Installation of Cecilia Vicuña’s “Quipu desaparecido” (2018)

Cecilia Vicuña’s “Quipu desaparecido” (2018) was an installation commissioned for the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art that was created on-site at the Museum. Our conservators worked closely with the artist to choreograph unspun wool into knotted strands, taking inspiration from ancient quipus—complex record-keeping devices used by the Inka. The group approach to creating the work, a “quipu for the future” as Vicuña calls it, reflects the value of community over the individual in Andean cultures.

For more on the exhibition: https://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/cecilia-vicuna-disappeared-quipu