in {cantation} in {translation}

CONCEPT & DESIGN

Based on the obsidian mirror of pre-columbian Mesoamerica, in {cantation} in {translation} reimagines the practice of scrying through a futuristic oracle. Participants are invited to perform an incantation over the bowl, and learn of the oracle’s memory through short verses of ancient Aztec poems. In pre-Columbian times, mirrors were used as a means to peer into ‘other’ worlds and to connect with the god, Tezcatlipoca. Obsidian (iztli in Nahuatl) was known as ‘the talking stone,’ and one of the materials used to make mirrors. These mirrors were used by the Mexica to connect the material world to the ethereal, the mundane with the sacred.

WHAT IS THE NATIVE LANGUAGE OF A DIGITAL POEM?

This piece interprets the history of colonization through the use of three languages:

Nahuatl – the native language of the Mexica and Nahuatl-speaking people indigenous to Mexico
Spanish – the language of the European conquistadors who came to the Americas during the age of discovery
English – the language I currently use, and spoken predominantly all over the world

The text in Spanish appeared as an intermediary between the Nahuatl and the English to convey the instructions for piece, respira con tus manos. While the Nahuatl came in the form of an ancient glyph that depicts the god, Tezcatlipoca (seen in the center below). Finally, we see an English translation showing verses of Nahuatl poetry. This piece sampled two poems;