(Select
above)
Mexico
(Read
more below on current developments)
Exchange
with England and Mexico
Introduction
Jeimy
Marisol Martinez Galaviz first became affiliated to
Transvoyeur UK in the Independents Liverpool Biennial
2006 in a live art programme at the View Two Gallery (Liverpool,
UK). As young and upcoming artist in Mexico, she presented
an extraordinary experience for the Liverpool and international
audiences that attended these events.
Galavíz
in her performance art piece during the Transvoyeur Performance
Art Programme 2006
during the Liverpool Biennial 2006 at the View Two Gallery
(Liverpool, UK). Below with the Gallery Director, Ken
Martin.
Galaviz
is a passionate artist in creative and cultural research
and development in the global arts market. In 2008, she
brings her creative insight and multi-disciplinary approach
of new media and live art to head the cultural exchange
between the UK and Mexico for Transvoyeur.
In
her founding group for Transvoyeur Mexico, she is accompanied
by other like-minded artists Artists Héctor Polo.
Juan Antonio Soto (who both form Toni Y Erector Collective
from Mexico) and Marco Aurelio Ibarra Rodríguez.
For
more information on Transvoyeur Mexico go to: http://www.transvoyeur.com/transvoyeur_mexico.htm
Introduction
- Jeimy Marisol Martínez Galavíz
Mexico have a big number of great spaces in different
states of the country, places that can be used to present
work directed to the contemporary art discourse, cultural
spaces, museums, galleries, and even for some, the environment
of a city. At times, because of diverse motifs, those
spaces aren’t sufficiently open to present and give
support to ideas, concepts and projects for collectives
and emergent artists. Several times artists have to open
their own way against obstacles to increase their public,
to give their production a better circulation, not only
in a local way, but internationally.
It
have been an honour, in my career steps as a visual and
sound producer, to create a bond with Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney,
curator, artist, project coordinator and the founder of
Transvoyeur located in United Kingdom. In the year of
2006, included in the Independents Liverpool Biennial,
I had the chance to present several projects in the open
submission Transvoyeur Art Platform that took place thanks
to Sweeney's curatorial work. One can’t leave behind
these bonds, that not just give shape and circulation
to projects, but they create these relations between individuals,
productive and symbolic cultural exchanges with an enormous
value, and of course the interest to arouse a dialogue
between countries, cities and individuals. Speaking from
the point in which I’m standing, not just my localization,
but further of the physical place, I refer to my professional
and symbolic labor, I am big way interested to enlarge
the circulation of individual and collective projects,
to make public as well as artwork raise grades and also
to make an easier access to production for audiences of
countries like United Kingdom and backwards. (UK-México,
México-UK) Traveling through collaborations between
individuals that can be based in any place of the globe
it is important to investigate and learn from visions
that even in the same country or city are so variable.
We
recognize the present electronic and communication media
and the conditions that can make these exchanges to set
up and being fruitful at a time. Is because of this the
development of a Transvoyeur organization based in Monterrey,
México as well as a starting working together with
Transvoyeur in UK. We pretend to create those bridges,
facilitating collaborations thorough distance, opening
submissions in different research and production areas,
inviting emergent artist to collaborate. All of this,
intertwined to the artists and collective proposals, explorations,
ideas and concrete projects. We intend productive and
exchange targets that if we metaphorically named, wouldn’t
have a lineal shape, but a aspheric shape, being the end
in itself, a figure without sides, contained in each project
released. We are conscious that is required an arduous
work to establish and concrete these projects, because
there’s always different visions of our environment,
the social, political, daily, space, objects, but the
interesting thing of this collaboration can’t be
seen and been anticipated until it starts, until the intersections
, convergence points between individuals start appearing.
Introducción
- Jeimy Marisol Martínez Galavíz
México
cuenta con muchos espacios en diferentes estados del país,
donde presentar trabajos diseccionados al discurso del
arte contemporáneo, espacios culturales, museos,
galerías e incluso para algunos, el entorno mismo
de su ciudad. En ocasiones, debido a diversos motivos,
dichos espacios, no son suficientemente abiertos para
presentar y darle soporte a ideas, conceptos y proyectos
tanto de colectivos como de artistas emergentes. Muchas
veces los artistas tienen que abrirse paso a obstáculos
para poder alcanzar un mayor público, que la producción
que están creando circule, no solo de manera local,
sino de manera internacional.
