Whitney Screens:
Clarissa Tossin's Ch'u Mayaa

Online, live-streamed on Vimeo

Engage with video art in the Whitney's collection while you’re at home with our new series: Whitney Screens. Every Friday, we’re featuring special screenings of video works recently brought into the collection, all by emerging artists, in keeping with the Whitney’s long tradition of supporting artists at the beginning and during key moments of their careers.

In her video Ch’u Mayaa, Clarissa Tossin responds to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (built 1919–21) in Los Angeles, a prime example of the Mayan Revival style. The choreography takes inspiration from the house’s architecture, as well as from gestures and poses on ancient Maya ceramics and buildings. The soundtrack includes a heartbeat, breathing, and pre-Columbian clay flute. By using Hollyhock House as a stage, Tossin echoes how Maya society would have used a temple or ceremonial structure. Tossin’s title is Yucatec Mayan for “Maya Blue,” the resilient bright blue pigment found in pottery and murals depicting dancers.

This screening will present Ch'u Mayaa in its entirety, with an introduction by Marcela Guerrero, assistant curator.

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