Detail embroidery on fabric / variable measures / 2011
T I M E T H I E V E S
“Like Penelope, Ana Catalina is trapped within each moment, not only today but every day, with the purpose of creating time capsules which are to be transformed into artworks.”
During hours and days Ana Catalina Vicuña has symbolically punctured the ancient cloth of time with the trace of a needle. Days and hours committed to the erasure of each instant’s hints by means of those stitches. Every time Ana Catalina Vicuña undertakes this solemn practice, the cloth is ripped and gnawed at and as to mark the inevitable passing of a vain gesture that intends to steal the fleetingness of that which is elusive.
This unsubstantial gesture is the habitual basis Ana Catalina Vicuña uses to register every day and moment, as a prisoner marks their cell with the tenacious register of their sentence. Like Penelope, Ana Catalina Vicuña is trapped within each moment, not only today but every day, with the purpose of creating time capsules which are to be transformed into artworks. Every mark and line basted in the cloth is the theft of the seconds, minutes, hours and days of her eternal sentence.
This is why Ana Catalina Vicuña decided a long time ago to steal these vestiges and piece them together into fragments of closely guarded fabric treated as if they were encrypted relics with a meaning only known to her. She tells the story about the time she was investigating and encountered old registers on a group of monks who were ignored on non-Euclidean territories. They traced their silent prayers on a beach close-by the monastery.
Detail embroidery on fabric / variable measures / 2011
The waves came along and swept away these useless prayers that were despised due to this devout gesture’s eager form of worship. Since the prior was worried that the congregation would be affected, when they were caught doing this, the insubordinate monks were sent to prison where they continued to persist with their gestures. Now, the prayers were to be traced onto their own cells. Therefore, the cells were ordered to be painted every day and by doing this, even their own death was to be erased, as well as the tireless ravings that caused such commotion among their peers.
As time has gone by, this furtive story has been a reference for the newer generations of monks, who have practiced and kept this tradition for years. Nowadays, Ana Catalina Vicuña is a member of this fraternity, one of the Time Thieves, and now takes a part in this obscure story.
Ana Catalina Vicuña is currently a witness to these passing moments that she pointlessly intends to seize with the unremarkable gesture of the needle; a needle used for digging and drilling the coarse fabric. This is similar to that which was once intended by a group of monks who once tried to apprehend an accurate, tenacious and rigorous manifestation with the obsession of being in control, when they didn’t control anything.
As time has gone by, this furtive story has been a reference for the newer generations of monks, who have practiced and kept this tradition for years. Nowadays, Ana Catalina Vicuña is a member of this fraternity, one of the Time Thieves, and now takes a part in this obscure story.
Ana Catalina Vicuña is currently a witness to these passing moments that she pointlessly intends to seize with the unremarkable gesture of the needle; a needle used for digging and drilling the coarse fabric. This is similar to that which was once intended by a group of monks who once tried to apprehend an accurate, tenacious and rigorous manifestation with the obsession of being in control, when they didn’t control anything.
Arturo Duclós
