08 – MUCA Roma | frida cano

FRIDA CANO_08-01 — «08» at MUCA Roma, UNAM

08 is a work commissioned for the group exhibition entitled Indagaciones a la Colección MUCA Campus (Investigation of MUCA Campus’ Art Collection). The piece proposed the acquisition of the museum’s human assets which I collected through interviews of the museum staff and registered using official museum documents. (The 08 code means Artistic and Cultural Heritage.)

The exhibition was the final presentation of the course Museografía, Museología y Curaduría with Marco Barrera Bassols and Elías Levín at La Esmeralda. The original idea was to mix the artistic production with the curatorial work. As I was researching inside the MUCA’s art collection, I noticed that I was in fact interested in the people that worked there, more than just exhibit objects, I wanted to show the real value of a museum: its human capital.

One day, as I was talking with the chief curator at MUCA, I noticed that all of the objects in the museum had a code (a number) that began with «08». The curator told me that this code refer to the artistic and cultural heritage that belongs to the museum. That is when I came up with the idea for the piece.

FRIDA CANO_08-02 — «08» at MUCA Roma, UNAM

FRIDA CANO_08-08 — «08» at MUCA Roma, UNAM

I mimicked the binders that the museum used to catalogue its collection. I also alter its formats in order to produce my own version of how the museum’s staff could be valued as a 08-Artistic and Cultural piece. I made some interviews to the workers at the museum and got to know some extraordinary people. They told me about themselves, their specific role as museum’s staff, and some anecdotes that had some impact in their lifes.

This work was exhibited at Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte -Roma, in Mexico City next to the Passerby Museum/Museo Peatonal.

FRIDA CANO_08-06 — Indagaciones a la Colección MUCA Campus Invitation

During the exhibition, people was able to see the book and listen to some anecdotes from the original interviews –there was an audio in loop inside the room. I proposed this work for adquisition to the museum, this was an essential part of the art work.