Contemporary Art Tag

TRANSVERSAL TOURS

SERVE NATURE OR USE NATURE?

Transversal tour through Modthern Nature with Antonio González Guzmán

How is it that human beings have adapted and transformed nature like no other species? How did we go from collecting carrion, fruits and seeds in savannahs, forests and jungles, to producing millions of tons of grains and inputs to feed billions? How is it possible to grow plants in the most unexpected places… like in this art space? The answers connect various aspects of our biology with knowledge and work. In this tour of Modthern Nature, we will reflect on our relationship with nature, considering how humanity has gotten to where it is.

The Transversal Tours are visits through the Arte Abierto exhibitions with guests from different areas beyond art, to expand the themes and points of reference from other gazes, perspectives, languages and disciplines.

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TRANSVERSAL TOURS
SERVE NATURE OR USE NATURE?
Transversal tour through Modthern Nature with Antonio González Guzmán

  • THUR.17.AUG.2023
  • 18:00 hrs.
  • Free admission
  • Arte Abierto | 2nd floor, Artz Pedregal

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ANTONIO GONZÁLEZ GUZMÁN
Hydroponic plant grower and inventor. He graduated in Physics from the UNAM Faculty of Sciences, where he taught physics and mathematics for more than 40 years. His deep interest in science and plants led him to a total immersion in hydroponics, which is currently his main activity. He was also the founder of the Hydroponics Workshop at FC UNAM, where he produces, teaches and learns about hydroponics since 2002. He has taught more than 50 courses and workshops in various states of the country and abroad. He was part of the specialists who collaborated in the production of the hydroponic culture for the Modthern Nature exhibition by Gabriela Galván.

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).

VISITS FOR KIDS

TO PLANT A HOUSE BETWEEN THE ROCKS

Modthern Nature visits for kids

These visits are an invitation for girls and boys to become explorers within the Modthern Nature exhibition by Gabriela Galván. While they walk through this interior garden created by the artist, we will be able to reimagine the relationship of nature with its environment through drawing exercises that combine observation with invention. Talking, listening, smelling and browsing, we will unite ideas in a blog to understand plants as living beings and rocks as their home and its city.

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VISITS FOR KIDS
TO PLANT A HOUSE BETWEEN THE ROCKS
Visits for kids through Modthern Nature

  • ALL SATURDAYS of July and August
  • TWO SCHEDULES: 13:00 – 17:00 hrs.
  • Free admission | Limited availability
  • Aimed at: Girls and boys between 4 and 12 years old together with their adult companions
  • Visit duration: 45 min.
  • Arte Abierto | 2nd floor, Artz Pedregal
  • >> The group will form at the Espacio Arte Abierto Box Office, between 5-10 minutes before.

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NOTE
This is a family tour, so girls and boys may not be left alone during the tour at any time and must be accompanied by their mothers, fathers or an adult companion at all times. Some activities and exercises will require your support to be carried out.

TRANSVERSAL TOURS

ARE THERE VOLCANOES BETWEEN THE CITY OR A CITY BETWEEN THE VOLCANOES?

Transversal tour through Modthern Nature with Marie-Noëlle Guilbaud

The south of Mexico City sits on lava flows from the Xitle volcano, which erupted approximately 1,670 years ago. Now, the remains of lava from this volcano have almost disappeared with urban growth, despite this, many remnants still emerge at UNAM, mainly in the Pedregal de San Ángel Ecological Reserve. This lava, which is now a rocky landscape, sustains an ecosystem that is unique in the world. In this tour of the Modthern Nature exhibition, we will talk about the richness of this geoheritage and its relationship with life in our city.

The Transversal Tours are visits through the Arte ABierto exhibitions with guests from different areas beyond art, to expand the themes and points of reference from other gazes, perspectives, languages and disciplines.

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TRANSVERSAL TOURS
ARE THERE VOLCANOES BETWEEN THE CITY OR A CITY BETWEEN THE VOLCANOES?
Transversal tour through Modthern Nature with Marie-Noëlle Guilbaud

  • JUE.27.JUL.2023
  • 18:00 hrs.
  • Free admission
  • Arte Abierto | 2nd floor, Artz Pedregal

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MARIE-NOËLLE GUILBAUD
Dra. Marie-Noëlle Guilbaud is Head (B) researcher in the Department of Volcanology at the UNAM Institute of Geophysics, which she has been in charge of since August 2021. She obtained her PhD from the Open University (England) in 2006 and joined UNAM in April 2010. Since then, he has developed multiple projects related to monogenetic volcanism in Mexico and its importance for geoheritage and the resilience of populations against geological risks.

