The thundering sound of Miguel Angel Riosยs ยAquiย greets those who enter the Blaffer Gallery. The exhibitยs two video installations feature spinning tops used in trompos, a popular game in rural Mexico. The volume is turned up so, as the tops spin, viewers feel like theyยre standing under a noisy highway. For the installation On the Edge, Rios uses dual screens, and for the titular Aqui, he surrounds viewers with black and white tops in a pentagonal theater.
Art fans might experience dรฉjร vu as the Argentinean artistยs work with the toys is also currently on display in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houstonยs Constructing a Poetic Universe. In Friendly Fire, a documentary showing at the Blaffer exhibit, Rios explains how the colliding black and white tops symbolize violence and power struggle. He recruited trompos players in Tepoztlan, a rural Mexican city, to help him. Pictures of these men spinning their magic are on display, along with the artistยs drawings and plans. See how Riosยs vision spun out of him.
This article appears in Jun 7-13, 2007.