Catholic art and architecture by Gabriel Villalobos
Academia XXII, 2022
A review of the latest book documenting the work of Mexican Benedictine monk, architect and artis... more A review of the latest book documenting the work of Mexican Benedictine monk, architect and artist Fray Gabriel Chávez de la Mora. In Spanish.
Dream of Solentiname, 2018
At the end of 1965, a few months after being ordained a Catholic priest, Nicaraguan intellectual ... more At the end of 1965, a few months after being ordained a Catholic priest, Nicaraguan intellectual Ernesto Cardenal settled in Solentiname and begun his work to build a community of spiritual growth and artistic production. This revolutionary experiment occurred as radical changes were taking place in the Catholic Church both in Latin America and globally. Cardenal’s thought and activities can be understood as belonging to a larger movement known as liberation theology. The utopian project of Solentiname materialized a vision combining artistic production and religious experience as paths for the revolution.
Contemporary Art by Gabriel Villalobos
Academia Letters, 2020
John Cage (1912-1992) was one of the foremost composers and theorists of the 20th century. His ra... more John Cage (1912-1992) was one of the foremost composers and theorists of the 20th century. His radical experiments with noise, silence and timbre, and his use of chance operations and indeterminacy, continue to influence the realm of music and many other fields of artistic inquiry. Cage traveled extensively around the world and had contact with countless artists and intellectuals. Among these, he maintained longtime friendships and exchanges with several Mexican creators. He visited the country on at least four occasions between the late 1960s and mid-1970s, in a time of cultural effervescence with which he found multiple reverberations. There is evidence that he privately visited Cuernavaca and Yucatán; however, his visits to Mexico City in 1968 and 1976, both of which included public appearances, were the most significant. Cage's relations to Mexico date back to the 1940s, through his admiration for the work of composer Carlos Chávez. The latter's book Toward a New Music-one of the first writings in history to address the potential of electronic music-was of particular influence. In 1942 Chávez completed the Toccata for Percussion Instruments, commissioned by Cage for his percussion ensemble. That same year, the American composer published an analysis of Chávez's Indian Symphony. Both kept correspondence at least until the late sixties. Nonetheless, it was Cage's close friendship with renowned writer Octavio Paz that sparked an interest in Mexico. Cage met Paz and his future wife Marie-José Tramini in 1964 in India, where Paz was serving as Mexican ambassador. They sustained a warm and long-lasting friendship, writing frequently and meeting in different countries on many occasions. Cage and Paz also made some collaborations; among them, they revised the English translation of Paz's poem "Reading John Cage," which he wrote in 1968. The first formal plan to visit Mexico arose after meeting with the couple and other friends in June of 1966. Cage describes the scene in the foreword of A Year from Monday, his second
The term site-specificity has proliferated in recent discussions regarding art that establishes a... more The term site-specificity has proliferated in recent discussions regarding art that establishes an explicit position within the context of its production or reception. Commonly associated with installation art, urban sculpture, urban intervention, public art, and relational art, this theoretically challenging term implicates an equally complex and diverse range of artwork, practices and attitudes.
The last couple of decades have seen the emergence of a myriad of art projects with educational p... more The last couple of decades have seen the emergence of a myriad of art projects with educational purposes. These endeavors often aim to create spaces for social relations, interstices where roles and identities can be reformulated. Whereas it is common for these projects to be positioned as alternatives or even antagonists to institutions, many others establish productive dialogues with these actors. Institutions play a crucial role as sites for innovation in education and art.
“Peter Fischli David Weiss: How to Work Better” offers a panoramic vision of the themes paramount... more “Peter Fischli David Weiss: How to Work Better” offers a panoramic vision of the themes paramount to the artists’ production. Originally conceived and organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the adaptation of this show for Museo Jumex allows for an exploration of the myriad connections that Fischli and Weiss’s work establishes between high culture and the everyday. The artistic production of Fischli and Weiss has often taken place in the context of boredom or spare time, and explicitly problematizes the common understanding of productivity as a necessary measure of the investment of effort and the employment of time. Contemporary attitudes towards work and the conflicts inherent to them are present in the artists’ oeuvre. The work of Fischli and Weiss disrupts the equation of play with childhood and work with adulthood, suggesting instead that life is found at the crossroads.
