Arte Contemporáneo Tag

MARIO GARCÍA TORRES

COSITAS   ENE.2024 – JUL.2024

COSITAS

Cositas is a conceptual and audiovisual experience experience that takes references from popular culture to question our interpretations of reality.

“I wouldn’t want to say too much. I trust that the materialization of the ideas put forth in these exhibition rooms has the potential to be connected to the most fundamental questions about our lives and their everyday natures. At the center of them lies the one that is related to our interpretation of reality. Which interpretation is the one that is true? The one we’ve been told or the one we build with our thoughts? Small Things is the passage of a certain number of experiences that at one point in the past were only small things; ideas in my mind which held the promise of, in a near future, coming into existence.”

Mario García Torres

Cositas takes its name from a phrase that became popular on open television during the 90s to generate expectations around a future event, and which has currently gained great popularity on social networks without losing its original spirit: “se vienen cositas” (things are coming). Based on this idea, García Torres presents 5 artworks that take as reference a world-renowned comic character – which this year becomes a public domain image -, the song of a popular rock band from the 80s, the aesthetics of the photocopier as a pictorial practice, and memes and videos that today form part of our collective imagination due to their viral circulation on social networks.

With this project, the artist plays with the idea of audiovisual experiences intended for mass audiences, taking into account the particular context in which Arte Abierto finds itself. In this way, Cositas invites us to question the dynamics of consumption today, our role as spectators and co-creators of meaning, and the coincidences that exist between images and everyday life: How is it that a child’s fall can be as relevant as a historical fact? How does a famous comic character allow us to remember so many stories? How can a meme be recreated so many times, becoming increasingly viral for different generations and social spheres? How do these images impact and change language? Or, more importantly, who creates the images? Who defines the concept or who gives them meaning?

Thus, through a game marked by intuition, suspicion, mystery and humor, Cositas addresses the relationships that exist between reality and the perception of our daily lives, the collective imagination and individual memory, as well as the absence and presence of our thoughts.

 

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Works in the exhibition

Yo lo había ponido aquí (I Had Put It Here), s/f
Synthetic material and electrical mechanism

Cayendo juntos en el tiempo (Falling Together in Time), s/f
Video, 15 min

La razón de ser de esta pieza aparecerá lentamente en la medida en que lo permitas (Fuk1ng Amaz1ng), s/f
Printing on ceramic mosaics

El puente de Edgar (You Should Check Out an Old YouTube Video Titled “Edgar Se Cae”), s/f
Fiberglass, resins, and wax

No hay razón para tener miedo (There Is No Reason to Be Afraid), s/f
Video, audio, 4 min

He decidido honrar cada una de las veces en que me leíste y decidiste no reaccionar convirtiéndolas en una linda obra de arte (I Have Decided to Honor Each Time You Read Me and Decided Not to React by Turning Them Into a Beautiful Work of Art), s/f
Offset printing on paper on linen

 

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Visit Cositas by Mario García Torres from Tuesday to Sunday from 12 to 7 pm at Arte Abierto located on the 2nd Artz Pedregal (Periférico Sur 3720, Col. Jardines del Pedregal, CP. 01900 Mexico City).

UN LIBRO ES…

UN LIBRO ES… AN ENCOUNTER.

With a selection of independent publishers and projects who have explored and played with book formats + Activities for children.

Our gathering and editorial sale, Un libro es… (A book is…) by Arte Abierto, reaches its third edition with a selection of publishers, bookstores and projects focused on the art of the book, with whom we will meet in our garden to talk, celebrate and spread the power of written and visual stories.

In addition, we will have a special selection of books and literature for girls and boys, as well as workshops with Estudio Nómade and a storyteller by the Navegui Bookstore for the young readers.

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SAT.DEC.09.2023
14:00 – 19:30 h
Free admission
Arte Abierto Garden | 2º floor – Artz Pedregal

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PARTICIPATING PUBLISHERS AND PROJECTS

Arte Abierto

Fundación Arte Abierto own seal and editorial line which seeks to reflect on contemporary art practices, based on publications that arise from its own exhibition projects. Through editorial exercises that try to expand the writing of art and put it in dialogue with other disciplines, as well as to think of the book as a space of creation and knowledge, their books delve into the artistic and conceptual proposals of the exhibitions commissioned and are presented specifically for Arte Abierto’s space.

