“It’s pretty cool we’re in the Smithsonian and we’re not dead yet.”

that changes depending on where the viewer is standing and creates a hallucinatory effect. The brothers recently flew to Washington, D.C., to participate in “Crafting Future,” a Smithsonian symposium that thematically centered on the concept of time.

While some of the brothers’ work has literal references to calendars and time, it’s a postulation that they both agree they’ve been thinking about more and more, and one that they intend to explore within “Post-columbian Futurism,” a new installation exhibition opening March 19 at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego in Balboa Park.

“We’ve always been about more,” says Jamex, who adds that he realizes their initial proposal to ICA was very “ambitious” for the time frame they had to develop new work. “Usually people just want to develop one idea, one solid installation, but we collaborate and always come up with more routes we want to explore. More often than not, we end up exploring all of them.”

ICA is billing “Post-columbian Futurism” as one of the “largest and most ambitious” installations of the brothers’ career.

It centers on a theme of mass consumption via the story of two Aztec gods (Coatlicue, earth goddess, and Mictlantecuhtli, god of the dead) and their unending battle. The brothers will transform these Indigenous gods into something resembling modern-day deities that incorporate pop culture and current references (“Coatzilla” and “Miclantiputin,” respectively). Within the ICA space, patrons will be confronted by two large-scale lenticular portraits of the gods on opposite sides, with surrounding sculptures, floor coverings and projections incorporated throughout.

The sons of an architect father, they learned early on the possibilities of a space while growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, before relocating to the U.S. in 1972. Einar says their father instilled in them a great sense of “three-dimensionality” that helps them to look at an exhibition space as not simply a giant blank canvas.

“There is a negotiation that happens, but it’s not good for either of us to spend a bunch of energy trying to talk the other one into something when there’s all these other ideas that we can agree on,” Einar says. “It’s a good problem to have. We don’t suffer from writer’s block.”

The de la Torres often use discarded and repurposed materials in their work, and while it may be convenient to describe their mixedmedia work as incorporating “found” objects, both brothers find that term to be selling it short.

They often obsess over what materials and objects to use. The fact that someone’s trash finds new life within their art, and is used to explore ideas of our own consumeristic habits, is a testament to the vast and varying ideas that the brothers are attempting to explore. Yes, it’s stunning to look at, even playful and fun, but under the surface are bold, provocative and even contrarian statements that are rooted in spirituality and existentialism.

“In a way, a lot of our work has always been exploring the contemporary human condition,” says Jamex.

“We obviously aren’t trying to make work that has already been done, so much as we’re trying to reshuffle the cards,” Einar adds. “By calling it ‘Futurism,’ we’re bringing an angle that was really a throwback to the era of midcentury, where futurism was a very bright, hopeful and technologically astute outlook when it actually turns out we’re just monkeys with cellphones.”

As dismissive as that last statement might sound on the surface, Einar is quick to point out again that neither he nor his brother feels as if they’re any better than the average consumer. The only difference is that he hopes their art will help others, perhaps, explore their own conceptualizations of responsible consumerism.

“Always when we talk about this juggernaut of consumerism, we’re very careful to point out that we’re part of it. We’re not above it,” Einar says. “I just drove across the border to be in my studio. We’re doing this interview on a computer.”

“Hey, I’m driving a hybrid right now,” Jamex interrupts, prompting both to laugh.

With this, that fraternal bond is evident, a tiny moment in which I see the delightful ribbing that keeps them coming back, hand in hand, to create their own little worlds.

“Hey, man, good for you,” Einar retorts. “You’re doing your best to do your part.”