Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the experience of an exhibition organised on the basis of ethnographic research in Chiapas. This exhibition, which was held in Mexico and also in Europe, provided an opportunity to bring together different cultural worlds and political cultures.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation relates to the exhibition “Atlas-Caracol. Contemporary multiple configurationsan” an itinerant exhibition between Mexico and Europe (2022-2024) bringing together the work of Maya and Zoque artists.

They construct, deconstruct and recontextualise the meaning of the symbol of the snail, based on its various translations into Mayan languages, allowing us to explore the multiple meanings of a complex sign with a long history among contemporary Mesoamerican peoples and its persistence in Maya-zoque thought, which refers to non-linear time, the flow of movement and life.

Initially conceived in collaboration with a cultural space in Chiapas, the exhibition was subsequently held in several locations in France, Belgium and Spain with the participation of groups and associations involved in supporting indigenous communities and the Zapatista struggle.

Taking part in the curation of this exhibition became a way of reconfiguring encounters with European groups campaigning to open up political spaces through art. We're going to retrace the trajectory of this exhibition in terms of the decolonial issues it raises, and the heuristic paths it has opened up for extending and augmenting the field experience from which it initially emerged.