︎︎︎ FOUR DIMENSIONS OF A MONOLITH: LICHEN MYTHOLOGY
september - in progress , 2025
Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga* collaborates with Astro Escudero* and the collective she recently formed with filmmaker César Jumpa*: ZOOA. Based on their first collective work, a short film made from a series of pieces created by Astro in 2019, entitled
‘Four Dimensions of a Monolith’,
Astro and Cesar are taking advantage of this opportunity to develop their work together. Four Dimensions of a Monolith (2019) is based on a passage from the textbook Astro used to study history at school in Ecuador, which justifies the ‘attractiveness’ of sexual violence for indigenous Ecuadorian women during colonisation. In Astro's words, "this monolithic narrative
omits the complex and often brutal experience of colonisation for indigenous women". For this reason, Astro turns the passage into a monolith: a monumental architecture that hides the bodies of the victors with its simplistic forms and formulas. To reveal the Manichean and perverse mechanisms of this construction, the artist employs a series of sculptural and photographic strategies that ‘expand and invert’ the logic of the monolith, exposing it as such.
Astro and César then made a short film together as a collective for the first time, based on that series of pieces, in which another ‘monolith’ appears: the Monument to the Discovery of America in Plaza de Colón, Madrid. By connecting the two, the
reflection on the monolithic form of colonialism is broadened. Now, they propose to turn their gaze towards other bodies that often remain monolithically hidden: non-humans. The work they are embarking on will involve a meticulous microscopic review of the stones of the Monument to the Discovery of America and the Salime Reservoir with the aim of finding in them the texts written by absent planetary bodies, such as the microorganisms that proliferate in the concrete reliefs. In addition to microscopes, endoscopic cameras, thermosensitive cameras and contact microphones, the artists propose to explore the sculptural possibilities of formwork, since it was not only the main technique used in both of the architectures of power on which they intend to focus, but also because formwork is a mould for concrete traditionally made with wooden boards, so the technique literally involves leaving a void to be filled later. Colonialism is thus understood in a broad sense as coloniality, as an underlying, surreptitious ideology that creates voids and then fills them monolithically.
The four dimensions of the title refer to a dimension beyond mere three-dimensionality and, therefore, beyond what is perceptible to the naked eye.
*Claudia Rodriguez-Ponga is a lecturer and curator. She is an associate professor at Nebrija University, SUR Escuela (UC3M), IE University and a visiting professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM). She is curating a solo project by artist Eva Lootz, which will open on 8 May 2024 at Sala Alcalá 31, and has just opened, together with Sofia Saenz de Santa María, a space without a fixed location called ZONA. Her curatorial practice includes other solo exhibitions with Clara Carvajal (Centro Párraga de Murcia), Valeria Maculan (OTR Espacio de Arte), Sara Ramo (Sala Alcalá 31) and Debora Bolsoni (Athena Contemporanea, Drawing Lab Paris), as well as group exhibitions and collaborative projects such as ‘Nudo-Nido’, curated together with Isabella Lenzi and winner of ‘Se busca comisario’ (Sala de Arte Joven de la Comunidad de Madrid). Her latest publications include essays such as ‘Algo piensa’ (Something Thinks) in Revista Concreta, ‘Cuentos caníbales’ (Cannibal Tales), published by the Instituto de Estudios Postnaturales, ‘El tarot de Eva’ (Eve's Tarot) in Revista Accesos (UCM), ‘Sobre el arte como trabajo afectivo-reproductivo’ (On Art as Affective-Reproductive Work) in Revista Arte ConTexto, ‘¿Creen ustedes en lo que existe?’ (Do you believe in what exists?), in Revista Re-visiones (UCM), and ‘Crítica en estado de rêverie’ (Criticism in a state of reverie), in Revista de Occidente.
*Colectivo ZOOA. Founded in Madrid in 2023, bringing together an Ecuadorian artist and a Peruvian filmmaker. Our first project, the short film Cuatro Dimensiones de un Monolito (Four Dimensions of a Monolith), was presented at the Bienal Sur 2023 in Mexico and the Festival de Cine Peruano 2024 in Madrid. This project marked the beginning of a process that hybridises photography, cinema, plastic arts, literature and sound. We define ourselves as promiscuous intellectuals, interdisciplinary mestizos. Individually, the artist starts with the material to expand into photography, while the filmmaker contributes narratives that turn the everyday into myth. We are currently developing research for the second part of Cuatro Dimensiones de un Monolito, exploring its theoretical framework, proposing new alliances and experimenting with artistic strategies to create its visual art.
*Cesar Jumpa (b. 1983, Lima) Visual artist from Ecuador. He earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2019), where he received the Barbara De Genevieve Award. Astro graduated from the International Centre of Photography in Creative Practices (2021) and was selected as a New Media Fellow. In Chicago, Astro exhibited at Chuquimarca Projects, Baby Blue Gallery, and 6018 North. In Ecuador, he has had solo exhibitions at Galería Arte Actual (2015) and the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (2016) and has participated in group exhibitions at the Museo Camilo Egas (2016). Astro's work has been reviewed in Terremoto MX, Strange Fire Collective, New City Art Magazine, and Cartón Piedra. He attended the AIR Residency in Carrizozo, New Mexico (2020), and the Transmestizx Residency in Upayakuwasi, Cayambe, Ecuador (2017). Astro is currently a member of ZOOA Creativa and a resident at Le Bâtiment, Madrid.
*Astro Escudero (b. 1988, Quito) Screenwriter, writer, and photographer from Peru. He obtained his diploma in screenwriting from the Instituto del Cine Madrid (2023), studied showrunning at EFTI (2024), and graduated in humanities, with a specialisation in linguistics, from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2016). His photographic work has been exhibited as part of PhotoEspaña (2024) at Galería Mestiza, Madrid. He won the ABC Guionistas Short Film Competition (2023) and was selected in the Pitch category at the Series Land Festival, Bilbao (2024). As a writer, he has published articles and visual essays for Latin American media outlets such as VICE and Revista Anfibia. He has also collaborated with various Peruvian media outlets such as Diario Uno, Revista Siete and Revista Qué hacer. César is currently a member of ZOOA Creativa and a resident at Le Bâtiment, Madrid.