MALLEUS BOOK BURNING

2026

Cast resin, burned English translation of Malleus Maleficarum (1486) by Heinrich Kramer

3 x 12 x 16 inches

ARTIST STATEMENT

Malleus Book Burning (2026) is part of a cycle of works in film, sound, performance and sculptural objects, created in response to Malleus-Maleficarum, a 15th century legal and practical guide for inquisitors on methods of torture, prosecution, and execution of women, which became the standard legal text on women and witchcraft. My ecofeminist approach relates the oppression of women with the oppression of lands, cultures and the environment.

Malleus-Maleficarum left a trail of legacy of oppression against women still present in various forms in contemporary Western culture.

The book continues to have long-term influence through the misogyny rampant both then and now. This torture manual was a bestselling book for over a century, going through multiple editions and translations. Scholars estimate that approximately 110,000 trials were held in Europe between 1450 and 1750, with half of the trials ending with execution, during a period when religious organizations held sway over the masses, backed patriarchal rule, and played an important role in the everyday lives of citizens. In 2024, the first part of film/sound Malleus-Medusa (work in progress) was presented as part of the exhibition Endgame at WhiteBox, New York, where it was curated by Yohanna M Roa, followed by a screening of the full work took place earlier this year at the Goethe-Institut New York. Malleus Book Burning (2026) is a translated to English copy of the Malleus Maleficarum (1486) by Heinrich Kramer, burned by the artist to oppose and expose the book’s ongoing legacy of patriarchal structures of power and the ongoing colonizing of women in contemporary culture and law.

EXHIBITION

Conceived within WhiteBox Portable curatorial framework, and curated by Juan Puntes and Yohanna M. Roa, the exhibition is located at the 42nd St–8th Av. subway station in New York City (Lines A, C, E, downtown), a high-traffic urban site where over 200,000 individuals circulate daily. Within this condition, the exhibition operates as an embedded structure, exposed to movement, interruption, and the temporal instability of the public sphere.

Opening: Saturday, May 9, 2026, 3–7 PM
Dates: May 9 – May 30, 2026
Hours: Tuesday–Friday, 11 AM – 6 PM

By appointment: info@whiteboxny.org

Re-Union, New York brings together artists who have been part of WhiteBox over the past three decades, activating a network that unfolds across time, memory, and institutional history. The exhibition proposes an open field of relations, where each work functions as a distinct position within a shared yet unstable framework.

Artists: Arlene Rush, Carla Gannis, Daniel Rothbart, David B. Smith, Cecile Chong, Dirty Churches, D. Dominick Lombardi, Ellen Alt, Ferran Martin, Gregory Sholette, Jason Mena, Jenny Marketou, Jodie Lyn Lee, Jon Tsoi, Julia Justo, Kathie Halfin, Lilia Zamud, Margaret Roleke, Margaret Lanzetta, Marie Christine Katz, Michael Pribitch, Monika Weiss, Noah Fischer, Pasha Radetzki, Pedro Mateo, Philip Pavia, QinZa Najm, Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga, Sandra Eula Lee, Simonetta Moro, Tatiana Stominia, Susan Salinger, Theresa Byrnes, Terry Berkowitz, Zak Vreeland.