Ciudad de México, Guadalajara and Oaxaca

Residents: Alejandro Alonso Díaz (Spain), Bermet Borubaeva (Kyrgyz Republic), Nicole Bray (Australia), Pietro Della Giustina (Italy), Ceren Erdem (Turkey), Julia Morandeira Arrizabalaga (Spain), Marte Danielsen Jølbo (Norway), and Rachael Rakes (USA)

Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, Secretaria de Cultura (Mexico), Colección Diéresis and Galería Tiro al Blanco

Production Processes, from the Urban to the Rural

Over the course of the program, curators investigated divergent forms of cultural production currently developing across Mexico. The facilitated research took curators to institutions in Mexico City, the established center of contemporary art in Mexico, and regional sites of cultural transformation and experimentation in Guadalajara and Oaxaca. Mexico City. Its most influential institutions like Colección JUMEX and the MACO Art Fair, has long been internationally recognized as the locus of contemporary art in Mexico; now, regional actors are emerging across Mexico, developing in dialogue with Mexico City while also firmly rooting themselves as autonomous sites of production. One of these centers is the city of Guadalajara, the capital of the Northern State of Jalisco, known for traditional arts and colonial architecture. In recent years, Guadalajara has seen the emergence of a thriving contemporary art scene, supported by institutions like Arena México and Taller Mexicano de Gobelinos and drawing international audiences. Bi-national galleries, like Travesia 4, based in Guadalajara and Madrid, bypass Mexico City altogether. In Oaxaca, the decentralization of cultural spaces is generating experimental forms of artistic development.  The geographic isolation reflects a philosophical separation from the vortex of production in urban centers, providing an artistic retreat with a focus on collaboration and social commitment through art.

CPR: Mexico 2017 was an exploration of concurrent modes of production in sites across Mexico, from frenzied urban centers to intentionally remote retreats, giving curators-in-residence access to the artists, institutions, and publics that feed Mexico’s growing reputation as an international center of contemporary art.