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Written and directed by Mexico City artist Naomi Rincón Gallardo, The Formaldehyde Trip is a cycle of songs and videos dedicated to murdered Mixtec activist Alberta “Bety” Cariño, performed live with crafty and ornate props, and echoes from Mexican B-side Sci-Fi films of the 60s and 70s. The Formaldehyde Trip weaves together Mesoamerican cosmologies, feminist activism and theory and indigenous women’s struggle for their bodies and their territories. The work imagines Bety Cariño’s journey through the underworld where she encounters women warriors, witches and widows, the dual-gendered goddess of death and animals preparing her rebirth party. An axolotl (Mexican salamander) in formaldehyde is the story-teller who agitates between fact, fiction and friction.

El viaje de formol es una ficción especulativa que consiste en un ciclo de canciones y videos dedicados a Bety Cariño (1973-2010), activista mixteca defensora de los derechos de los pueblos y territorios indígenas asesinada en 2010 en una emboscada paramilitar. El viaje de formol despliega ecos de cosmologías mesoamericanas, referencias al cine mexicano de ciencia ficción de los 60s y 70s, voces visionarias del pasado cantando hacia el futuro, y letras de canciones inspiradas en luchas de mujeres contra el despojo de sus territorios, cuerpos y vidas. El viaje de formol imagina el trayecto de Bety al inframundo, donde encuentra guerreras, brujas y viudas, animales y deidades con ambos sexos preparando su fiesta de retorno. Un axolotl preservado en formol juega el papel de narrador, informante nativo y guía de viajes en el tiempo que va mutando mientras agita hechos, ficciones y fricciones.

Vocals: Danishta Rivero, David Katz, San Cha

Drums: Marin

Composer: Federico Schmucler

Vocal effect processing: David Molina

Writer & Director: Naomi Rincón Gallardo

The Formaldehyde Trip is presented as part of the , organized by REDCAT and supported by a major grant from the Getty Foundation. Pacific Standard Time Festival: Live Art LA/LA is part of , a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles, taking place from September 2017 through January 2018 at more than 70 cultural institutions across Southern California.