35 mm colorized film transferred to video, soundlooped. 12 min.

The Olmec Head roundabout in Vallecas contains an exact replica of one of the colossal heads carved by the pre-Columbian Olmec culture. Donated to the city of Madrid by the Mexican state of Veracruz, the sculpture is completely out of context. Taking this unremarkable, transitory site as its starting point, Colosal no8 is conceived as a colossal film that speculates on the transfer of archaeological objects and the historical relations between Mexico and Spain.

A key dimension of the work is the experimentation with ‘applied colour’. This process brings a hypnotic quality to the film, contrasting the slow work of hand-colouring with the immediacy of the digital image. This aspect of the project required the artist to spend months working as a colourist, a job carried out mainly by women who, at the beginning of the 19th century, were fundamental to the early film industry.

Credits

Original music: Javi Álvarez

Voice: Nancy Cisneros

Activity subsidised by: Fundación Municipal de Cultura, Educación y Universidad
Popular del Ayuntamiento de Gijón/Xixón

Work developed at: Centro de Residencias Artísticas de Matadero Madrid y LABoral Centro
de Arte y Creación Industrial

Artist: Olmo Cuña

Obra incluida en la exposición: Terranautas