RELIGION, FASHION, AND RESISTANCE ACCORDING TO BÁRBARA SÁNCHEZ-KANE, AT COLLEGIUM
Multidisciplinary artist Bárbara Sánchez-Kane (Mérida, Mexico, 1987) presents ¿Cuántos ángeles caben en la punta de un alfiler? (How Many Angels Fit on the Tip of a Pin?), her first solo show at Collegium—a center for the creation, research, and display of contemporary art, known for its residencies. With Sánchez-Kane’s project, Collegium inaugurates its new role as a museum. All the pieces, curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy, were created on site, and their placement within the Church of San Martín fosters a dialogue with the building’s symbolic and historical character.
Sánchez-Kane, best known for her work in fashion, delves here into the complex interplay between religion, consumerism, identity, and the body—examining how the former often impose themselves on the latter. At the heart of this inquiry lies an exploration of indoctrination, particularly in its role as a mechanism upholding capitalist and consumerist systems.
The artist draws upon the language of fashion—which she navigates with great fluency—as a means of critique. What emerges is a collection of sculptural works and garments that evoke uniforms, armor, and sacred icons. Materials such as leather and bronze are transformed from symbols of control and hierarchy into expressions of resistance.
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Bárbara Sánchez-Kane: ¿Cuántos ángeles caben en la punta de un alfiler? en Collegium
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Bárbara Sánchez-Kane: ¿Cuántos ángeles caben en la punta de un alfiler? en Collegium
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Bárbara Sánchez-Kane: ¿Cuántos ángeles caben en la punta de un alfiler? en Collegium
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Bárbara Sánchez-Kane: ¿Cuántos ángeles caben en la punta de un alfiler? en Collegium
Based on satirical Carlos Monsiváis’s Nuevo catecismo para indios remisos (New Catechism for remiss Indians), ¿Cuántos ángeles caben en la punta de un alfiler? poses the question: how similar are religion and fashion as systems that shape behavior and desire? The body of work presented can also be understood as an attempt to dissolve conventional roles and hierarchies, pointing instead toward new forms of autonomy.
¿Cuántos ángeles caben en la punta de un alfiler? is on view through September 7, 2025, at Collegium, San Ignacio de Loyola 8, Arévalo (Spain).
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