MFA students find a global art scene in Mexico City

Mexico art gallery
Alva Mooses
Cornell fine arts students visit the studio of artist Carlos Amorales in Mexico City.

Master of Fine Arts students from Cornell spent their spring break exploring Mexico City’s cultural history and contemporary art scene, meeting with artists and curators, and visiting museums, galleries and alternative art spaces.

This is the second year international travel has been a component of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning’s MFA program.

“The spring abroad trip has become an integral part of the MFA experience at Cornell,” said Carl Ostendarp, director of graduate studies for the Department of Art. “Within the span of a week, the group is able to engage with a great number of internationally active artists and curators and experience exhibitions … [this] inspires and informs individual studio practices [and] allows for insight into the global nature of today’s art world.”

Ahead of departure, the graduate students researched galleries and studios and contacted artists and curators to discuss their work and practice. Alva Mooses, a visiting lecturer in printmaking, traveled with the students and assisted in their plans for a varied itinerary that took them to contemporary and historical sites and venues around Mexico City.

“During the trip, everyone found something to respond to, whether it was meeting with artists and curators, collecting objects, drawing at the [National Museum of] Anthropology or visiting Teotihuacán,” Mooses said.

The group visited such sites as Zócalo in Centro Histórico, Museo Frida Kahlo and the ruins of Teotihuacán, prominent galleries including Kurimanzutto, and smaller, artist-run spaces like Bikini Wax in the city’s Distrito Federal.

“Bikini Wax stood out, for the artists’ level of energy and engagement with the city, one another, and other artists from around the world,” said Diana Clarke, MFA ’17. “Considering their humble means – the space is run out of the artists’ apartment – I was impressed with the quality of programming and was deeply inspired by the individuals who make up the practice, as well as the scope of the dialogue in which they are engaged.”

The possibility of visiting globally recognized sites and an evolving cultural life were among the many reasons for identifying Mexico City as a destination for the 2016 trip.

“Mexico City is vast and dense,” Mooses said. “The city plays an active role in the art created within it, and there seems to be a strong dynamic for those that have worked to find their place in the arts there.”

Last year, MFA students traveled to Berlin, where the itinerary of studio, museum and gallery visits included an exclusive tour of the Boros Collection, a private contemporary art collection housed in a Nazi-era air-raid shelter.

Edith Fikes is a writer for the College of Architecture, Art and Planning.

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