FD0347.jpg" data-mid="218657469" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/567/i/7826479dfd4baacb7073d54424a8eda2233622397020d463955994900aed5d4a/7C5B8919-6F72-42DC-BB09-5FDC60FD0347.jpg" /> <img width="720" height="1280" width_o="720" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/19df701d1ba5f50cd869cf40ffe099cc6732765b2dfce9b150634b8bb978067e/C068BC21-7CD2-4658-A46C-811AA59C40D7.jpg" data-mid="218657478" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/720/i/19df701d1ba5f50cd869cf40ffe099cc6732765b2dfce9b150634b8bb978067e/C068BC21-7CD2-4658-A46C-811AA59C40D7.jpg" /> <img width="2823" height="2887" width_o="2823" height_o="2887" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/58f5caae14af189272ebd76f955b6539158a674b5e508f6834b07737965bdf89/ojos.jpg" data-mid="218711327" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/58f5caae14af189272ebd76f955b6539158a674b5e508f6834b07737965bdf89/ojos.jpg" /> <img width="843" height="1122" width_o="843" height_o="1122" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/700c147eda4da8b77446e03707d6d3e182b7144cdefcd0910aec43f7ea5064d2/80C42C26-024E-43DE-8E12-4DFE355F4ACF.jpg" data-mid="218657471" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/843/i/700c147eda4da8b77446e03707d6d3e182b7144cdefcd0910aec43f7ea5064d2/80C42C26-024E-43DE-8E12-4DFE355F4ACF.jpg" /> <img width="1633" height="2449" width_o="1633" height_o="2449" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/91b937e65f0fbbb396433810abe0e523aea7c571e30398792f67309313c9ce56/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_02.jpg" data-mid="218657406" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/91b937e65f0fbbb396433810abe0e523aea7c571e30398792f67309313c9ce56/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_02.jpg" /> <img width="1633" height="2449" width_o="1633" height_o="2449" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/37dffd1fba1d13cb861003483fac48e20c1144fcfbb50af17a9b96581539985c/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_09.jpg" data-mid="218657411" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/37dffd1fba1d13cb861003483fac48e20c1144fcfbb50af17a9b96581539985c/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_09.jpg" /> <img width="567" height="1008" width_o="567" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e0716895b506fbbc9fb981c69dd553f63543c45ea1418dc2203a731bbb1500d2/43895F29-F869-46A0-B1D9-E70DE854F67D.jpg" data-mid="218657473" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/567/i/e0716895b506fbbc9fb981c69dd553f63543c45ea1418dc2203a731bbb1500d2/43895F29-F869-46A0-B1D9-E70DE854F67D.jpg" /> <img width="1633" height="2449" width_o="1633" height_o="2449" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/11e8a84854df9ba73309761986dfa219cee4f708064cbfd6fd7f152bebc800b8/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_07.jpg" data-mid="218657412" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/11e8a84854df9ba73309761986dfa219cee4f708064cbfd6fd7f152bebc800b8/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_07.jpg" /> <img width="567" height="1008" width_o="567" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7826479dfd4baacb7073d54424a8eda2233622397020d463955994900aed5d4a/7C5B8919-6F72-42DC-BB09-5FDC60FD0347.jpg" data-mid="218657469" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/567/i/7826479dfd4baacb7073d54424a8eda2233622397020d463955994900aed5d4a/7C5B8919-6F72-42DC-BB09-5FDC60FD0347.jpg" /> <img width="1633" height="2449" width_o="1633" height_o="2449" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0c89159717e8e8d225fa8029b1cd8958f9e5e5bdbed1de10bce3c71f6686fe9c/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_12.jpg" data-mid="218657409" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0c89159717e8e8d225fa8029b1cd8958f9e5e5bdbed1de10bce3c71f6686fe9c/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_12.jpg" /> <img width="2449" height="1633" width_o="2449" height_o="1633" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1d46d09547bca5fa584e86a3b2af84b9f0747d641fec397a46011f502ce55988/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_16.jpg" data-mid="218657413" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1d46d09547bca5fa584e86a3b2af84b9f0747d641fec397a46011f502ce55988/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_16.jpg" /> <img width="2530" height="1581" width_o="2530" height_o="1581" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f3a5d8761be8c5b7999f6d65a940c5d398de4013ee27c8be806939aa656b6ab3/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_01.jpg" data-mid="218657404" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f3a5d8761be8c5b7999f6d65a940c5d398de4013ee27c8be806939aa656b6ab3/Invocacions_I_Chaveli-Sifre_Agua-de-Fuego_fot-Dani-Canto_01.jpg" /> https://chavelisifre.com/Reverse-Alchemy