Mariana Castillo Deball: Dead, I Am Still Paper

Between 2010–19, the Domplatz in St. Pölten was transformed into an archaeological excavation site, which unearthed Roman and medieval ruins along with approximately 22,000 human remains from a vast town cemetery used between the mid-9th century and 1779. The remains were moved, the ground was closed and what is left is a shape of a silhouette of the former basilica.

It is here that the site-specific commission by Mariana Castillo Deball takes place. Dead, I Am Still Paper presents an exploration of the memory and materiality underlying this square through the history of paper production. The installation is inspired by the personal objects and funerary ornaments found with the bodies. While metal buttons, jewels, and bones endured the burial, more ephemeral items like fabric and paper letters dissolved upon air exposure. Deball’s work evokes these fleeting materials, intertwining their stories with the plot of Goran Petrović’s Papir sa vodenim znakom (“Watermarked Paper”). On the one hand, this novel relates the “democratisation” process of paper through the integration of old clothes and rags for its production and, on the other hand, the story of this same material as a metaphor for vanity and transformation.

In the 14th century, European workshops repurposed old clothes into paper, making it more accessible than parchment. Lumpensammler (“rag collectors”) played a vital role in supplying materials, even sourcing textiles from burial sites, which sometimes led to disease. Rag collection became so important in Austria that in 1768, Maria Theresia laid down an exactly defined collection area for each paper mill.

Deball’s work prompts viewers to reflect on the balance between preservation and erasure and the stories that everyday objects tell about our identities and history, fostering a deeper connection with the past and contemplation of memory’s fragility. This project deepens our connection with exhumed remains, revealing the stories that shape us as alive human beings.

Mariana Castillo Deball (*1975, Mexico) is a visual artist whose work explores the history of cultural artefacts, their circulation and the different ways in which they have been interpreted and understood over time. She has been honoured with internationally renowned awards and has participated in numerous major exhibitions and biennials. She has been a professor of sculpture at the Kunstakademie Münster since 2015 and lives in Berlin.