Mexico City Part – 3 Architecture, Art and more

Charlotte and I visited as many museums and galleries exhibiting contemporary art as we could. After consulting guide books and the internet, rigorous planning went into each day as we mapped out the area of the city we wanted to visit, how to find the art locations, where we would have lunch, our transportation, and what to take with us depending on the weather. Planning took place the evening before.

We also had to visit several Apple Stores to track down a cable for my laptop. Fortunately, the stores were located near art museums!

While traveling through the city we saw many examples of interesting and innovated architecture. Luis Barragan is regarded as the most prominent figure in modern Mexican architecture. At the time of his death in 1988 he was recognized for his achievements and his status has risen ever since. He taught architecture at the University of Mexico where he made a huge impact on future Mexican architects. His career spanned from 1927 to 1988 during which time he had been engaged in 170 projects, many in foreign locations.

On an earlier trip to Mexico City, I visited his home, which is now a museum.

Here are some buildings that we admired:

This is the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Univ. of Mexico.

This is the Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art

On the left is the interior of a gallery, on the right is the entrance to the Digital Culture Museum.

This is the Kaluz Museum.

Here is the Jumex Museum with a spectacular sculpture in front. It is titled “Lovers.”

At the same time there are great modern buildings, we also admired Colonial architecture dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. On the left a Mexican Rococo church and the Palacio Belles Artes on the right, the National Museum of Art.

In many of the restaurants and shops in the Historic District we observed buildings with original masonry exposed. We loved the textures and patterns!

And probably the most photographed and talked about building in the city is the Soumaya Museum of Art.

The museum is named after the wife of its creator and businessman, Carlos Slim, the 10th most richest person in the world. (From 2010 – 13 he was first on the list.) He is the richest man in Latin America with a net worth of $86 billion.

The museum features a vast collection of European art from 16th to the 20th century.

Most of the art museum we visited had interior atriums open to the ceiling with natural light pouring in. At the Museo Soumaya the interior space reminded me of the Guggenheim in NYC, except that the floors of the Soumaya are flat, joined by ramps where as the ramp at the Guggenheim spirals down and the floor is sloped.

Slim amassed a private collection of casts of Rodin sculptures – more than a 100. They are displayed on the top floor under the huge skylight.

These are the art destinations we visited:

Mumedi Mexican Museum of Design. Museo Soumaya. Jumex Museum. Mexico City Cultural Center. Museo Tamayo. Museo of Popular Culture. Museo Franz Meyer. Museo of Modern Art. Museum of Objects. OMR Gallery Museo of Contemporary Art Urban Planning Exhibition. Museo Kaluz Historic Sculpture Park Center for Digital Culture Gallery Galguera

And here are some of the artworks we found interesting.

There were two museums showing group shows of women’s art and a number of solo shows by women artists. One of the exhibits featured design that included industrial and furniture design, textile and graphic design, jewelry and accessories, the whole gamut of design.

On the left is a floor to ceiling poster depicting the women featured in the exhibit.

This is a tunic/wall hanging made out of recycled clothing along with care labels.

Another exhibit of women’s art was curated with the theme that women artists have been missing for centuries from for Mexican exhibit venues. Many of the work on display had feminist content.

For instance, the artist of the piece on the left introduced her own image into an painting by a popular 19th French painting referencing how common it is in the history of art to idealize and set standards for feminine beauty.

On the right is a library of plastic book-shaped boxes with soil from all over the world. I could relate to the collection because I often pick up pebbles as earthy mementos when I travel.

This installation was created by an artist who worked with a group of women who crocheted at bunch of boobs!

This exhibit displayed social/political art protesting the individuals who have gone missing in Latin American in recent years. Many of the pieces made reference to specific people. The display on the right shows shoes of missing people. The artist has cut messages in the soles of the shoes and printed them. Very sobering artwork.

Here are shirts worn by protesters and handkerchiefs embellished and dedicated to the missing.

Charlotte was particularly interested in the construction of an installations of columns. (She has created a series of columns herself.)

