ACTIONS:  Obscurus Fidem, Foster Prize Exhibition, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston MA 2015

Obscurus Fidem, pairs a site-specific video installation with live performances dedicated to Jesus Malverde a folk legend elevated to the rank of sainthood by  Mexican narco-traffickers. These visual and physical devotions focus on Malverde’s notoriety, faith and the way in which religion, material culture and visual spirituality are mixed and shaped through technology and a collective consciousness.  Through out the project, I will do an
Obscurus Novena, or nine live actions performed in honor of Malverde. They will take place inside the ICA and public spaces in Boston.

Obscurus Fidem is an exploration of contemporary religiosity and the type of dedication a practitioner must display and adhere to in order to be a true believer. I am motivated by the following questions: Where do ancient rituals intersect with our present and future? How much is the evolution of religions and spitituality influenced by  technology? How is faith affected by acombined virtual reality and analouge reality? How do we expand the concept of the “house of god” to the “dimensions of god”?

I perfomed 20 impromtu actions in the video alter throughout the 3 months of the exhibition as well as the nine Obscurus Novenas.

Obscurus Fidem Installation :  • click here 4 gallery| •

Obscurus Novenas:

I. Obscurus Conventus • click here 4 gallery| •
Unity with Malverde. Part of the Obscurus Fidem installation, this will be a passive action during the opening reception. A beginning.

II. Obscurus Tutor • click here 4 gallery| •
We are the watchers, the protectors, and the guardians of the ICA. Malverde and Vela will be located at ICA’s main entrance for the day.

III. Obscurus Gravitas • click here 4 gallery| •
Faith is heavy, it can weigh us down; but onward we go, carrying the weight. Vela will walk the streets of Boston carrying Malverde.
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IV. Obscurus Adeo • click here 4 gallery| •
To approach faith; to approach a holy place of worship, but not go in. Vela and Malverde will visit neighborhood churches and holy places. They will not enter, they will simply visit. This action will happen on the holy day of Sunday.
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V. Obscurus Ipsum • click here 4 gallery| •
To honor the space of the unknown self. Special guests TOOMS will join Vela with Malverde’s shadow cast inside the ICA’s theater. (TOOMS is a dark ambient noise project consisting of Boston area artists Philip Fryer and Ryan Stanis. https://soundcloud.com/tooms-4)

VI. Obscurus Loginquitas • click here 4 gallery| •
To achieve and experience distance and remoteness. Vela and Malverde will spend the day together in a canoe on Fort Point Channel.
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VII. Obscurus Purgamentum • click here 4 gallery| •
To collect what is discarded. To acknowledge the discarded. To pay respect to the discarded. To discard it again. For 14 days all of the trash that is produced within the walls of the ICA will be collected in black garbage bags. Vela and Malverde will take their place upon the trash throne. They will remain there for 6 hours. The trash will then be hauled away

VIII. Obscurus Commoneo • click here 4 gallery| •
To remember and revisit the good/dark path that made Malverde who he is today. This is the final return of Malverde to the Obscurus Fidem installation. Dirk Adams, Alice Vogler and Vela will spend time with Malverde.

IX. Obscurus Exitus • click here 4 gallery| •
The end, the closing, the final invocation in the Obscurus Novena with Jesus Malverde. This will occur 9 days before the closing of the Obscurus Fidem video altar. Malverde will exit into the 9th dimension with help from a special friend Yassy Goldie.

Visit: ICA Boston 

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