@arte_abierto

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Assouline

Founded in Paris in 1994 by Prosper and Martine Assouline, Assouline is the first luxury brand on culture. It began with the desire to create a new, contemporary style of book, using the couple’s experienced eye for visually rich stories and compelling narratives.

@assouline

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Buen Trabajo

Design and fashion.

@buen.trabajo

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Cafeleería

Read and laugh at Cafeleería.

Cafeleería is a cultural center, bookstore and cafeteria in the Mayor’s Office of Coyoacán, dedicated to the sale, dissemination and activation of unique, original and different books, printed matter and editorial projects from those of large bookstores.

@cafeleeria

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Estudio Nómade

This project emerges during the pandemic as a catalyst for children in confinement. Estudio Nómade proposes to stimulate imagination, creativity and exchange of ideas, through play, speculation and art. They combine visual arts, cinema, theater, literature, illustration and editorial design in order to achieve a novel and playful space, where participants can discover other ways of creating and put it into everyday practice.

@estudio___nomade

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Librería Navegui

Children’s bookstore, illustrated books, stories, album books, graphic pieces for boys and girls, puppets and much more. More than selling books, they share readings.

@librerianavegui

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Ediciones Hungría

Ediciones Hungría is a small independent publisher that has been publishing since 2011 in Mexico City. His projects are a creative and original exploration that plays with book formats and traditional reading.

edicioneshungria.com/

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Miau Ediciones

Independent editorial project focused on feminist publications. Working mainly with female and non-binary and dissident artists, writers, illustrators, editors and creatives. It includes several genres such as theory, politics and social situation, graphics, photography, artist books, among others. “We like to use publications as instruments of dialogue and reflection while collectivizing our editorial practice.”

@miauediciones

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GLACIAR. Libros helados

Yogurt ice cream and independent publications in the San Rafael neighborhood.

@libroshelados

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Fulgencio Pimentel

An independent publisher, originally from Spain and focused on the high-quality edition of fiction, graphic novels, poetry, art books and illustrated books, for all ages. Their policy is to be faithful to artistic principles.

fulgenciopimentel.com/

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MONOMÁNTICO

Notebook publishing house created by Juan José Martín, visual artist and editorial designer, and Hipatia Palacios, artist jeweler and graphic designer. Its products are designed from sustainability, ecology, art and love for Mexico City, as well as the culture of our country. They have two lines: the first is “Unique Notebooks”, made from pages of books, atlases and encyclopedias that we rescue and reuse to make our covers, in this way each notebook is unique; the second is “CDdfMX, notebooks for lovers of Mexico City” made in silkscreen, in runs of 250 copies with detailed attention to the materials used.

@monomantico_design

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MUAC

It is the editorial line of UNAM’s University Museum of Contemporary Art, which publishes the memory and record of the investigations developed for each exhibition project presented by the museum, as well as its critical and historiographical area. Their Folios collection are catalogs with key material and original texts on artists, artistic movements or artistic periods.

muac.unam.mx/

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Piedra Ediciones

Piedra Ediciones is a series of publications that arise from conversation and processes that conceive the book as a space for experimentation for artistic projects, considering the book as an ideal space for collaboration and exchange. Each title becomes a multiple and simultaneous piece that makes new readings possible.

Piedra Ediciones is a project by Alfonso Santiago.

@piedraediciones

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Join us and spend time together between books.

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ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

EDITORIAL WORKSHOPS FOR CHILDREN

With Estudio Nómade

1. Inventing invisibility.

Have you ever wanted to be invisible? In this workshop, participants explore the effect of invisibility. They will observe what happens in their drawings with the help of glasses, selecting what they want to be visible or invisible.

15:00 – 16:00 h

Children from 5 to 11 years old | Free admission until space is filled

2. Is there anyone there?

Participants create a narrative with the help of magazine clippings, drawings, colors and special ink, in such a way that they become a stimulus to create and imagine a story where some of the characters are ghosts.

17:00 – 18:00 h

Children from 5 to 11 years old | Free admission until space is filled

 

STORYTELLING FOR CHILDREN

With Jacinto and Chala from Librería Navegui

SESSION 1 | 14:00 – 15:00 h

SESSION 2 | 16:00 – 17:00 h

For children of all ages | Free admission

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Un libro es… the perfect way to close 2023.

RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER

REMOTE PULSE, 2019

Installation with heart rate sensor board.

Remote Pulse is an interactive installation consisting of two pulse-sensing stations that are interconnected over the Internet. When a person places their hands on one station automatically the persono in the other station feels their pulse, as the plates vibrate in sync with the heartbeath of the remote person, and viceversa. Two lights indicate the hearthbeat of both persons as well.

