Hundreds of gigantic ants on view in the Rijksmuseum
Publication date: 16 September 2022 - 10:00
Seven hundred ants by Colombian artist Rafael Gomezbarros have taken over the public areas of the Rijksmuseum – from floor to ceiling. This installation titled Casa Tomada sees Gomezbarros drawing attention to the subject of migration and forced displacement. The ants symbolise the industriousness, resilience and cooperative spirit of people forced to leave their homes due to political unrest, violence, economic conditions or climate change.
The installation is part of Crawly Creatures, the upcoming Rijksmuseum exhibition about the changing perception and symbolism in the arts and sciences of small animals such as toads, snakes, ants and spiders. Casa Tomada goes on display from today in the lead-up to Crawly Creatures, which runs from 30 September 2022 to 15 January 2023.
The exhibition is made possible in part by the Don Quixote Foundation through the Rijksmuseum Fund.
I use my work to evoke the image of travellers and immigrants in different cities. To achieve this I carry out interventions in the public space, sparking interactions between the audience, the place and Casa Tomada. I want in this way to get a conversation going about sensitive topics such as uprootedness and a new social order.
Rafael Gomezbarros
Casa Tomada
The installation Casa Tomada (House Taken) by Rafael Gomezbarros (1972, Santa Marta) comprises hundreds of handmade ants, each measuring almost a metre long. The title of the work is a reference to the eponymous 1946 short story by Argentinian author Julio Cortázar. It tells the tale of a house that is gradually taken over, prompting the occupants to flee. Migration and forced displacement of human beings is central to this work. Gomezbarros made it in response to the Colombian Civil War (1964-2016), which led to millions of Colombians having to leave their homes. He fashioned the bodies of the ants from casts of human skulls, which are covered with Colombian sand, and bound the casts together using strips of cotton from T-shirts commonly worn by Colombian farm workers, a demographic severely affected by the conflicts in the country. The legs of the ants are made from the fragrant branches of the Jasmine tree – during the civil war, such branches were used to mask the smell of the bodies of victims.
Casa Tomada has been exhibited since 2008 in various countries and political contexts, in the cities of Bógota, Manchester, Skåne, Santo Domingo, Santa Marta, Linz and elsewhere. Wherever the installation is shown, it accumulates new layers of meaning from the local context.
Rafael Gomezbarros
For information about Rafael Gomezbarros, please visit Gomezbarros home.
Coming soon to the Rijksmuseum
As well as the Crawly Creatures exhibition, Rijksmuseum presents Document Nederland: Duurzaam/Tene/Sustain from 24 September, and Clara the Rhinoceros from 30 September.
