Koyoltzintli, Chakapa, pen and colored pencil on paper, 11 x 14 inches. Courtesy the artist and River Valley Arts Collective.
We are pleased to inaugurate the 2026 season with Koyoltzintli's solo exhibition, How to Play a Broken Bone. Curated by Jess Wilcox and presented in partnership with River Valley Arts Collective, this new body of work continues to engage the artist's core themes, such as material memory, cosmology, and embodied knowledge.
The exhibition features a series of large ceramic whistling vessels developed through deep research into Pre-Columbian sound systems. These multi-chambered vessels are designed to hold water and they produce a range of low and high tones through vibration and air flow. Alongside the instrumental forms are three large-scale drawings that function as a newly-composed score, inspired by an ancient flute and celestial maps. Another series of smaller drawings provide visual instructions for playing instruments at specific sites under distinct temporal, lunar, and weather conditions.
Koyoltzintli is an interdisciplinary artist from the Pacific coast of Manabí, Ecuador. Please click here to sign up for a tour on April 18, May 4, May 17, or June 5. The tour on May 17 will include a brief performance in which the artist activates the whistling water vessels.