Mexico City has an ENOOOORMOUS cultural offering (yes, all caps and with lots of O’s). If you know how to look for it, you’ll never be bored. But precisely because there are so many options available, it’s easy to get lost in that sea of possibilities. So, for practical purposes, here are six exhibitions you can visit during March. Choose your favorite!
1. Gala Porras-Kim’s solo exhibition Between Lapses of History at MUAC
Gala Porras-Kim is a Colombian artist whose practice focuses on the purpose of objects and their relationship to the spaces that store them. More specifically, she extends this inquiry to the institutions that house museum objects: who decides what is preserved? What is considered important and what is not?
For this exhibition, her discourse addresses the looting carried out by U.S. archaeologists funded by Harvard’s Peabody Museum at the Sacred Cenote of Chichén Itzá between 1901 and 1940. During that period, approximately 30,000 objects were extracted, of which fewer than 300 have been returned. This show runs through September, so you still have time to add it to your calendar.
2. Octavio Gómez Rivero’s first exhibition, Lengua Vítrea, at Espacio Unión
Octavio is a Mexican artist who should absolutely be on your radar—whether you’re drawn to profound yet accessible discourses, or you’re a collector looking for works that will likely prove to be a sound investment.
In this exhibition at Galería Unión (ago-to space for discovering emerging talent), Gómez Rivero presents Lengua Vítrea, composed of ten works: nine pieces that move between sculpture and pictorial representation through printmaking, along with a video installation. All of them speak from a homoerotic perspective that only becomes evident upon closer observation, as the aesthetic and material beauty of his work immediately captivates the eye.
The exhibition runs through March 11, so be sure to add it to your calendar soon.
Courtesy Unión Gallery.
3. The group show La vida secreta de las piedras by Commonwealth and Council x Galería Agustina Ferreyra
Featuring works by Carolina Caycedo, Carmen Argote, Geles Cabrera, and Paloma Contreras Lomas, this collaboration between Commonwealth and Council and Galería Agustina Ferreyra presents an exhibition on view through March 18.
The show positions the body as a site of reflection through sculptural works that question what it means to be a woman.
I highly recommend starting off March—a particularly important month for women—by visiting this exhibition, engaging with the discourses it proposes, and, above all, learning about the biographies of these remarkable artists.
4. Mobile Suite by Jou Morales and David Zafra, at Campeche
Mobile Suite is a metaphor that suggests the greatest refuge and protection lies in the principle of manual / artisanal creation. Under the definition of the machine, the artists produce analogies and parallels between energy production processes and the creation of ceramic objects.
Both artists are from Oaxaca, and it seems their intention is to question the relationship between object-making through machines and creation rooted purely in the four basic elements: water, earth, fire, and air.
You still have time to visit and draw your own conclusions, as the exhibition will remain on view at Galería Campeche until April 1.
5. The mural Qué violenta la calma by Enrique López Llamas at LLANO
If you’re a regular reader, you’re probably already familiar with Enrique López Llamas’s work—and if not, we’re linking an article dedicated entirely to this remarkable artist from Guanajuato, as well as another piece where we photographed him for Ones To Watch in Art 2023.
What I mean to say is that Enrique López Llamas’s work comes 100% recommended by this magazine (and by me, hehe). This mural is an extension of his participation at Galería LLANO. I suggest taking the time to appreciate it slowly over the weekend and then heading for a coffee at Laguna—a great plan to enjoy the afternoon and reflect on privilege.
There’s no exact date for when the mural will come down, but we do know that you can still visit it throughout March. So if you have the chance, don’t miss it.
Enrique López Llamas, Qué violenta la calma, 2023, individual intervention to wall, LLANO, Mexico City. Image courtesy of the artist and LLANO. Photo of Enrique López Llamas.
6. A garden is a promise / A garden is a dream by Erick Meyenberg
Erick Meyenberg is a Mexican interdisciplinary artist who, through research-based practice, addresses contemporary issues in his work. For this exhibition, he focuses on the idea of landscape and “the natural,” as well as its interaction with human beings as a means of generating aesthetic, ethical, and political knowledge—ideas shaped by two key 21st-century landscape designers: Piet Oudolf and Gilles Clément.
If you’re interested in this type of discourse or research-driven artistic practice, you can visit the exhibition Monday through Saturday from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at Galería LS (Enrique Ibsen 32-A, Polanco).
7. Collective Imagination at JO-HS
This group exhibition brings together the work of Demit Omphroy, Floria Gonzalez, Gordon Winarick, Neil Hamamoto, Rodrigo Red Sandoval, Sofia Lucarelli, Julien Heintz, Avantgardo, Ramiro Gonzalez, and Pedro Assam. Its central thread lies in codes and concepts that are often imaginary, yet still shape and guide us as a society—stigmatizing, for better or worse, our actions and behaviors.
The show opened during #ArtWeek and will remain on view until March 30, so you still have time to visit. Galería JO-HS is located at Gobernador José Guadalupe Covarrubias 46, San Miguel Chapultepec I Secc, Miguel Hidalgo, 11850 Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico, and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
When you visit this exhibition, I highly recommend stopping by their gift shop—they have beautiful books and objects that are definitely worth taking home :)
