Jorge Pardo. Tecoh

Tecoh is a sprawling series of buildings designed by the artist Jorge Pardo deep in the Yucatán jungle. Taking over six years to fabricate, and engaging existing ruins of a nineteenth-century hacienda, the project is by far the artist’s most ambitious work to date. This book offers the only available glimpse of the project, as it was primarily conceived as a private residence. Over 100 color images choreograph the reader around the myriad buildings and landscaping that constitute Tecoh—from subterranean concrete forms peaking out of the wild jungle grasses to quiet details of tiles and furniture to Pardo’s iconic bulbous lamps. Michael Govan, director of LACMA, provides an introduction and sets Tecoh within a deeper history of his dialogue with the artist, beginning in 2000 with Pardo’s installation at Dia:Chelsea. Alex Coles describes a critical framework in which to interpret the project, while Claudia Madrazo, the work’s commissioner, contextualizes the project in her afterword. A series of three extended conversations between Pardo and Coles explores the issues of site, historical precedents, and reception that Tecoh brings into focus.