The IISH collection of unidentified photos has been the inspiration for the Institute of Chance, a work of art by Mariana Castillo Deball. June 17 she will be awarded the Prix de Rome 2004, the Dutch state prize for drawing/graphics.
Mariana Castillo Deball (b.1978, Mexico) established the Institute of Chance especially for the final round of the Prix de Rome 2004. The institute is about arranging and archiving, the distribution of data and the disruption of systems.
Her interest in anarchism brought her in touch with the IISH, which specialises in storing information on all conceivable schools of thought and social movements. A box of unidentified photographs particularly attracted her attention. These photographs had managed to evade the Institute's system.
The combination of Castillo's interests and found non-system gave her the idea of disorganising a particular group of people. The exhibition in Het Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam will provide an answer to how she will accomplish this.