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MCA Talk: Doris Salcedo Panel

Several passerby on a street marvel at hundreds of chairs placed in a massive pile between two buildings.

Doris Salcedo, Untitled, 2003. 1,550 wooden chairs; Approx. 33 x 20 x 20 ft. (10.1 x 6.1 x 6.1 m). Ephemeral public project, 8th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, 2003

Photo: Muammer Yanmaz

Presented in partnership with DePaul University

Doris Salcedo’s work is directly inspired by her experience with victims of extreme forms of violence, particularly in relation to Colombia’s history and current political conflict. It speaks to a universal language of memory and mourning that addresses the viewer with questions regarding history, violence, and representation. Some of her works (large pieces of impossible furniture, displaced personal effects and familiar objects, leftovers of clinical appliances and equipment, and cloaks made out of needles and rose petals) are infused with details that demand a long, careful observation.

This panel will focus on the political, social, and philosophical aspects of Salcedo’s works.