Hacia Cuando (To When), a commission by Chilean-born and Massachusetts-based artist Daniela Rivera, explores the migration of cultural traditions, histories, narratives, and practices through a material language of pre-Hispanic fresco traditions and the sonic language of resonance. By transforming soil, stone, pigment, movement, and sound, Rivera’s project aims to question and engage with history, materiality, and site, and explores the cultural, historical, and colonial histories present in her techniques and materials.

At the center of the exhibition is a tilted platform of handmade fresco tiles, materials with both Indigenous and colonial influences, which operates as a sonic device when walked across by museum visitors. The void made by the floor’s incline acts as a resonance space, amplifying the sounds of movement through contact microphones, and creating evidence of transitory and migratory pathways. Through a commission which operates simultaneously as painting, sculpture, site-specific installation, and sonic instrument, Rivera’s cross-disciplinary project demonstrates how migration — physical, cultural, or otherwise — is constantly taking place and reshaping society and ourselves.

About the Artist
Born in Santiago, Chile, Daniela Rivera received her BFA from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 1996 and her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, Boston, in 2006. She is currently Professor of Studio Art at Wellesley College. She has exhibited widely in Latin American cities including Santiago, Chile, as well as in the United States at the Davis Museum, the Fitchburg Art Museum and the MFA. She was awarded residencies at Surf Point, Proyecto ACE in Buenos Aires, Headlands Center for the Arts, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She was the recipient of notable fellowships and grants including The Rappaport Prize, Now + There, the Massachusetts Cultural Council Award, VSC, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, The FONDART in Chile, and the St. Botolph Club Foundation Distinguished Artist Award. Recent exhibitions include: Donde El Cielo Toca La Tierra / Where the Sky Touches The Earth at Matucana 100 in Santiago, Chile, Praxis of Local Knowledge at the San Francisco Art Commission, and New Worlds: Women to Watch at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Associated Programs
Hacia Cuando: An Opera, October 10, 2026, 1pm & 4pm.
In Conversation: Daniela Rivera and Curator Evan Garza, October 10, 2026, 2pm.

Download a PDF of the exhibition gallery guide here.

Conceived with Denise Markonish, Daniela Rivera: Hacia Cuando (To When) is organized by Evan Garza, Curator, MASS MoCA.

Daniela Rivera: Hacia Cuando (To When) has been supported by a grant from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation’s Artist’s Resource Trust.

Installation view: Daniela Rivera: Hacia Cuando (To When) as installed at MASS MoCA, July 2026. Photo: Tony Luong.