Artists

Carla Blanca Corminboeuf (she/her) explores how cultural memory is carried through movement, ritual and images. Drawing on her Peruvian heritage, her photographic practice reflects on collective memory, identity and embodied transmission.
At Jungkunst, she presents work from Castillos, a series representing the tall pyrotechnic towers at the centre of Peruvian celebrations. Covered with fireworks, these elaborate structures are ignited at the heart of communal gatherings, where families, dancers and musicians come together to celebrate. For Castillos, Corminboeuf films these festivities before selecting individual frames that become photographic works. Her images return to structures built for a single celebration, assembled, ignited with fireworks, and gone within minutes.

What first drew you to the castillos?
What first caught my attention was not only the structure itself, but the process of its transformation. The celebrations usually take place at night, yet the castillos begin to appear much earlier, sometimes even the day before, as people assemble them piece by piece. Throughout the day, separate fragments gradually come together to form a structure that seems to rise towards the sky. I became interested in this transition, from scattered, temporary elements to a monumental object.

Dance is a recurring part of your practice. How does it inform your work?
Dance is another central element of celebrations in Peru, and I see a strong connection between dance and the castillos. Both can be understood as forms of choreography: in dance, through the gestures and sequences of the body, and in the castillo, through the way its different elements are assembled and activated. I am interested in how these individual parts come together to create a larger, collective choreography.

After the celebration, what stays with you?
Beyond the brightness of the fireworks, there is a very particular and intense sound that accompanies the spectacle. The different stages of the castillo unfold almost like a choreography, with sudden bursts of intense noise followed by moments of silence before the next sequence begins.