PARALLEL LANDSCAPES

VISITS AROUND EL PREDREGAL

ECOLOGIC SPACE OF THE ANAHUACALLI MUSEUM

Guided by the Anahuacalli Museum team.
+ An exercise in experimental drawing by Escrituras vegetales.

To kick off the Parallel Landscapes program, the first visit will be a tour of the Ecologic Space of the Anahuacalli Museum, which is one of the treasures that the Museum houses. In this there are almost 20,000 m2 of endemic vegetation, several water wells, and a sea of volcanic stone from the eruption of the Xitle volcano. This tour helps to understand how the original architecture, projected by Diego Rivera, combines landscape with functionalist architecture and aspects of pre-Hispanic cosmogony; while the architectural expansion serves as a contemporary reinterpretation of the existing buildings and dialogues with the volcanic environment in a game with the rugged topography.

After  the visit trough the Ecologic Space of the Anahuacalli Museum, Escrituras vegetales will share Nos habita un mundo vegetal que habitamos, an activity to reflect on the blurred limits of the notion of interior-exterior, and environment-contour, by which architecture has molded us. A collective drawing will be created on the windows and mirrors of the Anahuacalli workshop, taking into account the landscapes that are reflected and intertwined, playing with the borders of the environments that surround us and that shape the Museum in relation to the plant world.

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PARALLEL LANDSCAPES
Visits around El Pedregal
VISIT ONE: ECOLOGIC SPACE OF THE ANAHUACALLI MUSEUM
Guided by the Anahuacalli Museum team
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An exercise in experimental drawing by Escrituras vegetales

  • SAT.22.JUL.2023
  • 12:00 hrs.
  • Ecologic Space of the Anahuacalli Museum
  • Pre-register here.
  • Duration: 60-90 min. each visit.
  • We recommend wearing comfortable shoes, water and a hat.

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Responsible Registration Policy: Your place is very special since space is limited, so we ask you to fill out the registration only if you can attend.
To cancel write to actividades@arteabierto.org

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Enter here to learn more about Arte Abierto’s Parallel Landscapes Program, with upcoming visit dates and places.

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Museo Anahuacalli
Projected between 1942-1957 and inaugurated in 1967, the Anahuacalli Museum is a house for pre-Hispanic art, designed by the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Within his search to create a “City of Arts”, he projected the Anahuacalli as a great stage for the development of various artistic expressions in an atmosphere whose architecture represented the search for the Mexican essence.

http://museoanahuacalli.org.mx/
IG @anahuacalli
TW @anahuacalli
FB @museoanahuacalli
IG  Anahuacalli Museum workshops @talleres_anahuacalli

PARALLEL LANDSCAPES

VISITS AROUND EL PEDREGAL

Parallel Landscapes is a program of visits to four conjunctural sites in El Pedregal as part of the Modthern Nature exhibition by Gabriela Galván. The visits are designed to generate new possibilities of understanding the transforming landscape in El Pedregal environment.

Together with artists and different specialists from different areas – who contributed with their experiences and knowledge to the Modthern Nature project – we will visit each of the proposed sites to find new ways of inhabiting and looking at this landscape within its current urban context.

Parallel Landscapes is a way of sharing part of Gabriela Galván’s research, not from the bibliographic text or the data, but from the gaze, the body and coming into contact with the people, environments and landscapes that nurtured her research field.

PARALLEL LANDSCAPES
Visits around El Pedregal

  • Previous registration needed | Limited space | For all public.
  • Duration: 60-90 min. each visit.
  • We recommend wearing comfortable shoes, water and a hat.

