"Replicantes" is part of the global project by the artist Pamela Cevallos, which intersects artistic research and ethnographic practice. Through an exercise in institutional critique, her work explores the territories of origin of archaeological pieces, the connection of their inhabitants with these remains, and the complex journeys to the museum. The open relationship with the community of La Pila, one of the places with the highest archaeological extraction in the country, disrupts the classic sterile image of these objects in museum collections and places the experiences of individuals with these vestiges at the center of the discussion. This proposal aims to disassociate the idea linked with the consumption of these archaeological goods "in replicas" and instead brings it into the very poetics of craftsmanship. The molds used, many of which are of "authentic" pre-Columbian origin, have contemporary uses for the artisans of La Pila, always bordering on the boundaries between the legal and illegal, desire, and the fantasy of possessing pieces that bring us closer to that past.

Malena Bedoya, curator

https://terremoto.mx/article/replicas-en-transito-patrimonio-y-critica-institucional-desde-la-pila-ecuador-hasta-el-museo-de-america-espana/