PENACHO VS PENACHO: verde esmeralda repandeciente [radiant esmerald green]

“The Penacho of Moctezuma is also part of the DNA of the Austrians,” declared Sabine Haag, then Director-General of the Weltmuseum in Vienna, Austria, where the famous pre-Hispanic featherwork piece is housed. Residing in genetic essentialism, Haag closed off the call for restitution that has followed the Penacho for decades.

The performance combines the dance practice of Alberto Montes Zarate with the live music of Andrés Guadarrama to generate an incantation that exorcises the impulse of genetic essentialism while also celebrating the birds whose feathers were used to craft the Penacho—quetzal, cuckoo, cotinga, and roseate spoonbill.

Based on the birds’ trills and the sequencing of their DNA, the performance also draws attention to the fight for the preservation of these species, as their genetic material could become a relic of the past if we allow them to go extinct, leaving us only to speak of them through the “archaeology of DNA.”

Dancer: Alberto Montes Zarate
Music: Andrés Guadarrama
Penacho Construction: José Arnaud

This performance was the closing act of the exhibition Archaeology of Suspicion: Transatlantic Leftovers, curated by Rían Lozano, at Casa del Lago UNAM.

Supported by
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