Telurismos a Tres Tiempos (They Called it Mena’)

(2024)

Venezuelan petroleum, dead-stock silk organza, corn starch, water, glycerine, vinegar.

.m x .m x .m

In the mid 1930s, August Haefner Associates, a NYC based company of silk-mill

operators, led an effort to

develop a silk industry in Vene-

zuela. In a New York Times

6 article, August aefner,

the president of said company,

after having erected the coun-

try’s first silk mill, exalted that

the cocoons spun by the

worms in Venezuela were

larger than in any other country

in the world, which he correlat-

ed with the country’s weather,

as a sign of great promise of a

Venezuelan silk industry.

By 2024, this silk-economy is a

ghost from a parallel universe

in which Venezuela developed

a diversified economy. As

history would have it, during

this period of silk-optimism,

Venezuela would become a

petro-state. Its economy, and

its identity, inseparable from

petroleum.

This radically monogamous

relationship seeked to create a

new imaginary that broke loose

from the country’s past as a

panish colony. owever, in

the process some of its pre-co-

lonial mythologies, and reali-

ties, were also forgotten. While

many American countries

celebrate their origin stories

tied to the domestication of

corn, in Venezuela, intellectu-

als have vocally expressed

rejection against such associa-

tions. The people of corn are

the rest, never mind arepas.

Venezuelans, they claim, are,

either people of petroleum, or

entirely non-telluric beings.

Futuristic creatures from

beyond arth.

Telurismos a Tres Tiempos is a

sculpture made from petro-

leum, silk, and cornstarch. It

seeks to explore and expand

upon Venezuela’s petro-identity

across timelines. rom imagi-

nary universes, in which Vene-

zuela developed a thriving silk

industry. To opol Vuh deriva-

tions, albeit ones that look into

the future and summon

Michael ollan’s processed

corn. And reclaiming petroleum

as a telluric, non-abstract

entity. By embracing these real

and imaginary realities, open-

ing the door to true re-imagina-

tions of post-petroleum futures

in Venezuela and beyond.

Telurismos a Tres Tiempos was

started in Cabimas, the Vene-

zuelan city where the country’s

oil industry was born and

ombo’s mother’s hometown.

It uses petroleum her uncle

received as a present to make

his own gasoline due to short-

ages of this fuel. The piece was

further developed at Yaddo, an

artist residency in Saratoga

prings.

Telurismos a Tres Tiempos is

part of .