(Mexico City, Mexico)
PIPA 2010 and 2011 nominee Marcelo Cidade participates in the exhibition “Monumentos, anti-monumentos y nueva escultura pública” (“Monuments, anti-monuments and new public sculpture”), which opened last week, on October 25th at Chopo University Museum. Curated by Pablo León de la Barra, member of the PIPA Prize 2015 Award Jury, the exhibition surveys contemporary artistic practices in Mexico and Latin America that question the idea of public sculptures, monuments, and memorials, inviting viewers to rethink the issues connected with both the real and the symbolic occupation of public space.
The exhibition begins with historical materials that frame the international project organized by Mathias Goeritz for the 1968 Olympic Games: The Route of Friendship, as a key inscription in the development of public sculpture. The Route of Friendship is a series of monumental abstract sculptures installed in the vicinity of the various sporting venues, which involved the participation of twenty-two artists of different nationalities. These works are still preserved in Mexico City.
The visual narrative then extends to contemporary artistic practices and investigations with which the idea of memorial, monument and public sculpture is questioned, inviting us to rethink the real and symbolic occupation of public space in Mexico and Latin America.
This project raises several questions: how is the public space shaped and who can use it? Is the erection of monuments an effective strategy for the construction of identity? Is public art a mechanism for the construction of ideologies? What is the possibility of today’s art to link with our cities as responsible for public space and not only as spectators?
“Monumentos, anti-monumentos y nueva escultura pública”, featuring Eduardo Abaroa; Miguel Andrade Valdez; Iván Argote; Diego Berruecos; Stefan Benchoam / Byron Mármol; Marcelo Cidade; Abraham Cruzvillegas; José Dávila; Helen Escobedo / Paolo Gori; Radamés “Juni” Figueroa / Melvin Laz / Rafael Lopez; Mathias Goeritz;Alejandro de la Guerra; Cynthia Gutiérrez; Pablo Helguera; Juan Fernando Herrán; Ximena Labra; Runo Lagomarsino; Gonzalo Lebrija; Antonio Luna Arroyo; Anuar Maauad; Pedro Meyer; Mario Navarro; Damián Ortega; Amalia Pica; Claudia Rodríguez; Ruta de la Amistad; Guillermo Santamarina / Sector Reforma Sector; Luis Miguel Suro; Tercerunquinto and Emanuel Tovar.
Curated by Pablo León de la Barra
On view from October 25th 2017 to January 7th 2018
Chopo University Museum
Ramps Gallery
Dr. Enrique González Martínez 10
Col. Santa Maria la Ribera
Working hours: wed to sun, 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
T: +52 55 5546 8490