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Toledo, who has made jewelry for the musical "Evita"
on Broadway and unique pieces for Barack Obama and Madonna, was
among the first in Argentina to contract COVID-19 a year ago,
which left him hospitalized for eight days with pneumonia.
The experience left an imprint on his life and triggered a
flurry of artworks, from a 14-meter mask with the Argentine flag
that he placed on the iconic Obelisk in Buenos Aires to raise
awareness about organ donation during the pandemic.
For his new exhibition, the "Museum of the After," Toledo is
collecting recycled coronavirus waste sent by hospitals,
laboratories and random people. It includes old vaccines and
medical parts, and newspaper clippings about the pandemic.
"I am excited to be able to transform pain into beauty and this
exhibition is just that, capturing everything that is happening
to us as a society," Toledo, 45, told Reuters in his workshop in
the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires.
The artworks, which will go on show from September in a public
space in downtown Buenos Aires, will all be made from
"disposable materials or garbage that people send me," many of
them sealed inside vacuum-packed bags.
"It is the first time that I do an exhibition in which I do not
have to buy any of the elements," he said. "It will all be
enclosed or put in capsules because we should never forget this.
So the idea is that everything can be preserved over time."
In the exhibition there will be a real ship that symbolically
crosses a "storm" and recycling islands to raise awareness about
the importance of caring for the environment.
"The exhibition will tell the story of this ship that went
sailing and was stranded after the storm, which is a great
metaphor for what is happening to us. This pandemic, it's a
great global storm," Toledo said.
As with the giant mask, which was replicated in countries such
as the United States and Japan, the artist dreams of reproducing
the new exhibition in other cities around the world.
"The idea of this 'Museum of the After' is on one hand to look
for elements from all over the world, and also to be able to
replicate it in other places and even get a physical museum to
leave the work for posterity," he said.
(Reporting by Lucila Sigal; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Steve
Orlofsky)
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