Tania Candiani

In Arpas de río (River Harps), created specifically for the Cuenca Biennial, Candiani reflects on two old works relating to the geography of the city of Cuenca.

Starting from the collaboration with a luthier from Cuenca, who inherited the trade from his father and he in turn from his grandfather, the artist has created four stringed musical instruments that have four Scott & Williams circular looms as a base-support-anchor from the company Trimmings Tosi, and that incorporate and translate the outline of the four rivers that pass through the city of Cuenca: Tarqui, Yanuncay, Machángara and Tomebamba.

The paths of these same rivers have also served as inspiration for the realization of the four embroidered pieces that accompany the instruments.

Candiani pays homage to the trace of the rivers over the territory, at the same time as alluding to the evolution of the textile industry and weaving references with the passage from hand embroidery to the mechanization of the same process, also related to the history of the city. Through the invention of instruments and the transformation of an industrial object into a musical one, the artist appeals to the importance of fabulating and building alternatives, in this case through harps that, thanks to an automaton arm, will sing without pause, just as the rivers and their channels should not stop sounding.

Winning piece of one of the three acquisition prizes awarded by the Jury of the XV Cuenca Biennial, Biocene Biennial.