En el corazón del corazón

At the Heart of the Heart is an exhibition that proposes an encounter between the film material shot by Jorge Suárez Quiñones Rivas in Death Valley (California) in 2019 and the environmental conditions of the Aljub at Casal Solleric. Here, the film is exposed directly to the humidity, microorganisms, and porous architecture of the space. In this way, the film becomes a slow inscription surface, where time acts as a form of breathing.

The installation links material erosion with the disappearance of languages and territories, taking as its starting point an oral recording from 1972 in which Mamie Boland recalls, in the Tümpisa language, life in Death Valley before it came to be known by that name. At the Heart of the Heart thus unfolds as a reflection on transformation, decay, and memory—where what fades leaves behind a persistent trace.

At the Heart of the Heart by artist Jorge Suárez Quiñones, curated by Sergi Álvarez, is the winning project of the second edition of COP – Convocatòria Oberta de Projectes. Sergi Álvarez Riosalido

Mediation Activities

Tümpisa Grammar
Collective Listening Session and Guided Visit to the Exhibition At the Heart of the Heart with Artist Jorge Suárez Quiñones
Saturday, June 7 at 12:00 PM
Casal Solleric
Free admission with prior registration
Register at: solleric@palma.es

Duration: approx. 75 minutes

Through a sound-based staging of various archival materials—some of which, in different forms, are part of the exhibition At the Heart of the Heart—we will bring the Tümpisa language into the present space-time of the Aljibe at Casal Solleric. For a moment, we will synchronize with the effort of all those individuals who, whether independently or through collective initiatives, work to ensure that this and other endangered languages endure.

Film Screening and Guided Visit to the Exhibition At the Heart of the Heart with Artist Jorge Suárez Quiñones and Curator Sergi Álvarez
Friday, September 5 at 18:30 PM
Casal Solleric
Free admission with prior registration
Register at: solleric@palma.es
Duration: approx. 75 minutes

As a closing ritual and final activity of the exhibition, this session will include the removal of the continuous 15-meter strips of Super 8 film that have been exposed throughout the entire duration of the exhibition in the Aljibe, in order to screen them publicly.

The projection on the rough walls of the Aljibe will reveal the traces left on the celluloid by the space’s imperceptible phenomena: humidity, temperature fluctuations, prolonged exposure to the environment, and contact with microorganisms present in the space will have unpredictably altered the film. What was once a record now becomes a witness to its own transformation—a process that has eroded and reshaped the image. A visual manifestation of time’s action upon matter.

The screening will be accompanied by a prior dialogue visit and a listening session where, based on various archive materials, we will take the Tümpisa language to space-time and we will synchronize for a moment with the efforts of all those people who, individually or through different collective initiatives, collaborate so that this and other languages at risk of extinction resist.