itzcali 2.0 /
ITZCALI is conceived as a contemporary ritual space, a reinterpretation of the ancestral bathing tradition where stone, water, vapor, and light converge as elemental materials of contemplation. Drawing inspiration from both pre Hispanic temazcales and ancient bathing houses, the project transforms the act of bathing into a sensorial ceremony, a moment of purification and introspection.
Brutalism contributes the weight of raw stone and geometric essentialism; vapor embodies atmosphere and purification; art transforms light into matter, altering perception and dissolving boundaries; and the senses, harmonized through sound, texture, aroma, sight, and breath, transform the environment into a living ritual.
October 9 – November 2, Mexico City
The design emerges from a guiding formula:
brutalism / + vapor / + light / + senses /.
MATLA
Conceived as a functional sculpture, MATLA reinterprets the figure of Matlalcueye, also known as Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of water and femininity in the pre-Hispanic tradition. The piece emerges from the abstraction of ancestral ornamentation —particularly the circular form of earrings and symbols associated with fertility and feminine strength— distilled into pure, timeless geometry.
Realized as a basin, MATLA transcends utility and becomes a ritual act: water flows as a silent offering, transforming the everyday gesture of cleansing into a ceremony of renewal. In this work, water is not only a functional element, but a presence that purifies, protects, and connects. MATLA embodies the dual condition of object and symbol. It invites the viewer to contemplate the continuity of ancient traditions within a contemporary language, where stone and water converge into a sculptural presence that resonates with memory, femininity, and ritual.
At the heart of ITZCALI are two new functional sculptures, MATLA and TLAL, conceived not only as utilitarian objects but as symbolic vessels where myth and material intersect. Together, they articulate a dialogue between function and ritual, contemporary design and ancestral memory, inviting reflection on water as both element and offering, a sacred continuum that binds the presen to its origins.
TLAL
Carved as a functional sculpture, TLAL invokes the presence of Tláloc, deity of
rain, chaos, and fertility in pre-Hispanic cosmology. Its form is born from the
abstraction of pre-Hispanic sculptural gestures, distilled into intersecting stone
volumes that embody both weight and flow, permanence and transformation.
Conceived as a fountain, TLAL transforms water into a ritual medium. The
liquid element flows with dual force —destructive and regenerative, unsettling
and life-giving— echoing the sacred paradox of Tláloc. As the water traces its
path across stone, the fountain becomes a vessel where myth and matter
converge, a threshold between destruction and creation, the earthly and the
divine.
TLAL is not revealed at once; it lingers as a silent offering, a sculptural
presence that invites reflection on the sacred dimension of water. Beyond utility,
the piece serves as a reminder of continuity: the unbroken thread that binds
contemporary life to ancestral memory, a