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Pre-register here.
Responsible Registration Policy: Your place is very special since space is limited, so we ask you to fill out the registration only if you can attend.
To cancel write to actividades@arteabierto.org

VISITS

JULY>>

VISIT ONE: ESPACIO ECOLÓGICO DEL MUSEO ANAHUACALLI (Ecological Space of the Ahahuacalli Museum)
Anahuacalli Museum team
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An experimental drawing exercise by Escrituras vegetales

SAT.22.JUL.2023
12:00 hrs.
Espacio Ecológico del Museo Anahuacalli

AUGUST>>

VISIT TWI: REPSA (El Pedregal de San Ángel Ecological Reserve, UNAM)
Dr. Silke Cram
Biologist and PhD in Agronomy, soil expert, current Executive Secretary of REPSA and researcher at the Institute of Geography, UNAM.
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A body exploration exercise by Bárbara Foulkes

SAT.19.AUG.2023
10:00 hrs.
REPSA (El Pedregal de San Ángel Ecological Reserve), UNAM
Ecological Path – Sculptures Walk – Sculpture Space

SEPTEMBER>>

VISIT THREE: THE ROUTE OF FRIENDSHIP
Luis Javier de la Torre
President and Founder of the Board of Trustees Ruta de la Amistad A.C.
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A landscape intervention by Proyecto Escrituras Experimentales

SAT.23.SEP.2023
10:00 hrs.
The Route of Friendship
(Station 7: Italy’s sculpture. Man of Peace by Costantino Nivola)

OCTOBER>>

VISIT FOUR: CASA ESTUDIO MAX CETTO
The first house in Jardines del Pedregal.
Bettina Cetto and Julián Arroyo Cetto
Bettina Cetto is an economist, writer, daughter of Max Cetto and the first girl to inhabit Jardines del Pedregal, and Julián Arroyo Cetto, architect, grandson of Max Cetto and current inhabitant of the house.

SAT.07.OCT.2023
12:00 hrs.
Casa Estudio Max Cetto

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.

METAL ON METAL ON WIND

PEPE MOGT & TANIA CANDIANI

KIOSCO SONORO ACTIVATION

As part of Arte Abierto’s Public Program and in collaboration with MUAC (Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo), METAL ON METAL ON WIND, will take place, an outdoor sound intervention by Pepe Mogt to activate the sculpture Kiosko sonoro (2018) by Tania Candiani. This art piece is part of the Arte Abierto Collection and is comprised of a series of interconnected trumpets, which refers to the traditional kiosks in public squares. Its shape reflects on the social and cultural dynamics behind these constructions and how we appropriate them in our daily lives.

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METAL ON METAL ON WIND
Kiosko sonoro activation
Pepe Mogt & Tania Candiani.

  • Friday, May 26, 2023
  • 18:00h
  • Free
  • At Kiosko sonoro‘s garden, located on the 2nd floor in Artz Pedregal

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Tania Candiani (Mexico City, 1974)
She lives and works in Mexico City. One of the central interests of her work is the expanded idea of translation, extended to the experimental field through the use of visual, sound, textual and symbolic languages. Many of her projects consider the universe of sound and the politics of listening as a tool capable of expanding and transforming perceptions, both human and non-human. A fundamental part of her work is related to feminist policies and practices, understanding them as a communal, affective and ritual experience. Its production usually involves interdisciplinary work groups in various fields, consolidating intersections between art, literature, music, architecture, science, and labor, with an emphasis on ancestral knowledge and techniques, technologies, and their history in the production of knowledge. She is a member of the National System of Art Creators of Mexico; she is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in the Arts, the Smithsonian Institution Research Grant for Artists; she is an artist-in-residence at the Arts at CERN program, in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2015 she represented Mexico at the 56th Venice Biennale. Her work has been exhibited internationally in museums, institutions and independent spaces, and is part of important public and private collections.

taniacandiani.com/
IG: @tcandiani

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Pepe Mogt
He is an electronic musician from Tijuana, seed of sound and creator of the Nortec concept. Today he experiments as a soloist in other sound and visual fields. As a producer and composer, his works are a mix of Techno with ambient progressions and have taken him to festivals such as MUTEK (Tokio, Montreal, Mexico), Glastonbury, FUSION (Germany), CRSSD (CA), SXSW (Austin) among others. in addition to various nightclubs from around the world. With Nortec Collective 2 Grammy nominations and 3 Latin Grammy Nominations.

IG: @pepemogt

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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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