Arte Aberto Baja opens its Public Program 2026 with a talk between Abraham Cruzvillegas and local artists. This talk seeks to establish a dialogue with the piece, an exchange of experiences and artistic processes in different contexts.
In the context of its recent opening in Baja California Sur, Arte Aberto Baja inaugurates its Public Program 2026, based on its collaborative work practice, taking as its starting point the installation conceived by Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas with which this space is opened to the public of the peninsula entitled:
Autorretrato flameante, mirando al mismo tiempo a dos mares, asomándome para tirar guiños a los cardones, las chirinolas, los cirios, las biznagas, los alicoches, los lentiscos, las yucas, los saladitos, las jojobas, los chamizos, las pitayas, los chilicotes, las choyas, los ocotillos, y al tecolote llanero, mientras me tumbo un par de tostadas de abulón y almeja chocolata, junto con sus buenos guarapos, una kawazaki rusa bien helodia, y un licor dedamiana, escuchando la sublime ‘El invisible’, mientras tiro un chiflido llanero que se escuchará en toda la península, antes de que llegue el ferry, 2025
On Saturday, April 18 at 6 PM, there will be a talk between Cruzvillegas and artists from Baja California Sur. A space for the exchange of ideas about artistic production in relation to the territory, as well as the materials and affective practices that cross its creative concepts.
This talk proposes a shift from the work understood as an object to an expanded practice that is built in relation to its context. In this sense, Cruzvillegas's installation is not presented as a static form, but rather as an open field of relationships that are activated through time, participation and interaction with the social, cultural and geographical environment of Baja California Sur.
With the opening of the Public Program, Arte Aberto Baja reaffirms its interest in producing experiences that go beyond the traditional exhibition format, betting on mediation models that privilege active participation and encounter between artists, audiences and territory. More than a container of works, space is conceived as a platform under construction, where artistic practice is understood as a living, situated, collective and constantly changing process.
Abraham Cruzvillegas’ artistic process is deeply influenced by his surroundings. Instead of being defined by a particular medium, many of his projects connect through the idea of autoconstrucción: a concept that draws from the ingenious, precarious, and collaborative building tactics implemented by the people living in Colonia Ajusco, his childhood neighborhood in Mexico City. Cruzvillegas adopts an approach based on inventive improvisation and instability, presenting change as a permanent state, emerging from the chaotic and fragmentary nature of life. The evolving notion of autoconstrucción has, in turn, generated explorations into similar concepts, such as autodestrucción and autoconfusión. These inquiries have led the artist not only to explore his own origins, but to collaborate with family and friends in a very personal form of research, resulting in a constant process of learning: about materials, landscape, people, and himself.
Through various media, including sculpture, painting, drawing, installation, and video, Cruzvillegas reveals a close and constant engagement with the material world—immersing himself in the ongoing construction and transformation of personal and collective identities. His sculptures challenge prevailing conceptions of art making by using a wide range of collected objects, while his paintings and drawings depict subjects with a strong sense of humor, instilled by his early training as a political cartoonist. Parallel to his artistic production, Cruzvillegas has cultivated writing as an investigative tool of self-analysis that merges history, criticism, and fiction. His lyrics and texts about art, politics, and culture constitute a significant element of his practice.
Cruzvillegas studied Pedagogy from 1986 to 1990 at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City, while simultaneously attending Gabriel Orozco’s workshop, Taller de los viernes. In 2012, he was the 5th winner of the Yanghyun Prize and received the Prix Altadis d’arts plastiques in 2006.
Cruzvillegas lives and works in Mexico City.
Arte Abierto inicia su programa de mediación y comunicación educativa 2022 con una conversación entre la investigadora y escritora Irmgard Emmelhainz y Sebastien Noel de Troika, tomando la exposición No Sound of Water como punto de partida. Abordarán los temas presentes en este proyecto, como el Antropoceno, y harán diferentes lecturas y cuestionamientos (Materialist Realism / Philosophy of Matter / Art as Image).
Irmgard Emmelhainz transmitirá en vivo desde No Sound of Water en Arte Abierto.