Mon, 17 Jul 2023 09:20:52 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/Reverse-Alchemy REVERSE ALCHEMY For Liste, multidisciplinary artist Chaveli Sifre presents Reverse Alchemy, exploring the mechanization within the human body alongside distillation, extraction, and currency, prompting viewers to reflect on the intricate relationship between our physical selves, societal structures, and the essence of belief. In real time, Sifre conducts an on-site distillation of coins sourced from various origins—found, donated, or retrieved from wishing wells—infused with locally sourced alpine medicinal plants and aromatic herbs. This unique scented extraction will progressively fill a collection of glass and ceramic vessels, and will be placed along the floor. An array of ceramic body parts, limbs and organs, in metallic tones evokes the spirit of ex-votos, sacred offerings that stand as tangible testimony to miraculous healing. Alongside them, a series of captivating paintings depict the complex alchemical process of distillation, encompassing alembics, steam, condensation, and fire with meticulous detail. In her seminal book “Caliban and the Witch”, Silvia Federici astutely unveils how a historical transformation towards primitive accumulation and capitalism was accompanied by a relentless "battle against the body.” This labor-power shift marked a significant departure from our collective understanding of the body, perceiving it as a contested terrain where our "lower impulses" and desires were to be eradicated in favor of a stringent "capitalist work-discipline." This mechanistic perception of the body, devoid of soul and reduced to a decipherable machine, facilitated its rationalized exploitation and subjugation. However, this stark view of the body stands in direct contrast to a "magical view of the world," characterized by an animistic conception of nature that recognizes no separation between matter and spirit. In this enchanted worldview, the cosmos is envisioned as a living organism, intricately intertwined and interconnected. The ritualistic act of distilling currency serves as a potent magical revolt, extracting the latent energy and dormant desires embedded within the very essence of money. This transformative process can be seen as a reversal of alchemy, intertwining the realms of physical and metaphysical extraction, ultimately yielding an aromatic concoction. This mystical elixir is then reintegrated into the sculptural body parts, thus realigning and reinvigorating the power of magical thinking as a profound manifestation of "social insubordination." Drawing inspiration from traditional religious goods stores found in Latin America called Botánicas, Reverse Alchemy not only encapsulate the dispensation of religious paraphernalia, medicinal herbs, and luck-infused perfumes for love and prosperity, but also reflect the inclusion of services for spiritual cleansings—or limpias—and divination, forming a captivating exploration of cultural heritage and transcendent artistry. By reclaiming the transformative potential of magic, the ritual in Reverse Alchemy reestablishes its pivotal role in challenging societal norms and empowering individuals to transcend the boundaries of conventional belief systems. <img width="1467" height="2200" width_o="1467" height_o="2200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d2bb764b146fe88a0044d28276591c8b71fb84b215b7308b1954b506d21d78b2/4.-ChaveliSifre_EMBAJADA_Booth88_Liste.jpg" data-mid="185288212" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d2bb764b146fe88a0044d28276591c8b71fb84b215b7308b1954b506d21d78b2/4.-ChaveliSifre_EMBAJADA_Booth88_Liste.jpg" /> <img width="2200" height="1467" width_o="2200" height_o="1467" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ca0ab696b228c9d34022b5eaf1d881253b182bfbd0f946a5032ffb2a5b5130a7/3.-ChaveliSifre_EMBAJADA_Booth88_Liste.jpg" data-mid="185288211" border="0" 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data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b5ff1fa3c948cf19d1b13bb7b6a9cdfb1aad35e393e09e16ba3244b78e588b18/Screen-Shot-2023-07-17-at-11.41.33-AM.png" data-mid="185289185" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/720/i/b5ff1fa3c948cf19d1b13bb7b6a9cdfb1aad35e393e09e16ba3244b78e588b18/Screen-Shot-2023-07-17-at-11.41.33-AM.png" /> <img width="3024" height="3996" width_o="3024" height_o="3996" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/411bd585397988499028463a14391d72baff8365f80b7201d68d3b554f6fc9ff/dreamer.jpg" data-mid="185288523" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/411bd585397988499028463a14391d72baff8365f80b7201d68d3b554f6fc9ff/dreamer.