Event details 
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
5 pm

Dia Chelsea
5th floor library
535 West 22nd Street
New York, New York

Free. Spaces are limited; register here.

As part of the debut of Echoes from the Borderlands, a poignant, multilayered sound work featured at Dia Chelsea this winter, Dia’s director of publications Kamilah N. Foreman and deputy director of program Humberto Moro hold a conversation with artists Valeria Luiselli, Ricardo Giraldo, and Leo Heiblum. The piece—which runs 24 hours, the time it takes to drive from San Diego and Tijuana off the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico—blends soundscapes, melodies, archival and field recordings, and interviews to highlight issues like the genocide of native peoples, migration, reproductive rights, and environmental destruction. At its core, the chapbook contains more than just the libretto to the audio in the galleries; it also presents imaginative responses to the border, including a chorus of four voices who provide incisive commentary along the way. A QR code inside the chapbook links to the audio for an immersive reading experience.

Valeria Luiselli was born in Mexico City in 1983. She is the author of several books, including the internationally acclaimed Lost Children Archive (2019), and her work has been translated into 30 languages. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2019), as well as an American Book Award (2018) and a Dublin Literary Award (2021), among other honors. Luiselli teaches at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She lives in New York.

Ricardo Giraldo was born in Cali, Colombia, in 1971. He works in sound, contemporary classical music, and exhibition design, and has served as the composer-in-residence for the Residentie Orkest of the Hague. He directed the documentary film festival Ambulante (2009–10), as well as Cinema23 and the Fénix Film Awards (2012–19). Together with Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, he founded the podcast division of the production company La Corriente del Golfo. He lives in Mexico City.

Leo Heiblum was born in Mexico City in 1970. He is a composer, producer, and sound artist. He studied piano and composition in Mexico City, tabla in India, son jarocho in Veracruz, and Latin American music in Argentina. He has collaborated with Philip Glass, Patti Smith, and the Soundwalk Collective on albums and, with the latter two, the exhibition Evidence at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2022–23). He has scored over 40 feature films, many of which received awards at major international film festivals. His album Encyclopedia Sonica Vol.1 was released in 2024. He lives in Tepoztlán, Mexico.