Conquistador

The loud, alien snorting of the animals, the ring of iron on the stone roads and the metallic clatter of armour broke the familiar silence of the mountains. When a Spaniard swung down from the saddle, it looked to Inca eyes like a divine or demonic miracle: the monster split into two separate beings, only to unite again soundlessly moments later. It was the moment in which the familiar world of the Inca began to crack — paralysed by the sight of a power for which their language had no words yet. Exhibited in 2004 at the Akzentaforum in Ried, Upper Austria.