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29/4/2009

Gabriel Rossell Santillan

The Island, London

Daniele Geminiani - What is Obsidian?

Gabriel Rossell Santillán - Obsidian is the beginning of the entire project, when the Maracame / Huicholes shaman Dionisio tried to speak to the objects located in the Berlin-Dahlem ethnological museum. This is the first ritual – the ritual of the beginning.

DG - How did the idea of using the name of the stone as the title for this piece arise?

GRS - Obsidian is a volcanic glass that in Mexico has always been related to the divine. The name itself has the sound of something material, very concrete. It communicates information for the density of this stone. In Mesoamerica it was used as a mirror to study the astral movements related to notions of the sacred.

DG - Where does the stone come from?

GRS - Guadalajara, the same place the shaman comes from.

DG - Could the shaman understand why the objects belonging to his community had been placed in an ethnological museum in Germany?

GRS - No, because the Huicholes community isn’t aware of this concept of conservation. He was surprised to see a collection of object-bodies. After the ritual the shaman said that the objects were dead, that he couldn’t find anyone, in the sense that for him there is no such thing as a ritual object, they are beings that exist for renovate and maintain the cosmos. DG - Do you remember when the shaman first proposed the ritual to you?

GRS - It took years to gain permission to bring the shaman to another continent, as he did not possess valid documents (such as a passport, visa, or birth certificate). Once everything was ready and Dionisio had finally reached Berlin, he said he had a question to ask. He was sitting where you are now sitting and said that he had to perform a ritual chant. He had to ask the objects if they would give us consent to use them in the project. He also said that the object’s response would not have been negotiable.

*Extract from interview Berlin, 4 march 2009*

In his photography, videos, objects and installations, artist Gabriel Rossell Santillán, born in Mexico in 1976 and living currently in Berlin, questions the transformation of cultural knowledge. The assembly and structure of his work comes out of his studies in painting, drawing, literature and social sciences. His Huichol project is based on specific research and ethnographic work on field done in Mexico (Nayarit) in the Huichol community and at the Ethnologischen Museum in Berlin-Dahlem. In this project he developed a method in which he connects, in a delicate manner, the portrayal of rituals and cultural practices of the Huicholes with his ethnological knowledge, maintaining the characteristics of his current artistic mediums and an open and organic approach to materials.

In October 2008 Rossel Santillán has been awarded the DAAD grant for foreign students. He is currently receiving the NaFög scholarship (promotion of young art talents by the Berlin Senat). In late 2009 he will inaugurate the residency programme at The Island.

Opening: 30th April, 6 – 9 pm

The Island
96 Teeesdale Street - basement - London
The exhibition will be open daily by appointment.

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