Both the figure and the chairs were cast metal. The figure was 3 ft in height and the stack of chairs and stone globes was 15 high. We admired both for their scale and visual impact.

I was intrigued by the texture and color of these prints by Rufino Tamayo using a process that he invented.

More work we liked.

A cat defined within an ink blot!

At the Jumex Museum we visited a beautiful installation of exquisite Cartier jewelry.

At the Mumedi Museum of Design, we saw a fabulous collection of 300 posters that were selected from 4000 that were submitted from all over the world. The museum sponsors a competition each year announcing a different theme. This year the theme was death.

Mexicans accept death as a part of life and openly reference it in their traditions. The posters were diverse in their messaging about death – some somber, others nostalgic, others amusing, and others really funny. We spent a long time contemplating them!

Some of our favorites.

One of the exhibits that we found most captivating was a video installation in a huge space where there were at least 20 large screens set up showing children from all over the world at play. The were playing with simple objects – stones, sticks, ropes – no plastic or commercially manufactured items. And these kids were having such a good time either in full concentration and/or joyous. We sat on rolling stools scooting from one screen to another.

The one that especially held our attention was of several North African boys playing with a tire. We watched them rolling the tire up a high, steep hill of dry earth. One boy completed the task one step at a time. He pushed and pushed and pushed.

Then he rolled all the way down!

We also greatly enjoyed visiting the Museo of Popular Arts where we saw fabulous examples of traditional Mexican crafts. Kites were suspended in the three story atrium.

And the Mexicans do not hold back on color!

A beaded actual VW!

Here is a statement!

We took time out for some entertainment and attended a production of the Ballet Folklórico de México Compania in the sumptuous theater of the Palacio Bellas Artes. The glass curtain, created by Tiffanys contains more than a million glass pieces. Before the screen is raised, different colored lights rotate behind the glass creating a lovely luminous display.

For more than an hour and a half, the dancers presented a spectacular performance of a wide array of dances, each different themes, different costumes, and different sets. All carried out with much energy and non-stop motion. It seems many of the dances were a cross between flamenco and Irish step dancing. We loved it!

And as a diversion from museums, we spent a day at Xochimilco, an area where remnants of Lake Texcoco still exist. The area is wet with both natural and artificial islands (floating islands) navigated by flat bottom boats in 110 miles of shallow canals. The soil is very rich and is ideal for crops and plant nurseries.

To visit this area is to take a colorful boat rented by the hour. We teamed up with two German graduate students, Rob and Maja, and enjoyed being gently poled through canals. This activity is often enjoyed as outings by Mexican families who bring food and drink along. Or you can purchase refreshments from boating vendors.

There are hundreds of boats available and on busy days, there are boat traffic jams!

Pulque is a slightly alcoholic drink made from the agave plant. Unlike tequila and mezcal, it cannot be exported. Mariachi bands are also available for hire.

As for food, we ate well in Mexico City! We often dined in museum restaurants.

Within one block from our apartment was a very large bakery. We each enjoyed a pastry, but resisted the calories after that.

One of the best aspects about our two weeks in Mexico City was the hospitality that was shown to use by the many Mexicans we encountered. On a number of occasions we were approached and were asked if we needed help or directions or we were offered seats on the crowed subways. People were warm and friendly.

We will be soon planning our next trip now that the world is open to us again.

Mexico City Part 2 – Life on the Streets

The Zocalo, the heart of the Historic District in Mexico City, is a popular place not only for political rallies and protest demonstrations, but other activities as well. For instance, families gather in the evenings to fly kites. We were given the privilege, for several minutes, of holding the line to the highest kite in the sky!

One Sunday the area was roped off for indigenous dancers to perform traditional rituals to the accompaniment of beating drums..

On the last evening we were there, the Zocalo was ambitiously staged for a music concert. Two huge, colorful canvas pavilions were constructed for people to enjoy the music while picnicking on grass – yes, large areas of sod were laid on the concrete! And there were colorful lights everywhere including the National Palace.

And the morning after avery event, the cleanup began.

