What happens when the physical remnants of trauma—dust, water, soil, and forensic traces—become the primary medium through which an artwork speaks? For Mexican artist Teresa Margolles, art is not an escape from reality, but an unflinching, vital space to honor victims of violent crime, political negligence, and systemic oppression.
At MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, Teresa Margolles: En el lugar de los hechos (“At the Crime Scene”) brings together a powerful selection of site-specific installations, sculptural interventions, and lens-based works created over decades of forensic and artistic investigation across Latin America and international borders.
Forensic Materiality and the Architecture of Absence
Trained both as an artist and a forensic pathologist, Teresa Margolles spent years working inside mortuaries in Mexico City. This deep first-hand experience informed her radical approach to material: using substance directly linked to scenes of violence to make visible what society often seeks to obscure.
In En el lugar de los hechos, Margolles turns the expansive galleries of MoMA PS1 into a solemn, immersive space of memory. By bringing physical elements collected directly from crime scenes into the museum, she challenges audiences to look beyond sensationalized media headlines and confront the human cost of violence.
The exhibition underscores several key conceptual pillars:
- The Weight of Forensic Traces: The use of water used to wash bodies in mortuaries, dust collected from crime scenes, and fabrics stained with residual matter to create minimalist yet emotionally charged installations.
- Femicide & Transborder Violence: Direct engagements with the ongoing crises of femicide and violence against marginalized communities along the U.S.–Mexico border and across Latin America.
- Collective Mourning as Resistance: Transforming public and gallery spaces into sites of communal remembrance, dignity, and political accountability.
The result is a presentation that demands quiet reflection, asking visitors to bear witness to the fragile boundary between life, death, and social memory.
Key Visual & Experiential Highlights
1. Minimalist Sculptures with High Material Tension
Featuring stark concrete blocks, draped fabrics, and subtle spatial interventions embedded with residual materials that carry the physical memory of specific historic and social events.
2. Sound & Vapor Installations
Immersive environments where subtle mists or ambient soundscapes fill the gallery volume, making the invisible weight of loss physically felt by the audience.
3. Documentary Photography & Video Archives
Photographic series and video documentation recording public interventions, street memorials, and performance rituals conducted directly at crime scenes (en el lugar de los hechos).
Why This Exhibition Matters
Teresa Margolles: En el lugar de los hechos stands as an essential, urgent presentation in contemporary art. By merging forensic rigor with poetic empathy, Margolles asserts that art has a solemn duty to remember those who have been rendered invisible by systemic violence.
For visitors navigating MoMA PS1’s historic building in Long Island City, this exhibition offers a profound, unforgettable encounter with one of the most uncompromising voices in global contemporary art.
Exhibition & Visitor Details
- Exhibition Title: Teresa Margolles: En el lugar de los hechos
- Artist: Teresa Margolles
- Venue: MoMA PS1
- Address: 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101
- Admission: General Admission / Free for NYC Residents
- Hours: Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday: 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Saturday: 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Closed Tuesday and Wednesday)
