There Is No Alternative | No Hay Alternativa

A sculptural and fluctuating installation by artist Mariela G. Dominguez (XZZX), exploring the ecological collateral of globalist economics, and regional power dynamics.

There Is No Alternative (ENG)

The installation shows us a symbol of the phenomenon of degradation that links the implication of the dominant economic system with the already evident contemporary ecological disaster. The title phrase, “there is no alternative” alludes to the axiom of the 1980s that prioritized a global system based on financial benefit without due protection from the consequences and ecological damage.

There Is No Alternative is a site-specific installation founded on two elements: water and money. The water is presented in the form of a hanging block of ice slowly melting which reveals money inside. The degradation, latent from the melting process, also relates the gravity of the hanging structure with the functioning of the economic system that flows from “top to bottom” or from north to south, exposing the historical power relationship of domination projects. In the same way, the projects of the global north, although fundamentally responsible for the ecological and social disaster, impact the nations of the global south with their disastrous and uncontainable effects.

The process of ecological degradation is an event loaded with symbols about our current reality represented in the magnitude of the destruction, whose residue, already stripped of any value, is meaningless. In return, wastewater becomes the element from which we must nourish ourselves as we project other possible alternatives to build.

XZZX, Mariela Gerónima Domínguez Moreno (b. 1979), is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and cultural manager of South American origin who has been living in Houston since 2016. She has developed independent curatorial projects in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Montevideo and in Houston. Her interests have been various; among them are the development of projects in the field of visual communication, including installation, urban art, folk art, fashion, sculpture, video, jewelry, illustration and painting. Her projects and her work have been exhibited in spaces such as Galería Buenos Aires Sur, Espacio Matta, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Institute of Hispanic Culture of Houston, Sawyer Yards, Archway Gallery, Amarillo Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and Craighead Green Gallery.

No Hay Alternativa (SPAN)

La exhibición nos muestra un símbolo del fenómeno de la degradación que vincula la implicancia del sistema económico dominante con el ya evidente desastre ecológico contemporáneo. La frase titular, “no hay alternativa”, alude al axioma de la década de los 80’ que priorizó un sistema global basado en el beneficio financiero sin el debido resguardo de las consecuencias y el daño ecológico.

No Hay Alternativa es una instalación ‘site-specific’ fundada sobre dos elementos: el agua y el dinero. El agua presente en forma de una roca colgante de hielo al derretirse pausadamente revela dinero en su interior. La degradación, latente del proceso de derretimiento, además vincula la fuerza de gravedad de la estructura colgante con el funcionamiento del sistema económico que fluye de “arriba a abajo” o del norte al sur, exponiendo la relación de poder histórica de los proyectos de dominación. Del mismo modo, los proyectos del norte global, aunque responsable fundamental del desastre ecológico y social, impacta sobre las naciones del sur global con su efectos desastrosos e incontenibles.

El proceso de degradación ecológico es un evento cargado de símbolos sobre nuestra realidad actual representado en la magnitud de la destrucción, cuyo residuo, ya despojado de cualquier valor es un sin sentido. Como contrapartida, el agua residual se convierte en el elemento del cual debemos nutrirnos para proyectar otra alternativa posible de construir.