Quipu

This small yet complete quipu (notice the knots at each end of the primary cord) likely dates from the colonial period, judging by the very loosely spun and plied primary cord. According to quipu scholar Gary Urton, the scattered knots do not appear to record numeric values, and he suggests that this quipu may be a colonial-period reinvention of the traditional Inca form that has been transformed in the process. This seventeenth- or eighteenth-century example is a perfect segue to Cecilia Vicuña’s installation, in which she also transforms the quipu through an act of remembrance.