This piece was originally presented as part of Lozano-Hemmer’s Border Tuner installation across the US-Mexico border, with one station in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and the other in El Paso, Texas. For the exhibition Latidos, the stations were interconnected between Arte Abierto, in Mexico City and the Museo Amparo of Puebla. Now both stations are located in the architectural complex of Artz Pedregal.

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RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER

(Mexico, 1967)

Interdisciplinary artist whose work has been focused in developing interactive installations that are at the intersection of architecture and performance. His main interest is to create platforms for public participation, usign technology as a language of our time, and as an inevitable yet questionable vehicle. He was the first artist to officially represent Mexico at the 52nd Venice Biennale. His work has been presented at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA),among other spaces.

ERICK MEYENBERG

THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE, 2022

Ceramic sculpture

During a trip to Japan, Erick Meyenberg saw and filmed a chrysanthemum on a Tokyo cementery after falling because of a typhoon. The scence reverberated in the artista due to a personal momento he was going through that made everything around him look fragmented. Thus, from the Japanese philosophy and technique of Kintsugi, which consist of repairing broken ceramics, highlighting the joints to underline their value and beauty despite their fractures, he had the ide of making a sculpture of the dismembered petals of that flower –considered the imperial emblem of Japon–. Meyenberg then thought that the sculpture had to rise from the ground just as Aphrodite rose from the waters; its forms recover the strenght and movement ow water, while its color reflects the love and eroticism embodied by Aphrodite. The Kintsugi metaphor invite to reconize the beauty that exits even in the fragments or breaks that are part of life.

This work represents the first time that Meyenberg works with ceramics. It was conceived specifically for his video-installations Things We Do for Love, commissioned by Arte Abierto, and was produced at Cerámica Suro workshop in Guadalajara.

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ERICK MEYENBERG

(Mexico, 1980)

Interdisciplinary visual artist who sees painting as a fundamental element of expression, although he also explores other media such as sound installation, drawing, collage, video and performance. In his work, he shows a special interest in literature, history, social sciences, and natural sciences. His work has been exhibited in spaces such as Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Museo Tamayo, inSite / Casa Gallina, Biennial of the Americas, Arts University of Berlin, among others.
Representative in the Mexico Pavilion at the 60th Venice Art Biennale (April, 2024) with the project ‘Nos marchábamos, regresábamos siempre’, along with curator Tania Ragaso.

Nos marchábamos, regresábamos siempre, by visual artist Erick Meyenberg with curator Tania Ragasol is the project with which Mexico will participate in the 60th Venice Art Biennale 2024

Arte Abierto congratulates the artist Erick Meyenberg and the curator Tania Ragasol Valenzuela for their participation as representatives of the Mexico Pavilion at the 60th Venice Art Biennale, to be held from April 20 to November 24, 2024, with the project ‘Nos marchábamos, regresábamos siempre’, which addresses the reflection on the immigration asylum that is part of the history of Mexico.
Kudos!

Click here to read the news on INBA’s site.

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Things We Do For Love is a project commissioned by Arte Abierto to visual artist Erick Meyenberg (CDMX, 1980) which was on display from June, 2022 to February, 2023 art Espacio Arte Abierto. Composed of a video installation of 5 channels + 10.2 audio and a series of ceramic sculptures. Under the idea of the Japanese philosophy of Kintsugi, film material made in Japan is interwoven, through editing (Martha Uc), with material filmed later in Mexico, both by Meyenberg. The musical composition and sound design were in charge of RODERIC, which includes the participation of cellist Natalia Pérez-Turner. The sculptures were made at the Suro Ceramic Workshop in Guadalajara.

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JULIA CARRILLO

ESE PUNTO EN EL ESPACIO, 2021

Ese punto en el espacio (That Point in Space) (2021) is an optical artifact that shows the capacity of geometry and reflective matter to guide light and build simulated spaces that challenge our gaze. When looking inside the piece, you can observe a game of infinite reflections that, in turn, generate a parallel scenario in relation to our position in real physical space.

Conceived as a light sculpture, the effect it produces is the result of a precise composition in which a series of mirrors are arranged geometrically. The abstraction that is generated represents, for Julia Carrillo, a tribute to The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges in which a point in space contains the four corners of the universe, that is, the Whole.

The art piece was created and commissioned especially for the Luz Instante exhibition that was presented at Arte Abierto in 2021 and which brought together seven works by Carrillo focused on the exploration of light.

