🌎 ESPAÑOL // ENGLISH
Uxmal on Hudson (2021)
During the nineteenth century, Uxmal-on-Hudson was an archaeological arrangement on Cruger Island, to the northwest of Bard College along the riverbank. For more than sixty years, the site encompassed a Romantic-style architectural folly: an array of fake ruins assembled to exhibit a collection of Mayan carved stones from the Puuc region in Yucatán, Mexico. Today, the Uxmal sculptures are on display in the Hall of Mexico and Central America at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Uxmal-on-Hudson is an installation by Claudia Peña Salinas (b. 1975) that examines the middle point of the travels of these sculptures between Uxmal and New York. On the right side of the gallery, framed by a contemporary scenic view oriented toward the Hudson River and Cruger Island, the artist has imagined a new folly for the sculptures. On the left side, Peña Salinas presents a photographic catalogue of Uxmal specimens: some carved by ancient Maya people, some bought on eBay, but all limestone fragments from the same site.
In addition to general CCS Bard exhibition support, Uxmal-on-Hudson was made possible by the generous support of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History; Historic Red Hook; and the Bard College Archives and Special Collections.
Interpretative Materials (audioguides + transcripts)