The relief mural consists of 48 panels, which Cuevas used to combine corporate logos from the world of finance and precolonial symbolic representations of Mesoamerican deities to form an archaeological scene of both the past and present. From left to right are sculptural motifs of a bat in reference to the Mayan god Camazotz; a snake; a figure seen from behind (a mazehuali or commoner) wearing only a loincloth; a dog (an ahuizotl); a fish lying on the ground; a cacao tree that spans from the bottom of the mural to the top; and a monkey from the Ecuadorian Jama-Coaque culture. The title of the relief, The Enterprise, is related to the spaceship of the same name from the American television series Star Trek and also to the other meaning of “enterprise” as a company and business. In addition to the aforementioned logos from the banking world, the cacao tree and the arrows pointing to the monkey and the fish are also references to early indigenous forms of trade, agricultural activity, and hunting. The relationship to the colonial economic exploitation of the early communities and their cultures is evident in the scene.
Installation view: Schultze Projects #3 Minerva Cuevas, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 2021. Photo: Nick Ash. Courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York.