Xitle and Spirit
2007
Sculpture, variable dimensions.
Materials: vulcanic stone, car, acrylic paint
Collection: Collection of César Cervantes, Mexico City.
In the year 82 AD, the volcano Xitle erupted in Mexico and destroyed a whole city called Cuicuilco (which translates to “place of singing and bright dancing”). Jimmie Durham brought a stone by truck to the street called Xitle. A machine was hired to lift it.
“Centimeter by centimeter, encouraging the machine like it was an over- loaded donkey, they edged the stone towards the dark Spirit. With the insouciant grace of experts they convinced their little machine towards heroism. The stone weighs about 8 tons. It rests well and safely on the Dodge Spirit.”[full text here]