Humid Traces

Curated by Federico Pérez Villoro

Humid Traces explores the ways in which bodies of water are turned into borders in the context of rising temperatures and extreme weather events. The show brings together a group of artists from around the globe whose work addresses the tactical use of water to reinforce artificial divisions of space. In doing so, they produce evidence on the violent effects of technologies used to control migration.

Through immersive installation, sound, photography, video, and data visualization, the artists’ practices offer multidisciplinary engagements with water’s material memory as a living record. They reorganize sensitive geographies of geological and human experiences, resourcing to our most intimate connections to water as an indivisible, shared mesh.

Image: Zishaan A Latif. The Edge, 2023. Courtesy of the Artist.

About the Curator

Federico Pérez Villoro is an artist and researcher based in Mexico City exploring the relationship between technology and political ecologies. His recent work investigates the ever-evolving morphology of the Rio Grande / Bravo and the shifting border between Mexico and the United States. His work has been exhibited at institutions such as Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Espacio Odeón, Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Palm Springs Art Museum, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Museo de Arte de Zapopan, and Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca. He is the founder of Materia Abierta, a program on theory, art, and technology in Mexico City developed with Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Museo Tamayo, and Casa del Lago UNAM. He is a research resident at TBA21-Academy where he investigates access to fresh water in the Caribbean. In 2023, he received the Jumex Grant Program Award from the Jumex Arte Contemporáneo Foundation and the C/Change Fellowship from the Goethe-Institut and Gray Area in the United States. He has been a resident at Pivô Pesquisa and Capacete in Brazil and at OCAT in China. His writing has been published by NACLA Report on the Americas, Luna Córnea, ADOCS, DELUS, The Serving Library, Printed Matter, C Magazine, Gato Negro Ediciones, diSONARE, Walker Art Center, and Quinto Elemento Lab. Federico has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and California College of the Arts and lectured at UC Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, ETH Zurich, Rutgers University, CalArts, The New School, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.