Peruvian-born (1971) artist William Cordova’s work has footing in many worlds. Bridging the past and the present with art/cultural history, contemporary art and popular culture, each of his artworks holds meaning that traverses global geography and personal interest.

At the age of six, Cordova relocated from Lima, Peru, to Miami, Florida. Surprised to see the volume of castoff, barely used resources that littered the streets of his new hometown, he was particularly attracted to what he thought were familiar Peruvian cajón drums scattered on the streets. They were in fact discarded speaker boxes. The installation machu picchu after dark (pa' victoria santa cruz, macario sakay y aaron dixon) 2003–2014 references that memory and dominates the gallery with some 200 1970–1980s-era locally sourced speakers stacked to suggest the iconic pre-Columbian monolith.

Commissioned on the occasion of the landmark exhibition Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon (October 17, 2013–January 5, 2014), this installation would not be possible without the generous support of Dennis Braddock and Janice Niemi, Firoz and Najma Lalji, Christine Nicolov, Kim Richter, David Tseklenis and Carol Kipling, Paul Urla and Becky Lenaburg, and Josef Vascovitz.

Support also provided by The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s 2012 Creative Leadership Award presented to Sandra Jackson-Dumont.

machu picchu after dark (pa' victoria santa cruz, macario sakay y aaron dixon), 2003–2014, William Cordova, Peruvian, b. 1971, 200 found speakers, candy, pennies, vinyl record jackets, candles, dimensions variable. © William Cordova. Photo: Nathaniel Willson.