Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Resisting the presentMexico 2000/2012

The Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris presents an exhibition at ARC entitled “Resisting the Present, Mexico 2000/2012”, consisting of some fifty works (installations, videos, drawings, photos and films). It brings together a generation heavily committed to the social and political development of its country. These twenty-four artists, most of whom were born after 1975, have been active in Mexico since the 2000s.

The arts scene in Mexico has been dynamic at an international level for over twenty years, affected by the extraordinary political and economic developments in the country over this period and by the development of its cultural institutions (MUAC – Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Museo Tamayo, Fundación Jumex, galleries, collectors, alternative venues, etc.).

This dynamism was boosted by the influence of the 90s generation, which revolutionised people’s image of Mexican art and made it one of the key alternative trends of the decade 1990-2000.The artists presented in this exhibition are the heirs of this generation. They draw inspiration from it, whilst at the same time keeping their distance. Most of them have been active since the 2000s and have to deal with a different historical context, which is more sombre than that of their elders. The revolution caused by economic (North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994) and technological globalisation, hopes for the advent of civil democracy followed by profound disillusion and the mounting social tensions brought about by corruption and violence have created an intense climate.

The artists brought together in this exhibition come from different backgrounds (visual arts, cinema, documentary, etc.). They use differing strategies, which may take the form of poetic activism, the diversion of national problems (drugs war, criminality, corruption, identity, immigration and borders). Each one expresses more or less explicitly the awareness of an economic model in crisis and the climate of concern currently experienced by societies undergoing the challenges of globalization.

The exhibition's artists

  • NATALIA ALMADA. Born in Mexico in1974 / Lives and works between New York and Mexico
  • EDGARDO ARAGÓN. Born in Oaxaca in 1985 / Lives and works between Oaxaca and Mexico
  • MARCELA ARMAS. Born in Durango in 1976 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • DIEGO BERRUECOS. Born in Mexico in 1979 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • IÑAKI BONILLAS. Born in Mexico in1981 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • MARIANA CASTILLO DEBALL. Born in Mexico in1975 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • MINERVA CUEVAS. Born in Mexico in1975 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • JONATHAN HERNÁNDEZ. Born in Mexico in1972 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • ARTURO HERNÁNDEZ ALCÁZAR. Born in Mexico in1978 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • BAYROL JIMÉNEZ. Born in Oaxaca in1984 / Lives and works in Oaxaca
  • ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY. Born in Tocopilla, Chile in1929 / Lives and works in Paris
  • ADRIANA LARA. Born in Mexico in1978 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • GONZALO LEBRIJA. Born in Guadalajara in 1972 / Lives and works in Guadalajara
  • ILÁN LIEBERMAN. Born in Mexico in1969 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • JUAN PABLO MACÍAS. Born in Puebla in1974 / Lives and works between Mexico and Italy
  • JORGE MÉNDEZ BLAKE. Born in Guadalajara in1974 / Lives and works in Guadalajara
  • NICOLÁS PEREDA. Born in Mexico in1982 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • CARLOS REYGADAS. Born in Mexico in1971 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • GIANFRANCO ROSI. Lives and works between the United States and Italy
  • JORGE SATORRE. Born in Mexico in1979 / Lives and works between Mexico and Barcelona
  • and ERICK BELTRÁN. Born in 1974 in Mexico / Lives and works between Mexico and Barcelona
  • PABLO SIGG. Born in Mexico in1974 / Lives and works in Mexico
  • TERCERUNQUINTO. Collective formed in Monterrey in 1996 / Live and work in Mexico
  • HÉCTOR ZAMORA. Born in Mexico in1974 / Lives and works in Sao Paulo

The exhibition was presented at the Amparo Museum in Puebla (Mexico) until 15 January 2012. It is the result of shared research between these two museums.

Catalogue

“Resisting the Present. Mexico 2000/2012” catalogue: four essays by Angeline Scherf and Angeles Alonso Espinosa, Serge Gruzinski, Magalí Arriola, Guillermo Fadanelli, an interview between Alejandro Jodorowsky and Bayrol Jiménez, a chronology by Michel Blanscubé and detailed notes on each artist presented. Editions Paris Musées, 360 pages, 30 Euros.