Throughout the areas of the city we visited as tourists, we were amazed at the cleanliness of the sidewalks, streets, and parks. There was no litter, not even discarded gum on the pavement. We saw many city employees keeping the places clean.

Mexico City has several large parks and many smaller ones. The parks are beautifully maintained and the landscaping tended to. There are gazebos, bandstands, fountains, and lots of people relaxing and enjoying various activities. And the Jacaranda trees were in full bloom!

A violin class was taking place on the grandstand.

Roller skaters practicing maneuvers.

Girls practicing a dance number in the park.

We also encountered a parade organized by a group encouraging support for the arts.

And then there are many food and drink and souvenir vendors in the park as well.

And the Mexico City Zoo is in part of a large park.

There were many souvenir vendors in and outside of the Zoo. We noticed kids, young and old, wearing strange looking things on their heads. On closer inspection we discovered they were monkeys with raised tails!

The parks were a welcome respite for us from the commotion of the commercial streets. In fact, on those streets we experienced STIMULATION OVERDOSE!

In the Historic District where the streets dated back to Colonial times, the streets can only accommodate one way traffic so that there is room for parking on one or both sides of the street. The buildings have shops on the ground level with residences on the upper floors. Many of the buildings exhibited architectural details from their Colonial origin.

Street activity gets a slow start in the day in Mexico City. Shops open between 9 and 11, and after that there is a lot of movement, noise, and visual stimuli, so much so, that at first I was overwhelmed.

The sidewalks are filled with people, the shops play music, and the displays of merchandize are abundant. The display aesthetic seems to be “the more the better” with and unending amounts of STUFF. Even the high end stores crowded their windows and interior spaces with merchandize.

Not only is there the sound of music and traffic, but also there are loud speakers mounted on cars sending out loud audio waves of announcements. On our street, from 4 to 7, there was always someone on a loud speaker. But from 7 pm, the street was quiet.

In addition to shop after shop, there are the street vendors adding to the commotion. Everywhere there were carts where street food was being prepared and sold surrounded by people eating the food. And trinket vendors spread their wares on the sidewalks.

And then there are outdoor markets where clusters of vendor would set up in plazas, near Metro stops, outside of parks or wherever they could find space in the crowded city.

And we felt safe. We noticed there were plenty of police. They were there to do traffic control, or to oversee peaceful demonstrations that take place regularly in the city, or to be a visible presence. They also were helpful with directions!

For security, most of the shops were closed with metal shutters, like garage doors. Many of these security doors were painted with murals. (Notice how clean the street and sidewalks are.)

Although there were many different images painted on these doors, a favorite image was of women’s faces.

In addition to security doors, we saw large murals on building throughout the city.

And then we were delighted so discover a sculpture park in the ground of the Museum of Modern Art as well as sculptures installed at many locations around the city.

And we discovered public art in the subway stations as well. Here is a train with Keith Haring graphics!

This station had self-portraits of cartoonists.

We found that getting around the city was a challenge at times. Either we sat in congested traffic while taking an Uber or we took the subway (Metro) where we were at least moving, but not saving time. So, we compromised by taking the subway in the morning and an Uber in the late afternoon when we were exhausted. (The cost of a subway ride is 30 cents with unlimited transfers to anywhere in the city.)

The map on the right is of Mexico City proper and the red dots indicate our destinations. We spent most of our time near the heart of the city, but ventured out to the University and Xochimilco, which are indicated with big dots. The University is about 12 miles from our apartment, but it took close to an hour using either the subway (changing trains twice) or Uber.

When we took the subway, we usually rode in the cars at the head of the train that are reserved for women and children under 12.

One more Mexico City post coming – architecture, art, and entertainment.

Mexico City Part 1

I recently returned from a fabulous two week stay in Mexico City! My travel buddy, Charlotte, and I stayed in a comfortable AirBnB penthouse apartment in the heart of the Historic District and spent our time exploring the city and visiting museums and galleries exhibiting contemporary art.

