For What Cannot Be Recovered Can at Least Be Reenacted

Presented in February 2018, as part of the YEMA exhibition at Matadero, Madrid and Galerias Municipais, Lisbon

For What Cannot Be Recovered Can at Least Be Reenacted (2018) is a conceptual and perceptual attempt to restructure an excavation site from an uncontaminated space to an unstable and “inoperative” one. The material and immaterial traces of the island’s history delineate the underlying principle of the work. Instead of a physical arena and a sanctioned space, the excavation site is seen here as a hybrid field and a palimpsest of temporalities. Through the dispersion of the fragmentary sculptural objects the work physically and conceptually addresses questions of fragility and instability.

The local clay combined with the proliferation of ceramic finds at Katalymata with its local Minoan decoration offer a rich iconography comprising of various forms of spirals, wavy lines and crosses that become the primary source for the formulation of objects of Meijas. Central to the installation is the silent video taken in the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion that the artist visited together with Efthimis Theou serving as her guide. The archaeological objects confined in the vitrines’ shields are organized according to precise taxonomy claiming a sanctioned authority and an objective view of history through their presentation. The expressive “guiding” hand embodying a material relation with the objects offers a counterpoint for critical inquiry of an authoritative archaeological narrative.”

(Tina Pandi 2020, ‘Exercises in flowing archaeologies. On the work of Cristina Mejías with Efthimis Theou’, in C. Mejias (ed.), Gozo. You Can’t Leave Fingerprints on Stone, Madrid and San Sebastien, 61-62)

See also: http://cristina-mejias.com/forwhatcannot/

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