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Jimmie Durham

Xitle and Spirit
2007

Sculpture, variable dimensions.

image: (c) Maria Thereza Alves
image: © Maria Thereza Alves

Collection: Collection of César Cervantes, Mexico City.

In the year 82 AD, the volcano Xitle erupted in Mexico and destroyed a whole city called Cuicuilco (which translates to “place of singing and bright dancing”). Jimmie Durham brought a stone by truck to the street called Xitle. A machine was hired to lift it.

“Centimeter by centimeter, encouraging the machine like it was an over- loaded donkey, they edged the stone towards the dark Spirit. With the insouciant grace of experts they convinced their little machine towards heroism. The stone weighs about 8 tons. It rests well and safely on the Dodge Spirit.”[full text here]