The idea of an art fair may sound shocking to many. Corridors and corridors full of works that become improvised catwalks of people who only go around with their best outfits to take selfies. Beyond that banality, Zona Maco has been held in Mexico City for 22 years, a fair that has been consolidated in such a way that it has provided the ideal context for the creation of countless art initiatives in the capital.
Zona Maco is just the tip of the iceberg of the artistic movement that is generated in the first week of February: exhibitions, outdoor performances, concerts, opening of iconic architectural spaces… Unique events that put Mexican artists and gallery owners in the global spotlight ( and on the way to the capital). Here we list what is worth visiting this week if you are a fan of art (and architecture).
Orlan arrives in Mexico
The French artist Mireille Suzanne Francette Porte (Saint-Étienne, 1947), better known as Orlan, has dedicated her life to making body art. For decades Orlan has had surgeries as part of her artistic practice as a way to challenge convention and reclaim her feminism and her freedom. Her work gains relevance in a world in which body modifications are a common practice, although they are not always declarations of freedom but of submission to an aesthetic that prevails in the mass media. Some pieces by Orlan will be in the Museum of Popular Art and in the Hybridizations exhibition, in Terreno Baldío Arte. The curatorship is headed by Rodrigo Torres Ramos and includes six other contemporary artists.
When and where. Vacant Land Art. Calle Orizaba, 177, Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City. From February 3 to March 17, 2024.
The Nancarrow House/Studio opens its doors
One of the city’s most iconic organic architecture houses, designed in 1950 by architect Juan O’Gorman for the musical composer Conow Nancarrow, will be open to the public thanks to A Stubborn and a Hermit Enter a Bar, an exhibition organized by the Peana gallery. The exhibition, which includes the work of twenty-four contemporary artists, is curated by Mercedes Gómez (CO,MA), Ana Pérez Escoto and Joseph del Pesco, and “reflects on isolation, resistance, hope, transition and disappointment as manifestations of human construction (and destruction), defend the curators.
When and where. Nancarrow House/Studio. Calzada de las Águilas 46, Colonia Los Alpes, Mexico City. From February 6 to March 3, 2024, by prior registration on the PEANA website.
Pedro and Juana’s Chopo
The Chopo University Museum inaugurates Cascabel, by the Mexican studio Pedro y Juana, made up of Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo and Mecky Reuss. Both are based on the architecture of the iconic building designed by Bruno Möhring, which became a symbol of modernity and an emblem of Santa María la Ribera. Pedro and Juana take up the towers, which simulate a bell tower, as a discursive element, and propose an installation with sound elements that makes, according to the description of the exhibition, “a parallelism between the bell and the ayoyotes, hollow seeds used as percussion instruments , which reproduce a sound similar to that of a snake or rain. They are also used by dancers called concheros in different rituals.”
When and where. Chopo University Museum. Dr. Enrique González Martínez 10, Colonia Santa María la Ribera, Mexico City. Inauguration and talk with Pedro and Juana on February 10, at 12:00 p.m.
Immaterial y Material
The Material fair celebrates its tenth anniversary and celebrates it with several events outside its main venue, at Expo Reforma. The night of Friday, February 9, presents a free show in the Cárcamo de Dolores: Cerebro de Abuela Piel de Piedra. This puppet show was created by Poncili Creación, a collective made up of twins Pablo and Efraín Del Hierro who use puppets to improvise fantasy acts.
When and where. Cárcamo de Dolores, Bosque de Chapultepec, II Section. Mexico City. On February 9, 2024, from 7 to 8 p.m. Free event.
On the other hand, the Immaterial program dedicated to performance presents Untitled (Holding Horizon), by the artist and choreographer Alex Baczyński-Jenkins, dedicated to reflecting on feelings, the body, desire, queerness and its perception through dance . The choreography, curated by Michelangelo Miccolis, is performed by five people, lasts three hours and will take place at the Laguna facilities.
When and where. Dr. Erazo 172, Colonia Doctores, Mexico City. On February 10, 2024, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Ticket sales on the Immaterial website.
A walk in Laguna
Laguna is a renovated old thread and lace factory, located in the Doctores neighborhood. It has been open to the public since 2020 and brings together nineteen projects such as the La Metropolitana offices, the Loofok natural wine cellar, the Llano gallery or the legendary Ánfora ceramics factory, among others. It is a beautiful place to visit, and during art week it will be the scene of several exhibitions such as In the shadows, our ghosts stalk, curated by Fabiola Iza, where several local artists participate; Pausa Peñitas, with the work of Studio Ome, and the Guadalajara artist Ernesto Solana; or the solo show of the illustrator Hola Lou, in a special edition of the Great Hall of Mexico.
When and where. LAGOON. Dr. Lucio 181, Colonia Doctores, Mexico City. All events open on February 6, some will only be there this week, others will remain open longer. Free event.
Sir David Chipperfield returns to the Jumex Museum
In 2023, Sir David Chipperfield won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the highest award for an architect. More than a decade ago Chipperfield was immersed in the construction of the Jumex Museum, which is about to celebrate exactly 10 years. The iconic building is today one of the most important contemporary art museums in the country and celebrates its anniversary with a talk between Chipperfield and Miquel Adrià, director of Arquine magazine and the Mextrópoli Architecture and City Festival, as well as the School of Architecture in the middle.
When and where. Jumex Museum. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 303, Colonia Granada, Mexico City. On February 8, 2024, at 10:30 in the morning, by prior registration on the museum’s website.
The exhibitions of San Miguel Chapultepec
San Miguel Chapultepec is a pleasant neighborhood to walk around and eat something, it has established galleries such as Kurimanzutto or the GAM Mexican Art Gallery (both on Gral. Rafael Rebollar Street). This year, MASA, in collaboration with the Luhring Augustine gallery in New York, returns to the neighborhood (6 Joaquín A. Pérez Street). MASA was born in 2019 and explores the blurred line between design and art. A few steps away you can visit another architectural jewel of the country, the Casa Giraldi (Calle Gral. Antonio León 82) by Luis Barragán – normally requires an appointment in advance and charges an entrance fee – will be open for a few days for the exhibition Scent of time: Horizontes Temporales , by Mexican artist Yoab Vera, organized by Saenger Galería.
More and more and more art
The annual event includes the Acme Salon, which is held inside a Porfirian mansion called Proyecto Público Prim. This initiative was created in 2013 due to the need to give a place to emerging artists and has been growing with each edition. He always allocates a room to a State to give visibility to what is happening in other places in the Republic; for 2024 the special guest is Nuevo León, with El Horizonte not a straight line. Acme is also a journey through the different proposals of young art in the country, and a fun afternoon or evening to the rhythm of good musical proposals.
On the other hand, some artists have organized themselves to show their work in their own way. This is the case of Álvaro Ugarte, Julieta Gil, Daniel Godínez-Nivón and Lisa Sudhibhasilp, who open Bajo los lides in a basement in Juárez (Calle Havre 66) starting on February 6.
Finally, most of the city’s galleries – there are more and more and with better offerings – open exhibitions this week. Among the Roma and Condesa colonies, the proposal from Campeche, Fundación Marso, Mascota and Travesía Cuatro stands out.
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2024-02-08 05:11:16
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