Digital Piñata 01

Digital Piñatas is a project that seeks to establish a relationship between digital media and the tangible qualities of Mexico's material traditions. Piñatas are cultural objects that are born from the hybridization between the catholic evangelization of Mesoamerican cultures. This is manifested in the seven peaks emerging from its spherical core that symbolize the seven deadly sins of the bible and its hairiness or feathering which represent the Aztec serpent-god Huitzilopochtli. The ritual which gives this object its meaning revolves around beating it up with sticks, and symbolizes overcoming the sins of the world. After the violent episode of swinging and orbiting which leads to its destruction and disfiguration, the victors are rewarded with candy that emerges from their body. These animations act as intensifiers of the physical as well as visual aesthetic qualities from both the object and its ritual.