Honduras (translated in the Oxford Spanish-English dictionary as: depths, to go into a lot of detail, to get into deep water) is a re-writing of the national anthem of Argentina through Google Translator. Terán has worked on its lyrics —written in the first half on the XIX Century— by translating them ack and forth from Spanish into non-European languages until each phrase emerges with a coherent grammatical structure and a new meaning, without any editing or intervention from the artist. The result is a text that sounds both epic, somewhat delirious but, above all, political and revolutionary in an almost contemporary way.

Following his previous art practice which has always relied on building worlds departing from the hand-traced line in often very laborious processes (this intense labor is part of the concentration and the draw he finds in making artwork), Terán has carved the words of this new version of Argentina’s anthem on woods which now cover the floor of the upstairs gallery. The installation establishes a new relation between reader and text, where readers must physically engage with space and movement as they progress along the text.

The floors of the stair’s steps and the entrance to the gallery have been covered by engraved wood as well. The somewhat mysterious signs on them are sections of Julian Terán’s own handwriting which have been sliced and symmetrically duplicated, to create what appears to be an archaic language to be deciphered. Would Google translate this as well?

Julián Terán was born in Monte, a small town in the Province of Buenos Aires in 1977. He has received several awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (2015, 2017), as well as from Itau Bank Prize and other foundations. His works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern At of Buenos Aires (MAMBA), Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (MALBA), Klemm Foundation, Buenos Aires; Cecilia de Torres Gallery, New York; among other venues.

Terán is also a musician, he founded the bands Undercolour and Skinny Warhols, with whom he produced records in 2007 and 2012. Since 2016 he directs the alternative recording label Run Run Records, devoted to musical production by visual artists .