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# Censored in 1970s Guatemala, a Hamlet-Inspired Play Is Restaged in LA
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/naufus-ramirez-figueroa-los-angeles-county-museum-of-art/
- Published: 2017-10-24T17:52:11.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:56:22.000Z
- Description: Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa features five LA-based performers wearing costumes deigned by the artist and continues a tradition of theatrical resistance.
- Author: Matt Stromberg
- Tags: Art, Events, LACMA, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:30(2016, 2017, part 3)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/10/fbsp_32800_32bsp_160906_le_015-1.jpg)

Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, “Corazón del espantapájaros \[Heart of the Scarecrow\]” (2016/17), performance​ at Fundação Bienal de São Paulo​ (courtesy of the artist, commissioned by Fundação Bienal São Paulo and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, © Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, photo Tiago Baccarin/Estúdio Garagem/Fundação Bienal de São Paulo)

Guatemalan artist Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa explores the complex and often traumatic histories of Latin America through a diverse practice of performance, video, and sculpture. His work [*Breve Historia de la Arquitectura en Guatemala*](https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/35294?ref=hyperallergic.com) *(A Brief History of Architecture in Guatemala)* (2010)*,* for instance, featured performers wearing paper costumes of a Mayan Pyramid, a colonial church, and the modernist National Bank of Guatemala, whose traditional Guatemalan dance devolves into chaos until their costumes are destroyed.

In conjunction with the [PST: LA/LA](http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) exhibition [*A Universal History of Infamy* ](http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/universal-history-infamy?ref=hyperallergic.com)*—* featuring 16 artists who eschew a straightforward conception of Latin American Art — Ramírez-Figueroa will present his performance [*Corazón del espantapájaros \[Heart of the Scarecrow\]*](http://www.lacma.org/event/coraz%C3%B3n-del-espantap%C3%A1jaros-0?ref=hyperallergic.com). It is inspired by the 1962 political play of the same name by Guatemalan playwright Hugo Carrillo, which itself is based on *Hamlet*. That play was the focus of government repression in the mid-70s when its director received death threats and the theater where it was being staged burned to the ground. Ramírez-Figueroa’s restaging — or “rewriting” of the play as [curator José Luis Blondet noted ](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/arts/design/the-pacific-standard-time-initiative-seeks-to-rescue-fugitive-art.html?%5Fr=0&ref=hyperallergic.com)— features five LA-based performers wearing costumes deigned by the artist, and continues this tradition of theatrical resistance. The performance is also free to attend.

**When:** Thursday, October 26, 5:30pm  
**Where:** Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles)

*More info* [*here*](http://www.lacma.org/event/coraz%C3%B3n-del-espantap%C3%A1jaros-0?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.*