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d081087e7a493fba863d3d0833dc23211aaa1e6ba15e48e11546177d2495c073/voice-note.jpg" data-mid="185288792" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d081087e7a493fba863d3d0833dc23211aaa1e6ba15e48e11546177d2495c073/voice-note.jpg" /> <img width="2958" height="3840" width_o="2958" height_o="3840" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1382ec879983800476cab985acdae5ac03bdd55556c1a489847f99b45dc18c7f/leg.jpg" data-mid="185288737" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1382ec879983800476cab985acdae5ac03bdd55556c1a489847f99b45dc18c7f/leg.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ed9ff11705fe4b3a448b01beab820245f813629a015b0761aa88c8c0d67c0fa2/flor-de-fuego.jpg" data-mid="185288721" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ed9ff11705fe4b3a448b01beab820245f813629a015b0761aa88c8c0d67c0fa2/flor-de-fuego.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/060f375d0456ecc195bbbc5062aee886b7f2f988321b194d495924397f8b98d9/star-gazing.jpg" data-mid="185288515" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/060f375d0456ecc195bbbc5062aee886b7f2f988321b194d495924397f8b98d9/star-gazing.jpg" /> <img width="1650" height="2200" width_o="1650" height_o="2200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4855a48367a14b887f3d04e7a399c34670c83e9affb12dc400f55d89505219bc/9.-ChaveliSifre_EMBAJADA_Booth88_Liste.jpg" data-mid="185288214" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4855a48367a14b887f3d04e7a399c34670c83e9affb12dc400f55d89505219bc/9.-ChaveliSifre_EMBAJADA_Booth88_Liste.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a5fdc8e7e21e67283a2fc22cab0191296a708c1c15e33795c998600616d6beeb/path-finder.jpg" data-mid="185288764" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a5fdc8e7e21e67283a2fc22cab0191296a708c1c15e33795c998600616d6beeb/path-finder.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a8b3b4ff6325f59735a632ad418ed31d03fb8d6948cd995432814d19a1e07e2c/scentient.jpg" data-mid="185288763" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a8b3b4ff6325f59735a632ad418ed31d03fb8d6948cd995432814d19a1e07e2c/scentient.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/106d8982b0cbad348fb6414a610688a405ce4279f98386c6dd5bd907dc16c924/lip-laberynth.jpg" data-mid="185288725" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/106d8982b0cbad348fb6414a610688a405ce4279f98386c6dd5bd907dc16c924/lip-laberynth.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/69786a7ef24effee8b3c45b6a3f88915661b534e38d470a9ad4c360a08dd147a/wish-water.jpg" data-mid="185288890" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/69786a7ef24effee8b3c45b6a3f88915661b534e38d470a9ad4c360a08dd147a/wish-water.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/502f6c46dc8f9675695c6f6c244bb104aa38cf38698b1739e4d49d0803f2ca79/lavander-sweat.jpg" data-mid="185288887" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/502f6c46dc8f9675695c6f6c244bb104aa38cf38698b1739e4d49d0803f2ca79/lavander-sweat.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6752512c5140dafdc5654bebe65ed6caaf77ce0ed27011c6a410981307d83c3a/condensing.jpg" data-mid="185288885" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6752512c5140dafdc5654bebe65ed6caaf77ce0ed27011c6a410981307d83c3a/condensing.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/32a1a9286df6e9c957b4790182eb95e41f8e7b144f9d83a9bd49aa6e795721b6/ylang-ylang-floral-water.jpg" data-mid="185288891" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/32a1a9286df6e9c957b4790182eb95e41f8e7b144f9d83a9bd49aa6e795721b6/ylang-ylang-floral-water.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a6d7526b4d4eb1d4788af9e3a58546eae8ad226f72cb0927e7c9bd21c9817549/tending-the-flame.jpg" data-mid="185288889" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a6d7526b4d4eb1d4788af9e3a58546eae8ad226f72cb0927e7c9bd21c9817549/tending-the-flame.jpg" /> <img width="750" height="1201" width_o="750" height_o="1201" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e6336fbdc6bd9815155ec5306451b5d00818542e9b213f30480417a2221b26d9/IMG_1441.jpeg" data-mid="185289548" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/750/i/e6336fbdc6bd9815155ec5306451b5d00818542e9b213f30480417a2221b26d9/IMG_1441.jpeg" /> https://chavelisifre.com/Smoke-Compositions Mon, 17 Jul 2023 09:58:21 +0000 Chaveli Sifre https://chavelisifre.com/Smoke-Compositions About Smoke - Invisible things, Reenchantments of the body. Our senses co-create our reality; there is a feedback loop between the senses that shapes and generates our external and internal worlds. Focusing on a sense, like a door