PITTSBURGH, PA.- Mattress Factory presents La ceniza ya no recuerda qué causó el incendio. / The ash no longer remembers what caused the fire., a major collaborative exhibition of new and commissioned works by Peruvian artists Claudia Martínez Garay and Arturo Kameya.

Commissioned by the Carnegie Museum of Art for the Carnegie International and curated by Danielle A. Jackson, La ceniza ya no recuerda qué causó el incendio. / The ash no longer remembers what caused the fire. is presented at the Mattress Factory Contemporary Art Museum.

The installation naturally guides visitors through nine interconnected rooms across three floors at Mattress Factory’s 516 Sampsonia Way building. Here, new and commissioned works converge around the mythologized figure of Túpac Amaru II – an Indigenous leader and descendant of the last Inca ruler Túpac Amaru. Best known for leading the final major rebellion against Spanish colonial rule, his actions became a lasting symbol of emancipatory movements across the Americas.

In a luminous, circular yellow room, the works by Martínez Garay echo historical engravings and colonial visual language while opening onto the Quechuan concept of “pacha,” where time and space are intimately entwined. She describes researching archives as “they appear—across different years, motives, and formats,” emphasizing her interest in re-reading (or even misinterpreting) them to bring forgotten histories back into orbit. The artist’s tufted textiles and acrylic paintings draw from archival Andean imagery, colonial engravings, and oral histories.

Kameya’s contributions unfold as atmospheric architectures, where his desaturated palette recalls the plastered adobe houses of his childhood neighborhood. Found and sculpted objects – painted plastic cockroaches, mechatronic entities, and ceramic chickens – populate debris-filled interiors reminiscent of schools or offices, shaping the viewer’s experience through light, texture, and rhythm.

Claudia Martínez Garay (b. 1983, Ayacucho, Peru) and Arturo Kameya (b. 1984, Peru) are Peruvian-born artists working between Lima and Amsterdam.

For their collaborative presentation at the Mattress Factory, Martínez Garay and Kameya explore Peruvian identity in relation to colonial legacy, examining how state power, cultural extraction, and historical narratives shape collective memory. Both artists are known for their immersive, thought-provoking exhibitions. Kameya’s Opaque Spirits (2024) at Marres, Maastricht (NL) transformed the venue into a haunting meditation on state failure and spiritual afterlife, while Garay’s Wakchakuna, presented at Nottingham Contemporary (UK) in 2024 evokes an excavated grave, revealing sacrificed and funerary objects emerging from soil, sand, and rubble.

Their work has been featured in major international exhibitions, including Sharjah Biennial 16: To Carry; Prospect.6: The Future Is Present; the 16th Istanbul Biennial: The Seventh Continent, the 2018 New Museum Triennial: Songs for Sabotage, and the 2021 New Museum Triennial: Soft Water Hard Stone, among others.