The pottery pieces on view were created between August 2021 and April 2022, and are the result of Tiravanija’s collaboration and were shaped by Margarita Cortés Cruz, Marisela Ortiz Cortés and Gregoria Cruz Peralta from Río Blanco Tonaltepec as well as Silvia García Mateos and Leopoldo Barranco in San Bartolo Coyotepec.

“As we drive through the countryside, I was thinking to myself that meeting all the artisans – all the ladies and Maestro Polo – and not being able to communicate directly, was interesting because then we had to relate to each other as humans. I found their humanity really open and giving, and I feel happy and grateful to all of them for that.

What was interesting to me was that even though they come from a very old and strong tradition, and they are not young anymore, they were open to work with a stranger and enjoy our differences. It is a lot to ask at this moment in the world.

As an experience, it was beyond what I expected. To live together for those days and learn from each other, it was a joyful human experience. Hopefully, with this collaboration, other people will be also touched by the work and help us continue this tradition to the next generation.”

–Rirkrit Tiravanija

During one of his visits to Rio Blanco Tonaltepec with Cooperativa 1050º and its community, Tiravanija discovered an abandoned stone house that became the inspiration for the exhibition. A wooden reproduction of this house resides in the middle of the gallery and serves as an intimate shelter for viewing the pottery pieces created for it. The structure on view at kurimanzutto was built to recall his encounter with this construction in the middle of the Oaxacan landscape, made of fired wooden planks that emanate the burnt smell of the potters’ ovens.

In previous exhibitions, Rirkrit Tiravanija created spatial environments for Asian tea ceremonies where the act of serving allows the participants to pause their regular activities and observe the present moment for the duration of the ritual. For the exhibition in Mexico, the artist created a similar environment where mezcal and pulque were served during the opening in the clay pieces as a means of honoring the two native beverages.

About the artist
Rirkrit Tiravanija received his BA from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1984, and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1986. From 1985-1986, he participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program. He has received numerous grants and awards, including the Absolut Art Award (2010), the Silpathorn Award by the Ministry of Culture in Thailand (2017), Hugo Boss Prize (2004), and Lucelia Artist Award by the Smithsonian American Art Museum (2003), among others.

Some of Rirkrit Tiravanija’s recent individual exhibitions include: Rirkrit Tiravanija. Tomorrow Is the Question, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy; Remai Modern, Saskatoon, Canada (2019); untitled 2018 (the infinite dimensions of smallness), Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission series, National Gallery Singapore (2018); The fire is gone but we have the light: Rirkrit Tiravanija & Korakrit Arunanondchai, Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, United States (2016); Tomorrow is the Question, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, (2016); U.F.O. (Universal Fantastic Occupation), Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2015); untitled 2015 (tomorrow is on our tongue, as today pass from our lips), Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil (CCBB) Distrito Federal, Brasilia (2015); Rirkrit Tiravanija: Tomorrow is the Question, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2015); FOCUS: Rirkrit Tiravanija, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, United States (2014); Portraits, Tate Modern, London (2013); On air, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2012); Print/Out, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012); Rirkrit Tiravanija: Demonstration Drawings, Drawing Center, New York (2008), among others.

Tiravanija lives and works in New York, Berlin, and Chiang Mai.

About Cooperativa 1050º
Cooperativa 1050º is a cooperative of potters from Oaxaca, Puebla and Chiapas. They offer simple and elegant hand-crafted clay products, which combine the wisdom of tradition and the dynamism of innovation. The colors of 1050° are the colours of Mexico, of its rich geography of mountains and hillsides, its flavours, smells and textures. They collaborate to create simple and elegant designs that bridge rural and indigenous worlds with urban modernity, the wisdom of tradition with the dynamism of innovation. They are part of Innovando la Tradición, a project for social design, fair trade, cultural development, and personal and community transformation through the know-how of pottery.