or a window, allows us to transform, recalibrate our appreciation of the world and our reality. Understanding the hierarchy of the senses as an inherited, not fixed system, becomes then a decolonial tool. Smell is a portal; it simultaneously allows us to travel within ourselves, our associations, stories, and personal experiences. At the same time, it is a journey outward, towards the material world that comes into direct contact with our inner body; in other words, the act of smelling is a physical act of consuming something and making it ours. Smell can also be a time machine that grants us access to how ancestral worlds might have smelled. When we think about history, we often focus on facts, events, and things that happened, but this is an invitation to access the past through its sensory universe and our intangible heritage. I like to imagine a deep relationship, a sacred geometry, between the sinuous body of the river, a vitalizing artery of the Earth, and our own circulatory system. Similarly, tree resin, as a vital liquid, heals and invigorates the vegetal body. This connection leads us to reflect on the origins of our relationship with these resins and aromatic woods. Incense is as ancient and transcultural as fire itself; our ancestors discovered around ancestral bonfires that certain trees emitted distinct fragrances when burned. In the ancient world, where accessing the inner body was a challenge, smoke acted as a healing vehicle, penetrating the body without the need for a blade. The act of burning aromatic materials is present in all cultures, serving as both ritual and medicine, uniting the realms of the mundane (visible) and the divine (invisible). The act of inhaling becomes a magical act intimately linked to life. Standing before a river, we can visualize the flow of time itself. The river represents a sacred topography, quenching the thirst of the earth's body in the same way that our animal body is irrigated by blood. Likewise, resin or sap vitalizes vegetal bodies. When a tree suffers a wound, a liquid flows, covering it, and over time, it coagulates into a hard and shiny substance, similar to precious stones. The smoke that rises to the sky is also a connection with the invisible world, a bridge between the two realms, a mirror of our impermanence and transition. Click here to enjoy Smoke Compositions, an ASMR video meditation on the history and materials of incense <img width="2400" height="1601" width_o="2400" height_o="1601" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/de3f60ff562782e2df114680429b5a75f0939ad24687da55ee01d7b60c45c624/10.-ChaveliSifre_Embajada.jpg" data-mid="185290613" border="0" alt="Smoke Compositions | Tabonuco and Camphor is a ritual sculpture that invites us to consider the transformative power of smoke and its role in spiritual cleansing practices. The sculpture incorporates into the incense mixture tabonuco, a resin native to Puerto Rico used by the Tainos to light torches, and camphor, a substance commonly used in Caribbean cleansing practices known as &quot;la limpia&quot;. As the scent rises from the censer, it evokes the potent power of smoke in cleansing rituals across cultures, from the burning of sage in Native American traditions to the use of incense in Catholic and Buddhist practices. &quot;Smoke Compositions | Tabonuco and Camphor&quot; offers a rich exploration of the cultural, historical and symbolic dimensions of smoke and its place in the human experience. Through the use of tabonuco and camphor, the sculpture connects us to ancestral Taino practices and Caribbean cleansing practices, particularly those linked to the Ifa tradition," data-caption="Smoke Compositions | Tabonuco and Camphor is a ritual sculpture that invites us to consider the transformative power of smoke and its role in spiritual cleansing practices. The sculpture incorporates into the incense mixture tabonuco, a resin native to Puerto Rico used by the Tainos to light torches, and camphor, a substance commonly used in Caribbean cleansing practices known as &quot;la limpia&quot;. As the scent rises from the censer, it evokes the potent power of smoke in cleansing rituals across cultures, from the burning of sage in Native American traditions to the use of incense in Catholic and Buddhist practices. &quot;Smoke Compositions | Tabonuco and Camphor&quot; offers a rich exploration of the cultural, historical and symbolic dimensions of smoke and its place in the human experience. Through the use of tabonuco and camphor, the sculpture connects us to ancestral Taino practices and Caribbean cleansing practices, particularly those linked to the Ifa tradition," src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/de3f60ff562782e2df114680429b5a75f0939ad24687da55ee01d7b60c45c624/10.