For our 31st Derive, Viridiana Zavala explores how, in 1940s Mexico, art and architecture propelled educational and literacy initiatives. Drawing on archives and publications, she reflects on their role in shaping the country's social and cultural landscape.
There was a time in Mexico when architecture and social art became cornerstones of state efforts to ensure access to education and literacy. This takes us back to the 1940s, when architects and artists actively participated in policies aimed at the common good and the longed-for national progress. The modernist architects and engravers of the era depicted Mexican reality through their materials and graphic works, and their practices shaped schools, educational programs, and literacy projects that sought to transform the country.
Through a review of archives, graphic works, and publications, we will articulate a narrative about the implications that architecture and art can have in shaping a country and its citizens. This is an invitation to reflect —from the present— on how space and image have served as tools for social construction.
She completed her doctoral and master's studies in Art History at UNAM. She is an academic at the Center for Industrial Design Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a member of the National System of Researchers (SNII). She is part of international study networks on Material Culture in Latin America, a member of the Object Kingdom Laboratory at CIDI, and of UNAM's permanent university seminar Art + Science. Since 2024, she has been the director of the design, fashion, and art collection Matter Matters, based in Mexico City.
Concurrently, since 2016, she has been a professor of Industrial Design History at the School of Architecture and Design of Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama, and has conducted research stays at institutions and universities in the U.S. and Germany. She is an active researcher who has participated in various publications, books, colloquia, and conferences, as well as interdisciplinary projects with universities in Latin America. From 2015 to 2017, she was part of the curatorial team at Museo Jumex in Mexico City. From 2021 to 2024, she served as Head of Documentation and Cultural Archive at Nouvel.
IG @viryzavalar
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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.
