Artists Space

Morir ('til Death)

September 6 – October 18, 2003

Project Space

A video by Miguel Angel Rios in collaboration with Rafael Ortega

Lauri Firstenberg, Curator

Morir (‘til Death), filmed in Tepoztlan, Mexico focuses on a popular game that involves spinning tops. Viewed from multiple perspectives, the video begins with one spinning top and culminates in the participation of thirty of the most skilled players in town, aged 14 to 50. Through the documentation of this simple scenario, dynamics of competition, aggression and territorialism are signaled both visually and aurally. The relative violence is complicated by the game’s high formality and beauty. Morir (‘til Death) negotiates both politics and poetics in abstracting narrative about urban sprawl and congestion.

A small, empty room with images projected on three walls. All are gray/blue shots of spinning tops on a white grid on concrete. The center image shows this from above, while the left and right images show the tops from the side.
Morir ('til Death). Installation view, Artists Space, 2003. [A small, empty room with images projected on three walls. All are gray/blue shots of spinning tops on a white grid on concrete. The center image shows this from above, while the left and right images show the tops from the side.]

Born in Argentina, Rios divides his time between New York City and Mexico City. This is the debut of Rios’ most recent video installation.

"Don't Miss..." Time Out New York. October 2-9, 2003. Print. 63.

    A collection of black spinning tops on concrete. Several are upright, spinning, and several have fallen onto their sides. A white grid is just visible on the ground beneath them.
    Miguel Angel Rios, Morir ('til Death), 2003. [A collection of black spinning tops on concrete. Several are upright, spinning, and several have fallen onto their sides. A white grid is just visible on the ground beneath them.]