"Never Spoken Again: Rogue Stories of Science and Collections"

On a desk of the private study collection of the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, an old stuffed parrot guards a small library and a vast, yet obsolete ornithology collection. An excited young scientist reads a story on the origins of the desiccated animal for the purpose of entertaining a group of visitors: it may have been the last “speaker” of a dead Indigenous language from colonial Venezuela, or a German prince’s precious gift to the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. There is no clear understanding which of these versions, if any, might be true.

Curated by David Ayala-Alfonso, Never Spoken Again: Rogue Stories of Science and Collections is a traveling exhibition that reflects on the birth of modern collections, the art institutions that sustain them, and their contingent origin stories to reveal a universe of erasures, violence, and fortuity. Considering how institutional collections organize our lives, Never Spoken Again brings together artists whose works open up a critique of material culture, iconography, and political ecologies.

Variously, the works make use of the language of the museum display and the ethnographical video to uncover stories of colonial exploitation, myths, fake currencies, war games, and the slow violence of systematic racism that historically underpin collecting practices. These practices examine not only the collected objects and the systems of distribution that facilitate their circulation, but also the disciplines and subjects of study that they trade in. Together they open the field for considering our agency in how our histories and futures may be constituted otherwise.

The exhibition tour has been organized by Independent Curators International (ICI).

Artists: Morehshin Allahyari, Maria Thereza Alves, François Bucher, Giuseppe Campuzano, Alia Farid, Sofia de Grenade, Laura Huertas Millán, Ulrik López, Carlos Motta, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Erkan Öznur, David Peña Lopera, Claudia Peña Salinas, Michael Rakowitz, Reyes Santiago Rojas, Daniel R. Small, and Felipe Steinberg

Never Spoken Again: Rogue Stories of Science and Collections is a traveling exhibition curated by David Ayala-Alfonso and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI). It is the result of a new series of programs, pioneered with the support of the Hartfield Foundation, aimed at providing opportunities to alumni of ICI’s Curatorial Intensive as they move through the stages of their career, and reflecting ICI’s commitment to fostering and championing new curatorial voices who will shape the future of the field. Never Spoken Again is made possible with the generous support of ICI’s Board of Trustees and International Forum, with additional support from SAHA. Crozier Fine Arts is the Preferred Art Logistics Partner.

About the Curator

David Ayala-Alfonso is a Colombian curator, artist, and researcher working between Bogotá, London, and Mexico City. Ayala-Alfonso is part of the editorial teams of Journal of Visual Culture, Cultural Anthropology, and {{em_rgencia}. He has been curator-in-residence and academic coordinator at FLORA ars+natura in Bogotá and lectured in different art schools in the U.S. and Colombia. He has published books and articles on interface theory, Latin American art history, artist-run spaces, performance studies, visual studies, urban sociology, anthropology of education, and artistic interventions in the public realm. He is also an occasional collaborator for different academic publications as a writer and translator. Recent work as a curator and as part of the art collective Grupo 0,29 has been featured at Museos de Arte at Banco de la República in Bogotá, South London Gallery, the David Rockefeller Center at Harvard University, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, Concordia University in Montreal, Columbia College in Chicago, and Centro Cultural La Moneda in Santiago. He has been awarded the Fulbright Grant, the AICAD post-graduate teaching fellowship, the ICI-Dedalus Award for Curatorial Research, and the Early-concept Grant for Exploratory Research at SAIC. Ayala-Alfonso holds an M.A. in visual and critical studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a specialization in art education from the National University of Colombia. He released publications on critical heritage and art in the public realm in 2019.

About the Independent Curators International

Independent Curators International (ICI) supports the work of curators to help create stronger art communities through experimentation, collaboration and international engagement. Curators are arts community leaders and organizers who champion artistic practice, build essential infrastructures and institutions, and generate public engagement with art. Our collaborative programs connect curators across generations and across social, political and cultural borders. They form an international framework for sharing knowledge and resources—promoting cultural exchange, access to art, and public awareness for the curator’s role. ICI’s flagship professional development program for curators, The Curatorial Intensive, supports emerging curators by bringing them together to gain new skills and perspectives on curating in partnership with advanced-career faculty. Since 2010, the program has taken place in more than 25 cities around the world and served 500 curators from 70 countries, who form an unparalleled, dynamic alumni network. http://www.curatorsintl.org/

Header Image:
François Bucher
Archival print from The Second and a Half Dimension (detail)
Printouts, letters, single-channel video, and book
Video: 9 minutes
Installation view at the House of World Cutures
Courtesy of the artist

Gallery:
Michael Rakowitz; The invisible enemy should not exist – Seated Nude Male Figure, Wearing Belt Around Waist (IM77823) (Recovered, Missing, Stolen Series), 2018 (detail); Middle Eastern packaging and newspapers, glue, and cardboard; 37.8 x 28.7 x 28.7 inches; courtesy of the artist and Barbara Wien Gallery
Daniel R. Small; Excavation II, 2016; mixed media installation; installation view at Hammer Museum; courtesy of the artist
Carlos Motta; Corpo Fechado-The Devil’s Work, 2018 (detail); installation view; courtesy of the artist and P·P·O·W Gallery
Ulrik López; Summon Song I (detail), Mayan screaming vase, 2018-2019; object replicas, fabricated archeological site, and sound; courtesy the artist, with support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant