Virgil Ortiz’s “Revolt” is a history lesson told in the language “Star Wars.”
The exhibit at the History Colorado Center is a shape-shifting, time-jumping, sci-fi fantasy that tells the tale of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, when indigenous fighters rose up and drove Spanish conquistadors from land that is now New Mexico.
Safe to say, this momentous event, a rare but decisive win for the underdog, is not one many people know, at least not far and wide, and Ortiz has spent his distinguished career as an artist telling it — object by object, exhibit by exhibit — in a way that makes people pay attention.
For this show, Ortiz wraps fact into hyper-fiction, morphing characters that actually took part in the uprising into fantasy beings called the Recon Watchmen that exist 500 years into the future and are fighting their own, corresponding battle against an enemy called the Castilians.
The Watchmen’s advance team, the Gliders, are able to travel back and forth through time, enabling them to share their strategy and superpowers with the actual fighters that defeated the Spanish in 1680, and vice-versa
It is a convoluted set-up and maybe I don’t have it exactly right. But the takeaway is this: The battle against oppression is constant and never-ending; bravery is a value that endures over the ages; vigilance leads to victory; righteousness prevails. And, perhaps as important, there is more than one way to help people understand local history.
The idea is as big as a Marvel movie, and the exhibit shares that franchise’s fascination with technology. “Revolt” features static objects as well as video, plus newer tricks, like projection mapping and augmented reality. It is fully immersive and kid-friendly while having something of a dark edge.
In every way, the show is a departure for History Colorado, a place that prides itself on sticking to the facts, and to the artifacts, as a way of relating the past. This museum is all about research and rigor. It doesn’t just tell stories through its exhibitions; it tells them in context, with maps and signage that accompany carefully chosen objects from its collection. It is a serious and distinguished institution that is big on deep learning and light on visceral thrills.
Here, it breaks free of all that, or most of that. “Revolution” drops relatively few facts about a real event and then goes its own way into the stratosphere. It replaces exactitude with whiz-bang moments that connect with today’s audiences. The show feels exciting. The lessons might not be as rich as what people expect to see at the state’s staid museum, but they sure are fun to experience.
Two things make it work. The first is Ortiz’s skills, which are plentiful. He is a world-class potter, a native of the Cochiti Pueblo, located near Santa Fe, who uses ceramic techniques that have been handed down through generations of his family. Ortiz knows how to dig clay right from the earth, load it into buckets and shape it into precision pieces, and then to spend the weeks or months it takes to transform those things into objects that are both artful and functional.
He has several of these objects on display in the show and, once you understand a little about the process involved, they can take your breath away. The level of his craft is high enough that his last solo exhibition in Denver, back in 2015, actually took place at the Denver Art Museum.
But he is very much a present-day maker as well. Ortiz has mastered more modern ceramic techniques, and his recent pieces also fill this show — as does his work as a photographer, filmmaker and digital creator. As does his talent as a clothing designer, prop specialist and costume maker.
“Revolution” has it all.
And while the History Colorado Center has made room for Ortiz’s innovation, it has also retained its own personality in the offering, deftly incorporating objects from its distinguished holdings into the galleries, and giving the show an added bonus.
Inside glass cases that hug the perimeter of the exhibition are bowls, mugs and pitchers that date back 1,000 years or more, delicate clay objects that somehow survived the centuries. They make real the old world that Ortiz references in his telling of the Pueblo Revolt.
Mixed into all that is a sampling of more recent objects that the museum has collected from contemporary artists, underscoring the fact that indigenous people continue to exist and thrive in this region.
There is one exceptional moment in the exhibition where all these ideas of past and present come together cunningly. It happens in a small display case near the show’s exit. Three pieces of pottery, all about 8 inches tall, sit side-by-side: a corrugated pot from around the year 1150; an undated jar, from perhaps the late 19th century; and a brand new piece Ortiz made just for this exhibition, a small pot, fashioned from local red clay and decorated with wildflowers.
The objects, of similar size and technique, pull together the ages, each with its own personality but together, as a trio, creating a timeline of life then and now. There is a certain romance to it that makes an exhibition that might have been an awkward fit for this museum seem perfectly at home.
IF YOU GO
“Revolt” is currently on display at the History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway. Info: 303-447-8679 or historycolorado.org.
