Within Fraccionar, an exhibition curated by Inti Guerrero for Estancia FEMSA – Casa Luis Barragán, the artist Michelangelo Miccolis presented a performance inspired by the Mexican-American choreographer José Limón (1908-1972), referring the series of black and white photographs from the Miguel and Rosa Covarrubias Archive.

Text given to the public before the performance:

Dear visitor,

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Michelangelo Miccolis and I’m a Mexican-born performer. Over the past 15 years I have mainly worked with visual artists who rely on delegated performers for the activation of time-based exhibitions. I have no formal training and I have mainly coached myself during the process.

What you are about to see is a series of fragments that I have been performing by myself during a few recent visits at Casa Barragan. I was invited by Inti Guerrero to respond to the current show FRACCIONAR, and I was immediately pointed to a series of drawings and photographs depicting choreographer José Limon during his only visit to Mexico City, the time during which he befriended Barragán. The shots are presumably attributed to Rosa Rolanda and show Limón taking various of his iconic poses for the camera, in the volcanic rocks of Pedregal, the same site where Barragán ultimately developed one his most renowned project.

My reading of this will be very simple. I will be using these images as a score and the rooftop terrace as a temporary stage. You are welcome to move freely once you reach the space. This is a rehearsal.

Thanks for coming.

Intro music:

William Basinski, Melancholia II, from Melancholia (2003), Temporary Residence Limited 2062.

Copyright Musex International. With permission by the author.

Song excerpts by Arca, Nils Frahm, Against All Logic and Gino Paoli.

MICHELANGELO MICCOLIS

Michelangelo Miccolis (1981, Mexico) is a visual arts performer and producer. Since 2017, he is the acting performance programmer of IMMATERIAL at Material Art Fair in Mexico City, as well as guest-curator for Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. Current and upcoming projects include The Army of Love, in collaboration with Ingo Niermann and Dora García; OFFSHORE, in collaboration with Cally Spooner; It Takes All The Fucking Time, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich; AVALANCHE #5: In Close Proximity, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva and osloBIENNALEN First Edition 2019-2024, Oslo.

Since 2005, he has worked internationally on projects by renowned artists and institutions including: Tino Sehgal, Dora García, Carlos Amorales, Cally Spooner, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Romeo Castellucci & Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, Venice Biennale, Fondazione Trussardi, Tate Modern, Palais de Tokyo, Museo Reina Sofia, IUAV University, and Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneva.