Kïïka, 2023

This artwork is a work of indigenous futurism. Inspired by the Nierika, a sacred technology of the Wixárika community, of which Edgar is a descendant. Nierikas are maps of the universe and are used as divining tools that help facilitate ancestral communion and transcendental experiences. Not only are Nierika used for locating oneself within the world, they are also used to create cosmologies, ontologies, and, in essence, reality itself. kïïka, which translates to "come closer" or to "cuddle up", features a maximalist blend of personal and collective symbols, geometric shapes, and vibrant colors, combined with references to internet subcultures, abstract art, digital decay, and glitch aesthetics. 

This artwork was curated into the exhibition LIFELIKE: Exploring Body Sovereignty in Web3 by Katie Peyton Hofstadter.

LIFELIKE explores the work of ten artists logging biological, genetic, and behavioral information on a digital ledger, invoking a conversation about body sovereignty in Web3. This curated exhibition expands the ideas put forth in Hofstadter’s text, Bodies on the Blockchain (2022), with new works by select artists available for sale through private inquiry.

The artists in LIFELIKE bring a creative lens to the conversation: probing the ways information flows between our biological and virtual identities, expanding our vocabulary through imaginative scenarios, and using their own bodies to propel the conversation about the role – and rights – of all bodies in a hybrid world. By stress-testing so-called Web3’s effect on their own bodies, these ten artists also invite the possibility that the lab rats might now take back control.

VELLUM LA X EPOCH FEATURED ARTISTS

EDGAR FABIÁN FRÍAS · LANS KING · LAUREN LEE MCCARTHY · OONA x LORI BALDWIN · SAMMIE VEELER · WHITE MALE ARTIST AKA CASSILS · XIN LIU

EPOCH VIRTUAL EXHIBITION FEATURED ARTISTS

CASSILS · LANS KING · LAUREN LEE MCCARTHY · NICOLE WILSON · PUSSY RIOT · SPUTNIKO! · XIN LIU

Please see below for documentation from the installation as well as the opening of this exhibition by Vellum LA. Check them out on Instagram and Twitter.

Subsequent Iterations

Kïïka traveled to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and was exhibited as a part of LIFELIKE at the University Art Gallery Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. In addition to sharing the artwork in the exhibition Edgar was also invited by the curator Katie Peyton Hofstadter to lead a contemplative and performative experience as a part of the opening.

Documentation above by Memo Atken

Kïïka was curated into the exhibition SUMMERTIME by curator Marcela Vieira. SUMMERTIME considers the landscape as the consequence of human production, the result of the transformation from its natural state. The topography has long been divided, fragmented, and modified according to social, economic, and aesthetic motivations.

SUMMERTIME is a collaboration between SUPERCOLLIDER,  the Brand Library and Art Center, and Glendale Unified School District. Students from Glendale Unified School District will create works inspired by the curatorial concept of SUMMERTIME and artworks in the exhibition to be exhibited in conversation with SUPERCOLLIDER’s exhibition.

Including Work by:
Andrea Ganuza
Beatriz Toledo
Berfin Ataman
Brice Bischoff
Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas
Edgar Fabián Frías
Isabel Beavers
Janaina Wagner 
Joel Kuennen
Lauren Bon
Maurício Chades
Noara Quintana
Sofia Borges
Star Feliz
Wallace Masuko

Documentation courtesy of Brand Library & Art Center, photos by Ian Kose