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As we dwell in the fold

October 10–November 7, 2024
Andrea Canepa

As we dwell in the fold is an immersive, large-scale, wearable installation of metal and fabric sculpture. The piece is designed to be a tactile and experiential work activated first by a performance and later by the audience of the exhibition. All objects can be interacted with wherein visitors alter the space through their experimentation with the many forms. This project is in part inspired by Canepa’s research into various protective fabrics and their relation to the body: from funerary bundles of the ancient Paracas pre-Columbian culture, to tapadas — Peruvian women in colonial Lima who used a veil to cover their faces revealing just one eye — to the folding patterns of modern-day parachutes. Drawing from ancient rituals and the Andean culture’s mythology of the underworld and death, Canepa explores how fabrics shape the way we relate to our bodies and the political and social aspects of un/wrapping or un/covering them. For the artist, fabrics can function as a preservation device — of the body, of identity — when the envelope it, but also as an aid to transcend body limits when they expand from it.

As we dwell in the fold debuted at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University in September, 2023. The exhibition was loaned to us by the Broad Art Museum, and we thank the staff of the museum for helping to make this exhibition possible.

The dance performance at the opening of the exhibition was performed by Kaylin Bazick, Emilee Bowden and Maggie Mallery of Turning Pointe School of Dance in Holland, Michigan.

Artist Biography

Andrea Canepa (b. Lima, 1980) is a visual artist who lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She works primarily with installation, sculpture, textiles and performance. She started her studies in fine arts at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and completed them at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, where she graduated with a master’s degree in visual arts and multimedia. She has received grants from the German Art Fund Foundation, the Senate for Culture and Europe in Berlin, Endesa Foundation (Spain), and awards including the ARCO Community of Madrid Prize for Young Artists and the Generaciones Prize (Spain). She has participated in a number of residencies, including Gasworks (UK), Jan Van Eyck Academie (Netherlands), Cité des Arts (France), Bauhaus Masters’ Houses (Germany), MATADERO (Spain), Tokyo Wonder Site (Japan), Beta Local (Puerto Rico), and was a 2018–2019 recipient of the Spanish Academy in Rome Fellowship. She’s also had solo shows at the MSU Broad Museum in Michigan, De Appel in Amsterdam, the Peruvian-American Cultural Institute (ICPNA) in Lima, Domus Artium Museum in Salamanca, the Museum of Teruel and Sant Andreu Contemporani in Barcelona. Her works are part of collections such as CA2M, IVAM, MSU Broad Museum and foundations such as Endesa, Montemadrid, DKV and Inelcom (Spain), Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (Germany) and MASM (Peru).

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