Ha
sido un honor, en el paso de mi carrera como productora
visual y sonora, crear un lazo con Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney,
curadora, artista, coordinadora de proyectos y la fundadora
de Transvoyeur en Reino Unido. En el año de 2006
en el marco de la Independents Liverpool Biennial tuve
la oportunidad de presentar varios proyectos dentro de
la organización Transvoyeur , en la convocatoria
abierta Transvoyeur Art Platform llevados a cabo bajo
el trabajo curatorial de Sweeney. No se pueden dejar de
lado estos lazos-vínculos que no solo dan forma
y circulación a proyectos sino que van creando
estas relaciones entre individuos, estos intercambios
llámese culturales, de producción ó
simbólicos, tan valiosos y por supuesto el interés
de provocar un diálogo entre países, ciudades
e individuos. Hablando desde el punto en que me encuentro
parada, no solo mi localización, sino mas allá
de o físico; me refiero a mis labores profesionales
y simbólicas, me interesa en gran manera que en
México se genere mayor circulación tanto
de proyectos individuales como de proyectos colectivos,
que otros públicos como obras tengan alcance en
grados mayores, de la misma forma en que el acceso a producción
de individuos de otros países como lo es Reino
Unido, llegue a espectadores en México. Pasando
por colaboraciones entre individuos que se pueden encontrar
en diferentes partes del mundo e investigar y aprender
de estas visiones que incluso en un país o una
ciudad, son tan variables.
Reconocemos
los medios electrónicos y de comunicación
del presente y las condiciones para que estos intercambios
lleguen a concretarse y a producir más frutos a
su vez. Es por esto que Transvoyeur México de la
mano a Transvoyeur en Reino Unido pretende crear estos
puentes, facilitando colaboraciones a distancia, abriendo
convocatorias en distintas áreas de producción
e investigación, invitando a artistas emergentes
a participar. Todo esto entrelazado a la producción
de artistas, sus propuestas, sus soportes, ideas y proyectos
concretos. Nos planteamos objetivos de producción
e intercambio que si nombráramos metafóricamente,
no tendrían una forma lineal, sino una forma esférica,
siendo un fin en si mismo, una figura sin lados, un fin
que está contenido en cada proyecto realizado.
Estamos concientes de que se requiere de trabajo arduo
para entablar y concretar estos proyectos, pues siempre
hay visiones distintas de nuestro entorno, lo social,
lo político, lo cotidiano, el espacio, los objetos,
pero lo interesante de esta participación no puede
preverse sino hasta que se pone en marcha, hasta que las
intersecciones, puntos de convergencia entre individuos
empiezan a aparecer.
Culture:
Mexico
Mexican culture reflects the complexity of the country's
history through the blending of pre-Hispanic civilizations
and the culture of Spain, imparted during Spain's 300-year
colonization of Mexico. Exogenous cultural elements mainly
from the United States have been incorporated into Mexican
culture. As was the case in most Latin American countries,
when Mexico became an independent nation, it had to slowly
create a national identity, being an ethnically diverse
country in which, for the most part, the only connecting
element amongst the newly independent inhabitants was
Catholicism.
The
Porfirian era (el Porfiriato), in the last quarter of
the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth
century, was marked by economic progress and peace. After
four decades of civil unrest and war, Mexico saw the development
of philosophy and the arts, promoted by President Díaz
himself. Since that time, though accentuated during the
Mexican Revolution, cultural identity had its foundation
in the mestizaje, of which the indigenous (i.e. Amerindian)
element was the core. In light of the various ethnicities
that formed the Mexican people, José Vasconcelos
in his publication La Raza Cósmica (The Cosmic
Race) (1925) defined Mexico to be the melting pot of all
races (thus extending the definition of the mestizo) not
only biologically but culturally as well. This exalting
of mestizaje was a revolutionary idea that sharply contrasted
with the idea of a superior pure race prevalent in Europe
at the time.
