Elevata, Row 1, column 3 2002

Curator: Here we have Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons' "Elevata, Row 1, column 3", currently held at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It feels like a dream, a quiet sky with a single, bright blue stone floating in the middle of nowhere. Almost unsettling, in its peace. Curator: Campos-Pons often explores themes of memory, displacement, and identity, and the materiality of this work—its paper and pigments—speak to both fragility and the enduring nature of stories. Editor: It makes me think about what we choose to hold onto, those singular, intense moments that become our personal talismans. Like that blue stone. Curator: Exactly, the social context and the act of choosing what to elevate from the chaos of experience is key to this piece. Editor: It is a tiny island of blue, adrift. Maybe we all need a little island sometimes. Curator: Well said. It’s a potent reminder that the selection and preservation of memory is a material act. Editor: A poignant, solitary gesture in a blue universe. I like it more now.