Orogenic (Proyectiles), 2026
setting of concrete, pigments, and graphite on metal structure
dimensions variable
Orogenic (La Polvadera), 2026
setting of concrete, pigments, and graphite on metal structure
dimensions variable
Orogenic (Columna 1), 2026
setting of concrete, pigments, and graphite on metal structure
dimensions variable
Orogenic (Columna 2), 2026
setting of concrete, pigments, and graphite on metal structure
dimensions variable
Orogenic (Columna 3), 2026
setting of concrete, pigments, and graphite on metal structure
dimensions variable
Orogenic (Columna 4), 2026
setting of concrete, pigments, and graphite on metal structure
dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and Campeche, Mexico City; commissioned by Carnegie Museum of Art for the 59th Carnegie International
What will be considered artifacts in the future? Visual artist, set designer, and draftsman Abraham González Pacheco’s Orogenic (2026), commissioned for the 59th Carnegie International, offers a fantastical vision—a cluster of myths in concrete that together form a speculative history. Composed of concrete and pigment panels, Pacheco’s towering murals confront visitors as they enter through the museum’s Forbes Avenue entrance. Positioned on the existing columns and side walls of the Fountain Plaza, the murals, with their textured and weathered surfaces, resemble ruins or archaeological fragments, as if extracted from a culture or society that once struggled to endure but ultimately vanished.
Pacheco’s practice is one of worldbuilding, conjuring visceral scenes that hold complex histories but are also archaeological fictions. Taking on the character of an archaeologist, he produces objects that blur the lines between painting, sculpture, and drawing, exploring what it means to be human in a time of global turbulence, institutional corruption, and the accelerated transformation of cities. With Orogenic, Pacheco proposes an alternative narrative that fills the voids left by official history, an impulse fueled by the nonexistence of a historical archive in his hometown of San Simón el Alto, located in the south of the State of Mexico.