-ChaveliSifre_Embajada.jpg" /> <img width="1280" height="854" width_o="1280" height_o="854" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/58d4eb85b8434c75cb4f66df9590e2fedfedb0f8bd9a7d48481cec2a97d9ab22/image_processing20230314-2-11j8lr.jpg" data-mid="185290787" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/58d4eb85b8434c75cb4f66df9590e2fedfedb0f8bd9a7d48481cec2a97d9ab22/image_processing20230314-2-11j8lr.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="1500" width_o="2000" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4b8d6bd9a1eb5bb51f48787453733338ec2e5e03c9eb4e5e9ce38a685800945d/Chaveli-Sifre-at-Embajada_13.jpg" data-mid="185291456" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4b8d6bd9a1eb5bb51f48787453733338ec2e5e03c9eb4e5e9ce38a685800945d/Chaveli-Sifre-at-Embajada_13.jpg" /> <img width="2058" height="1360" width_o="2058" height_o="1360" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/049dfcfad5877b1e699d13c053f159cff297a93b317c258d135467f49ad993df/Screen-Shot-2023-05-31-at-1.38.05-PM.png" data-mid="185290618" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/049dfcfad5877b1e699d13c053f159cff297a93b317c258d135467f49ad993df/Screen-Shot-2023-05-31-at-1.38.05-PM.png" /> <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9bf26bdd3fa1e5bd5e1aa59a7cf25f2e4cb64848389357338753072cff5100e0/_75A2493.jpg" data-mid="185290798" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9bf26bdd3fa1e5bd5e1aa59a7cf25f2e4cb64848389357338753072cff5100e0/_75A2493.jpg" /> <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f96da4719ef671d7e17b9445db3846145e4af21b85f1642812401d318fb49267/_75A2523.jpg" data-mid="185290985" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f96da4719ef671d7e17b9445db3846145e4af21b85f1642812401d318fb49267/_75A2523.jpg" /> <img width="1684" height="1364" width_o="1684" height_o="1364" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/892d8310511efdca0fc443de4436146aabe281a13192b9ca295107d59a26b6f4/Screen-Shot-2023-05-31-at-1.36.55-PM.png" data-mid="185290615" border="0" alt="Smoke Compositions | Untitled (Theriaca Censer) 2022 Camphor, Ammonium Gum, and onycha operculum, ceramic &quot;Smoke Compositions&quot; is a ritual sculpture that takes the form of a penetrable censer in the shape of a modular, vibrating, zigzagging serpent, forming an ouroboros where incense burns. The shape of the censer evokes the winding course of the Gadalquivir River, where the work was activated, and the way the smoke rises and fills the air. The work also alludes to theriac, an ancient panacea made from various ingredients, including snakeskin, which was believed to cure most ailments. &quot;Smoke Compositions&quot; invites us to consider the intertwined histories of smell, medicine, commerce, and belief. The sculpture is a meditation on the enduring power of smell and its role in healing practices, as well as its associations with trade and exchange. By referencing theriacology, the work also speaks to the current fascination with panaceas and the promise of a universal cure." data-caption="Smoke Compositions | Untitled (Theriaca Censer) 2022 Camphor, Ammonium Gum, and onycha operculum, ceramic &quot;Smoke Compositions&quot; is a ritual sculpture that takes the form of a penetrable censer in the shape of a modular, vibrating, zigzagging serpent, forming an ouroboros where incense burns. The shape of the censer evokes the winding course of the Gadalquivir River, where the work was activated, and the way the smoke rises and fills the air. The work also alludes to theriac, an ancient panacea made from various ingredients, including snakeskin, which was believed to cure most ailments. &quot;Smoke Compositions&quot; invites us to consider the intertwined histories of smell, medicine, commerce, and belief. The sculpture is a meditation on the enduring power of smell and its role in healing practices, as well as its associations with trade and exchange. By referencing theriacology, the work also speaks to the current fascination with panaceas and the promise of a universal cure." