5. Artist Guadalupe Maravilla’s Traveling Installation Kicks Off Texas Tour
Known for crafting sculptures that break the boundaries of space and sound, New York–based visual artist and choreographer Guadalupe Maravilla will showcase his largest sculpture to date, Mariposa Relámpago, across the Lone Star State. The monumental installation serves as a testament to the artist’s life story, in the form of a school bus purchased in his home country of El Salvador as a way to re-trace his migration route from there to the United States, and later reimagined through added chrome plating as well as fringe made of cutlery. Throughout the vehicle are an assortment of objects such as sculptures of children’s torsos, Indigenous symbols, and gongs and other tonal objects—all of which are linked to spiritual, political, and medicinal meanings attuned to Maravilla’s practice. The sculpture, which the artist has labeled a “vibrational healing instrument,” was originally commissioned by ICA Boston in May 2023 and will now tour through Texas from November 4 through March 16, 2024, making stops at Ballroom Marfa, The Contemporary Austin’s Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria, and finishing its run at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston. Each stop will be accompanied by a series of programs hosted by the institutions. —Shelby Black