A few years ago I was invited by San Diego Museum for the show Animated Painting. Now this big show is in Tijuana.
The fysical distance between these two towns is around 50km. But the physological distance is enormous. Mexico is a second world country.
The US -Mexican border is a very big gap. So it makes sense.
The museum is a federal building that hosts everything cultural in Tijuana. Theater, library, imax theater and contemporary art. Mexico, like the US, is very state minded. Each of the 32 states has a lot of power. So this is not a state museum but a govermental institution. Mexico city dropped a big cultural institution called CECUT in Tijuana.
There is one well known art organization here called insite05.
Who has been doing great art-project related to the mexican/US border since 1992 . And invited artists like Arnoud Mik, Francis Alys, Amorales and many many others. A great institution that has set up very good projects. The curator who started this up is Carmen Cuenca.
Until a month she was the Director of the new wing to this museum. She just got fired before the opening of the show.
But Betti-Sue Hertz was the actual curator of this show that also includes;The Barnstormers, Sadie Benning, Jeremy Blake, Sebastián Díaz Morales, Kota Ezawa, Ruth Gómez, William Kentridge, Magali Lara, Ann Lislegaard, Takeshi Murata, Julian Opie, Qiu Anxiong y Robin Rhode.
Not one mouth cap against the mexican flew. Just a sombrero
julian Opie
Ann Lissegard
Sadie Benning
Robin Rhoad
Serge Onnen (better images here)
The Mexelent museum staff girls