Cinema
Mexican
films from the Golden Age in the 1940s and 1950s are the
greatest examples of Latin American cinema, with a huge
industry comparable to the Hollywood of those years. Mexican
films were exported and exhibited in all of Latin America
and Europe. Maria Candelaria (1944) by Emilio Fernández,
was one of the first films awarded a Palme d'Or at the
Cannes Film Festival in 1946, the first time the event
was held after World War II. Famous actors and actresses
from this period include María Félix, Pedro
Infante, Dolores del Río, Jorge Negrete and the
comedian Cantinflas.
More
recently, films such as Como agua para chocolate (1992),
Cronos (1993), Amores perros (2000), Y tu mamá
también (2001), El Crimen del Padre Amaro (2002),
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and Babel (2006) have been successful
in creating universal stories about contemporary subjects,
and were internationally recognised, as in the prestigious
Cannes Film Festival. Mexican directors Alejandro González
Iñárritu (Amores perros, Babel), Alfonso
Cuarón (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban), Guillermo del Toro, Carlos Carrera (The Crime
of Father Amaro), and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga are
some of the most known present-day film makers.
Music
Mexican society enjoys a vast array of music genres, showing
the diversity of Mexican culture. Traditional music includes
Mariachi, Banda, Norteño, Ranchera and Corridos;
on an every-day basis most Mexicans listen to contemporary
music such as pop, rock, etc. in both English and Spanish.
Mexico has the largest media industry in Latin America,
producing Mexican artists who are famous in Central and
South America and parts of Europe, especially Spain. Some
well-known Mexican singers are Thalia, Luis Miguel and
Paulina Rubio. Popular groups are Café Tacuba,
Molotov, RBD and Maná, among others.
Most
states, through their Ministry of Culture or of Education,
sponsor an Orquesta Sinfónica or Orquesta Filarmónica
(Symphony Orchestra or Philharmonica Orchestra) so people
can enjoy classical music.
Fine arts
Post-revolutionary art in Mexico had its expression in
the works of renowned artists such as Frida Kahlo, Diego
Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Rufino Tamayo, David
Alfaro Siqueiros and Juan O'Gorman. Diego Rivera, the
most well-known figure of Mexican muralism, painted the
Man at the Crossroads at the Rockefeller Center in New
York City, a huge mural that was destroyed the next year
due to the inclusion of a portrait of Russian communist
leader Lenin. Some of Rivera's murals are displayed at
the Mexican National Palace and the Palace of Fine Arts.
Academic
music composers of Mexico include Manuel María
Ponce, José Pablo Moncayo, Julián Carrillo,
Mario Lavista, Carlos Chávez, Silvestre Revueltas,
Arturo Márquez, and Juventino Rosas, many of whom
incorporated traditional elements into their music. Nobel
Prize winner Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Juan Rulfo,
Elena Poniatowska, and José Emilio Pacheco, are
some of the most recognized authors of Mexican literature.
Broadcast media
Two of the major television networks based in Mexico are
Televisa and TV Azteca. Televisa is also the largest producer
of Spanish-language content in the world and also the
world's largest Spanish-language media network. Grupo
Multimedios is another media conglomerate with Spanish-language
broadcasting in Mexico, Spain, and the United States.
Soap operas (telenovelas) are translated to many languages
and seen all over the world with renowned names like Verónica
Castro, Lucía Méndez, Lucero, and Thalía.
Even Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna from Y tu
mamá también and current Zegna model have
appeared in some of them. Some of their TV shows are modeled
after counterparts from the U.S. like Family Feud (100
Mexicanos Dijeron or "A hundred Mexicans said"
in Spanish) and Qué dice la gente, Big Brother,
American Idol, Saturday Night Live and others. Nationwide
news shows like Las Noticias por Adela on Televisa resemble
a hybrid between Donahue and Nightline. Local news shows
are modeled after counterparts from the U.S. like the
Eyewitness News and Action News formats. Border cities
receive television and radio stations from the U.S., while
satellite and cable subscription is common for the middle-classes
in major cities, often watch movies and TV shows from
the U.S.