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/892d8310511efdca0fc443de4436146aabe281a13192b9ca295107d59a26b6f4/Screen-Shot-2023-05-31-at-1.36.55-PM.png" /> <img width="2062" height="1372" width_o="2062" height_o="1372" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3f5eae5cf87d519d98c36ca5ac47871193633c245e5b0f92659999a7bb0c71b8/Screen-Shot-2023-05-31-at-1.37.11-PM.png" data-mid="185290616" border="0" alt="Smoke Compositions - a meditation on the history of the Guadalquivir, the incense trade route, and incense as heritage, both symbolic and material Incense is a ritual as old as fire. The burning of incense refers to the combustion of aromatic material, a cross-cultural tradition that accompanies the history of mankind. Its longevity and widespread use reveal the dual nature of incense as a substance with both affective and symbolic meanings. In Smoke Compositions, visitors were invited to experience a participatory intervention, exploring a curated selection of resins that would have traveled along the historic Guadalquivir River trade route. The exhibition offers a space for reflection on the cultural significance of smoke, as a cross-cultural phenomenon linking spiritual and material (health) pursuits. Embedded in these materials, we can find our history of trade and mortality. Much of the incense is obtained from tree sap, this vital liquid nourishes the plant in the same way that our blood vitalizes our body and the river vitalizes the earthly body. Both blood and sap protect and regenerate. Resin is a tree's response to a wound, a liquid that flows, coating and finally coagulating, becoming hard and shiny, like a jewel." data-caption="Smoke Compositions - a meditation on the history of the Guadalquivir, the incense trade route, and incense as heritage, both symbolic and material Incense is a ritual as old as fire. The burning of incense refers to the combustion of aromatic material, a cross-cultural tradition that accompanies the history of mankind. Its longevity and widespread use reveal the dual nature of incense as a substance with both affective and symbolic meanings. In Smoke Compositions, visitors were invited to experience a participatory intervention, exploring a curated selection of resins that would have traveled along the historic Guadalquivir River trade route. The exhibition offers a space for reflection on the cultural significance of smoke, as a cross-cultural phenomenon linking spiritual and material (health) pursuits. Embedded in these materials, we can find our history of trade and mortality. Much of the incense is obtained from tree sap, this vital liquid nourishes the plant in the same way that our blood vitalizes our body and the river vitalizes the earthly body. Both blood and sap protect and regenerate. Resin is a tree's response to a wound, a liquid that flows, coating and finally coagulating, becoming hard and shiny, like a jewel." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3f5eae5cf87d519d98c36ca5ac47871193633c245e5b0f92659999a7bb0c71b8/Screen-Shot-2023-05-31-at-1.37.11-PM.png" /> <img width="904" height="1368" width_o="904" height_o="1368" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2ccfdf533178a1dabeb7b710d0b8fe4622360b6df540d9707c0121c34cb69363/Screen-Shot-2023-05-31-at-1.37.22-PM.png" data-mid="185290617" border="0" alt="Smoke Compositions - a meditation on the history of the Guadalquivir, the incense trade route, and incense as heritage, both symbolic and material" data-caption="Smoke Compositions - a meditation on the history of the Guadalquivir, the incense trade route, and incense as heritage, both symbolic and material" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/904/i/2ccfdf533178a1dabeb7b710d0b8fe4622360b6df540d9707c0121c34cb69363/Screen-Shot-2023-05-31-at-1.37.22-PM.png" /> <img width="1028" height="578" width_o="1028" height_o="578" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5a1004533fbe5141ec259390d4bbf172138a35c44696f50416ee0ab60bca1988/Screen-Shot-2022-11-02-at-7.30.31-PM.png" data-mid="185291273" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5a1004533fbe5141ec259390d4bbf172138a35c44696f50416ee0ab60bca1988/Screen-Shot-2022-11-02-at-7.30.31-PM.png" /> <img width="1030" height="572" width_o="1030" height_o="572" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c05e0e02c2544c5eae1a4070f365dc74ba58f6c0c0db06f2ac3973d98ab93a9d/Screen-Shot-2022-11-02-at-7.22.43-PM.png" data-mid="185291033" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c05e0e02c2544c5eae1a4070f365dc74ba58f6c0c0db06f2ac3973d98ab93a9d/Screen-Shot-2022-11-02-at-7.22.43-PM.png" /> <img width="1600" height="1488" width_o="1600" height_o="1488" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/edd7361f214b4f45309e4feaef62fb1a2af0ab340b757402353ea73c678dfbe7/1c643182-5123-4123-879b-aff072a78beb.JPG" data-mid="185290904" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/edd7361f214b4f45309e4feaef62fb1a2af0ab340b757402353ea73c678dfbe7/1c643182-5123-4123-879b-aff072a78beb.JPG" /> <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/051726e3499149815e357bb8f7b7780561a60b5770ee5f31d03705484a227bca/_75A3703.jpg" data-mid="185290863" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/051726e3499149815e357bb8f7b7780561a60b5770ee5f31d03705484a227bca/_75A3703.jpg" />