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JULIA CARRILLO

(Mexico, 1987)

She studied mathematics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She has a master’s degree in Visual Arts from the San Carlos Academy and studied at the New York School of Visual Arts (SVA). She has participated in various solo and group exhibitions in Mexico and abroad. She is currently a researcher at C3 (Center for Complexity Sciences, UNAM) and is a beneficiary of the Young Creators program of the National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA).

MODTHERN NATURE

Modthern Nature is a multisensorial and site-specific installation commissioned to artist Gabriela Galván (Mexico City, 1974) by Arte Abierto, with which our space is turned into an endemic and hydroponic garden which seeks to reflect upon the humanity-nature relationship, taking biodiversity and the transformation of El Pedregal as a result of modern thought as a starting point.

Modthern Nature arises from the interest in experiencing with the concept of transformation, privileging the contemplation of natural and everyday happenings through the senses. For Galván, transformation and temporality are notions which could be explored through art as fields of experimentation, investigation and knowledge, having the immediate context as reference and creating connections between living beings, places and cultures.

What we currently conceive as an urban zone, and was known in ancient Mesoamérica as Cuicuilco, was a territory which was buried by the eruption of the Xitle Volcano, provoking a volcanic landscape which we have nowadays come to witness, live in and think through. Later, during the 20th century, the area was intervened by a modern style of architecture which allows us to notice the links between natural development and human development.

 

The changes that the El Pedregal has undergone throughout its history allow us to think in concepts such as transformation, temporality and contemplation, which are of interest to the artist. The act of approaching this context from the vantage point of the present is not fortuitous: in the midst of our contemporary lives, it becomes urgent to contemplate the endemic nature that surrounds us in order to be able to recognize the knowledge transmitted by plants, rocks and living beings, as thus, reimagine our relationship to nature and our sense of belonging to it.

 

As Gabriela Galván puts forth, Modthern Nature suggests a re-enchantment with nature, but also reflects upon the importance of the sensorial aspect and our lived experience through its means. This project isn’t but a single glance at the grandiosity and complexity of El Pedregal, as guided by the knowledge of biologists, geologists, historians, landscapists and researchers who have studied the wisdoms of this historical space. This is also the first grand scale exhibition that Gabriela Galván has shown in Mexico for the past 10 years, and one of the most complex in her career.

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Gabriela Galván’s exhibition, Modthern Nature, will be open from June to November 2023, Tuesday to Sunday from 12 to 7 pm at Espacio Arte Abierto located on the 2nd floor Artz Pedregal (Periférico Sur 3720 Col. Jardines del Pedregal, CP. 01900, Mexico City).

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We appreciate the support and advice to make this project possible to: Eduardo Berumen, Dra. N. Ivalú Cacho González, Arq. Wilfredo Cahuantzi Sigüenza, Blga. Teresa Castaño, Bettina Cetto, Dra. Silke Cram, Ing. Antonio González Guzmán, Ing. Luis Lin, Dra. María Fernanda Martinez-Báez Téllez, Pablo Villaseñor, Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra (UNAM), Jardín Botánico (IB-UNAM), Reserva Ecológica del Pedregal de San Ángel (UNAM) y Taller de Paisaje Entorno.

GABRIELA GALVÁN:

MODTHERN NATURE

NEXT IN ARTE ABIERTO

Arte Abierto once again transforms its exhibition space with a project commissioned to mexican artist Gabriela Galván, a multisensory installation composed by living nature.

Modthern Nature by Gabriela Galván, a site-specific installation in which Arte Abierto is transformed into a natural and sensorial hydroponic garden, that seeks to generate cognitive, contemplative and imaginative experiences around nature and our belonging to it. In addition, for the first time an Arte Abierto exhibition extends to the public space of Artz Pedregal with a natural and artistic garden.

The proposal takes El Pedregal as a starting point as a site that has been transformed throughout history, beginning with the construction of Cuicuilco, one of the most important and ancient cities in the Valley of Mexico (800 BC – 250 AD), buried by lava caused by the eruption of the Xitle volcano and whose effect resulted in a volcanic landscape that we can still witness, live and think about. Another key reference is the modernist architecture of the mid-twentieth century that was developed in this area and that responded to a process of modernization of the city, which allows us to think about the different transformations that the Pedregal area has undergone in its different temporalities. Some examples are the Casa Estudio Max Cetto and the Casa Cueva de Juan and Helen O’Gorman, where the architectural forms responded to the foundations of the volcanic terrain and in which gardens with rocks and endemic plants of the area were designed, thus showing, the integration between nature and human development.