Mexico City was founded by the Aztecs in 1325. Legend has it that the site was selected when an Aztec god instructed the leaders to look for an eagle sitting on a cactus with a snake in his mouth. That location turned out to be on an island in Lake Texcoco. They named the city Tenochititlan.

The city had a central district with several temples to the their gods. The largest pyramid has two temples, one for the war god and the other for the god of rain and agriculture.

The Spanish, led by Hernan Cortes, arrived and conquered the Aztecs in 1524, renamed the country New Spain, and controlled the country for 300 years. The Spanish destroyed the Aztec sacred district and rebuilt the city.

(Painting by Emanuel Leutze.)

When the country won its independence from Spain in 1824, the leaders wanted to identify the country with their indigenous roots, so they named the country “Mexico.”

Over the years Lake Texcoco was drained, permitting the city to expand to 577 square miles for the city proper and 3,037 square miles for the entire metropolitan area.  It is the 2^nd largest city in the Americas and 6^th largest in the world.

The population of the Mexico City proper is more than 9,000,000 today while the population of the Greater Mexico City Region is more than  22,000,000. 

The metro area of Mexico City is one of the most productive urban areas in the world generating 22.% of Mexico’s GDP.

Located where the Aztec sacred district used to be is a huge concrete plaza, the Zocalo. Along one side is a palace originally constructed by Cortes that functions today as the seat of the Executive Branch of the Mexican government.

At one end of the plaza is the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin, built between 1573 and 1813.

On March 18, 2023 while I was in Mexico City, there was a rally held in the Zocalo organized by the President of Mexico to reinvigorate his party. 500,000 people showed up! The streets up to six blocks away from the plaza were cordoned off from traffic to allow for the flood of people entering the heart of the city. Our Uber driver could not take us to our door that afternoon, so we walked three blocks in torrential rain that just happened to occur for the half hour we were walking. The sun came out when we returned to our apartment. Go figure! (We did not participate in the rally.)

Six blocks away, encircling the city were hundred of buses that had carried people in from outlying regions.

This is the President and a collection of souvenir dolls that were being sold by vendors.

Here is the layout of the Zocalo today. In a corner of the area there is an archaeological project that has been on going since 1978 – it is the Templo Mayor, the main pyramid with two temples on top that dates back to 1351 as part of the Aztec sacred district. During the course of digging, it was discovered that the pyramid had been expanded in size 6 times as shown in the cut-away diagram.

Under layer upon layer of wall structures there is are two chambers where ritual items were discovered.

There is one interesting block structure that has skulls carved from the rock. Some of the carvings are on display in the museum, built in 1987, that is adjacent to the site.

The museum displayed a wealth of finds that archaeologists have found while digging. All of the objects, small and very large, are beautifully displayed.

These are Charlotte’s and my favorite skulls.

For viewing the past cultures and history of Mexico, the best museum to visit is the National Museum of Anthropology. I had visited the museum on two previous occasions and this time we visited on two different days because the collections are so vast and fascinating.

The building is a square with an inner courtyard. A large roof is held up over the courtyard by a single concrete post, around which is a rain water fountain. Collections are displayed on two levels in three wings of the building.

I love the aesthetic of archaeological objects because, as much as we want to understand their use and meaning within a long lost culture, there is still an element of mystery about them. As with all of the museums we visited, the collections in this museum were beautifully displayed with accompanying signage, often in both Spanish and English.

Two especially important objects in the museum are a huge Mexican calendar and a magnificent, eight foot tall carving of the god, Coatilcue.

Here are some of my favorites. The fellow in the center is an Luchador, a wrestler.

On the grounds of the museum is a 98 ft high pole that is used by men dressed in indigenous attire who perform a traditional ritual practiced in several regions of Mexico in past times to appeal to the gods to produce rain. We were fortunate to step out of the museum just as the ritual was about to start.

The men climb the pole with long ropes tied to their waists. When they get to the top, they turn the platform so the ropes wind around the center pole. When all of the rope is wrapped, One guy at the top starts turning the platform in the opposite direction and the men leap into the air and twirl, upside down, as they slowly descend to the ground. It is quite a show!

There are more posts to come!