A main paradigm in contemporary art is its critical acknowledgement of the context of its exhibit... more A main paradigm in contemporary art is its critical acknowledgement of the context of its exhibition. As modern art generated a profound revaluation of its modes of production and reception, it also established the foundations for a greater exploration of its place in the world. Throughout the twentieth century, the visual arts developed interrogative standpoints to their exhibition context, fostering a process of critical emancipation. By the late 1960s, new formats like performance and land art confronted the limitations imposed by traditional museum and gallery spaces. Ephemerality, 1
Art, architecture and space by Gabriel Villalobos
Arquitectura efímera. Reflexiones sobre la mutabilidad del espacio construido, 2023
Todo lo simbólico se desvanece en el aire. Los monumentos y lo efímero desde el arte contemporáne... more Todo lo simbólico se desvanece en el aire. Los monumentos y lo efímero desde el arte contemporáneo Gabriel Villalobos Villanueva Lo efímero y sus potencias políticas en una fiesta religiosa Luis Conde Las portadas floridas en la arquitectura religiosa en México: una presencia mesoamericana en el patrimonio inmaterial actual Juan Antonio Siller Camacho La capilla del Belén en Tlaxcala: de lo efímero al olvido Óscar Armando García Prototipos efímeros del ámbito universitario en el espacio público Ronan Bolaños Linares La modernidad arquitectónica de la Ciudad de México como espacio efímero Pablo Francisco Gómez Porter Revitalización del espacio público a través de instalaciones efímeras como activadores sociales y agentes de cambio Bruno Bellota Noguera Lo efímero y la lógica del contra-monumento como estrategias de inserción del arte en los espacios públicos Aurora Noreña
The Architect's Newspaper, 2022
Taller Mauricio Rocha completes an expansion of Diego Rivera and Juan O’Gorman’s experimental mus... more Taller Mauricio Rocha completes an expansion of Diego Rivera and Juan O’Gorman’s experimental museum in Mexico City.
The theorization of the public sphere developed by Jürgen Habermas in "The Structural Transformat... more The theorization of the public sphere developed by Jürgen Habermas in "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere" has prompted several reflections on the possibility of alternative models. Those put forth by Nancy Fraser and Oskar Negt and Alexander Kluge, incorporating key elements of post-Marxist thought and feminist critical theory, argue for the identification of non-bourgeois publics constituted by individuals with shared political positions. The theories of Chantal Mouffe and Jacques Rancière define the political as a war of position, an arena for sustained conflict. An authentically democratic politics thus calls for confrontation and dissent. This implies that the public sphere is not a definite entity, but rather a political condition in flux. Public spheres emerge as fields in which individual and collective positions confront each other and are thus redefined.
As socially engaged artists work in a myriad of contexts and with a wide range of strategies and intentions, context-specific conceptions of the public become crucial. Artistic endeavors can often be undermined by misleading assumptions – for instance, that there is only one public sphere; that it exists a priori with respect to the art work; that participation guarantees unmediated and unbiased access to this sphere; or that artistic efforts stand outside political structures and determinations. While art can position itself as a catalyst for change in a public sphere, its outcomes and ultimate impact will largely be determined by the way in which its engagement with such a sphere is articulated.
1 On December 19, 1915, the Dobychina Gallery in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) opened its doors ... more 1 On December 19, 1915, the Dobychina Gallery in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) opened its doors for a new exhibition. Titled Zero-Ten (stylized as 0,10), The Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting, this show would be seminal for the avant-garde art practices of Soviet Russia. Among the fourteen artists presenting work stood out the names of Kazimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin. For both artists, by then outspoken rivals, this exhibition was an opportunity to consolidate their place in the avant-garde at a decisive point in their careers. The work they presented heralded a new direction in their work and in Russian art in general. The exhibition catalogue presented thirteen of Tatlin's reliefs, produced between 1914 and 1915. They defied traditional artistic formats, and were all untitled. The enmity between Malevich and Tatlin prompted both artists to produce brochures endorsing their pieces in the exhibition. Tatlin's booklet along with two photographs, are the only documentation we now have of his contribution to the show. The cover of the booklet shows one of the two corner counter-reliefs: a composition of iron and copper sheets, suspended in a corner by rigging affixed to the walls. In the existing photograph of this piece (fig , the walls appear covered with white paper, and another relief can be partially seen on the upperright. In the other photograph ( , another metal composition is suspended using wire; this corner is also covered with paper, and the catalogue number 133 and Tatlin's brochure accompany the piece.
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Catholic art and architecture by Gabriel Villalobos
Contemporary Art by Gabriel Villalobos
Art, architecture and space by Gabriel Villalobos
As socially engaged artists work in a myriad of contexts and with a wide range of strategies and intentions, context-specific conceptions of the public become crucial. Artistic endeavors can often be undermined by misleading assumptions – for instance, that there is only one public sphere; that it exists a priori with respect to the art work; that participation guarantees unmediated and unbiased access to this sphere; or that artistic efforts stand outside political structures and determinations. While art can position itself as a catalyst for change in a public sphere, its outcomes and ultimate impact will largely be determined by the way in which its engagement with such a sphere is articulated.
As socially engaged artists work in a myriad of contexts and with a wide range of strategies and intentions, context-specific conceptions of the public become crucial. Artistic endeavors can often be undermined by misleading assumptions – for instance, that there is only one public sphere; that it exists a priori with respect to the art work; that participation guarantees unmediated and unbiased access to this sphere; or that artistic efforts stand outside political structures and determinations. While art can position itself as a catalyst for change in a public sphere, its outcomes and ultimate impact will largely be determined by the way in which its engagement with such a sphere is articulated.