For press release, click here.

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Gabriela Galván (Mexico City, 1974)
Artist and art educator. Her work focuses on exploring the concept of transformation through different media such as installation, public art, sculpture, video, drawing, design, and performance. She is interested in the processes of study, production, dialogue, and interaction that involve interconnectivity and the open exchange of ideas and sensory experiences. She is currently focused on processes of exploration of time, to develop a body of work in relation to flowers and living plants.
Her work has been part of exhibitions in museums and galleries such as the Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía (Spain), the Kunsthaus Baselland (Switzerland), the Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Germany), the Museo Tamayo, the Museo de Arte Moderno (MX), the Museo Carrillo Gil, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros and the Museo de la Ciudad de México, to name a few. As an art educator, she has been a visiting professor at the FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Basilea, Poznań University of Fine Arts, the New York Fashion Institute of Technology, and the Brooklyn College (CUNY), among others. She currently lives and works in New York.

 

IG @gabriela_galvan_artist

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Modern / Mother Nature. Gabriela Galván. Arte Abierto. Foto Roberto Velázquez

MORPHO

ANIBAL CATALAN

Morpho is a sculptural installation, especially conceived for the architectural space of Antara Polanco and developed in collaboration with Arte Abierto.

In Morpho, the Mexican artist Anibal Catalan takes as a reference the natural forms of the tiger dragonfly and the colors of the painting Yellow Landscape (1908) by the Russian artist Kasimir Malevich, to create a structure that allows the viewer to relate sensitively and spatially with the place that inhabits and travels. The side walls use the same shapes and colors in composition, creating a dialogue between the two-dimensionality of the murals and the three-dimensionality of the installation.

Morpho opens to the public in the main access tunnel of Antara and will be temporarily from Thursday March 23 to May 31, with free access.
To download Arte Abierto’s press release of Morpho click here.

To enter the Antara’s Morpho Press kit click here.

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Anibal Catalan (Iguala, Guerrero, 1973)
Estudied Plastic Arts at the National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving “La Esmeralda”. He was founder and member of the collective project GL Mutante (2003) and was part of the advisory committee of the Alterna y Corriente (2009) space in Mexico City. His work is based on a reflection on space and architecture, through painting, sculpture, video and installation, as well as site-specific projects and public spaces. Throughout his career, he has been part of individual exhibitions places like the MuseumsQuartier (Viena), Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro, Polyforum Siqueiros, CAN Foundation (Seúl); de manera colectiva, su obra se ha presentado en el Museum Gyeonggi (Corea del Sur), Museo de Arte Moderno (México), MARCO, San Diego Art Institute as well as in biennials such as the Tamayo Biennial, the Photography Biennial at Centro de la Imagen, Istanbul Design Biennale, among others.

 

IG @anibalcatalanstudio

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ART AND ARCHITECTURE DERIVES

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHIES: THE INVENTION OF MUSEUM CIRCUITS IN MEXICO CITY OF THE 20TH CENTURY.

A conversation with Ana Garduño.

• Live talk with Ana Garduño

• Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 1:00 pm.

• The event will be held at Espacio Arte Abierto, located on the 2nd floor in Artz Pedregal.

• Free admission.

Our program Drifts of Art & Architecture at Arte Abierto is restarting. For our 10th talk our guest is the historian and researcher Ana Garduño, who will talk about the various museum projects and “Cities of the Arts” that emerged throughout the 20th Century in Mexico: from utopian proposals to completely feasible, going through the Olinka by Dr. Atl or the City of Museums and Arts by Diego Rivera, to projects such as the National Museum of Anthropology.

Click here to download the press release.

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Espacio Arte Abierto is located in the center of the garden, entering through the 2nd floor of ARTZ Pedregal (Periférico Sur 3720, Jardines del Pedregal, Álvaro Obregón) in Mexico City.

Arte Abierto’s Art and Architecture Derives  is a program of routes proposed by invited curators, architects, artists and urban planners, to explore a series of architectural spaces and significant artistic interventions in public spaces in Mexico City. The purpose of the derives is to generate experiences of spatial rediscovery, which renew our view of the legacy of certain architectural and artistic works, both emblematic and forgotten.

The derives are held the last Saturday of each month of 2022 at 12:00 p.m. Free entry. Limited seating.