Eduardo Abaroa, Francis Alÿs, Marco Arce, Gustavo Artigas, Iñaki Bonillas, Miguel Calderón, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Minerva Cuevas, Claudia Fernández, Thomas Glassford, Silvia Gruner, Daniel Guzmán, Jonathan Hernández, Gabriel Kuri, Teresa Margolles, Taniel Morales, Yoshua Okón, Fernando Ortega, Luis Felipe Ortega, Vicente Razo, Daniela Rossell, SEMEFO, Santiago Sierra, Melanie Smith, Sofía Táboas, Laureana Toledo, Pablo Vargas Lugo, and Lorena Wolffer
Strange Currencies: Art & Action in Mexico City, 1990-2000
Moore College of Art & Design
20th Street and The Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103
September 19–December 12, 2015
Reception: September 18, 6–8 pm
Moore College of Art & Design presents Strange Currencies: Art & Action in Mexico City, 1990-2000, an exhibition featuring the work of 28 artists living and working in Mexico City in the 1990s. Strange Currencies revisits the development of experimental artistic practices in the city, recontextualizing the period by expanding the representation of artists and practices and by presenting artworks in conjunction with archival materials including photographs, video footage, printed materials, and a listening booth featuring artist-curated music from the ’90s. The exhibition, curated by Kaytie Johnson, highlights radical, alternative, and socially-engaged practices as responses to and reflections on the devastating and far-reaching effects of social, political, and economic events of the decade. Many artworks and materials on view in Strange Currencies have never been exhibited outside of Mexico, and several artworks no longer in existence will be recreated for the exhibition, including Eduardo Abaroa’s Obelisco roto portátil para mercados ambulantes (A Portable Broken Obelisk for Outdoor Markets), (1991-1993).
Strange Currencies: Art & Action in Mexico City, 1990-2000 is accompanied by a series of conversations and film screenings. A full schedule can be found on the Moore College of Art & Design website.
Eduardo Abaroa, Obelisco roto portátil para mercados ambulantes (A Portable Broken Obelisk for Street Markets), 1993. Plastic sheeting, metal, and photographic documentation. Courtesy of the artist and Moore College of Art & Design.
Vicente Razo, Revolucionario institucional (Institutional Revolutionary), 1994. Molotov cocktails in six propaganda glass bottles and mixed media, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Moore College of Art & Design.
Francis Alÿs, Vivienda para todos (Housing for All), 1994. Photographic documentation of an action. Courtesy of the artist and Moore College of Art & Design.
Silvia Gruner, In Situ, 1995. Video still. Courtesy of the artist and Moore College of Art & Design.
