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Planning for Strange Currencies

Moore College of Art & Design
Mexico City-based artists Eduardo Abaroa and Yoshua Okón speak with Philadelphia artists participating in Citywide on Trolley Day, November 2013. Photograph by Jaime Alvarez.
Mexico City-based artists Eduardo Abaroa and Yoshua Okón speak with Philadelphia artists participating in Citywide on Trolley Day, November 2013. Photograph by Jaime Alvarez.

This exhibition will critically re-examine the emergence and development of unorthodox, artist-driven, and collective artistic practices in Mexico City in the 1990s, and the pivotal role that alternative art spaces played, and continue to play, in shaping the city's contemporary art landscape and legacy. Unlike other investigations of art in Mexico City in the 1990s—often object-centric, market-driven, and framed from an outsider's point of view—this exhibition, curated by Kaytie Johnson, is conceived with the direct input of artists affiliated with these spaces, all of which encouraged self-critique, experimentation, social interaction, and discussion around projects that linked art and everyday life. Planning activities will include on-the-ground research in Mexico City, reviewing primary source material, and interviewing participants. Johnson and her team will also convene members of Philadelphia's vibrant artist-run spaces to explore opportunities for collaboration and off-site programs during the exhibition's run, which is slated for 2015.

uestions of ractice
Luis Felipe Ortega, “Los Cuerpos Dóciles (macetones),” from the series “The docile bodies,” 1995-97, chromogenic photograph. Courtesy of The Galleries at Moore. 
Interview

Inside The Galleries at Moore: Q&A with Director and Chief Curator Kaytie Johnson

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Recipient
Moore College of Art & Design

Moore College of Art & Design

Established in 1848, Moore College of Art & Design is the first and only visual arts college historically for women in the US. In 2020, Moore opened admission to non-binary, transgender, and gender-fluid students. In addition to its BFA and graduate studies programs, it houses The Galleries at Moore, which offer free exhibitions and programming that explore contemporary art and ideas. The Galleries have featured a number of solo exhibitions and group exhibitions dedicated to significant women artists and designers, including Janet Biggs, Dara Birnbaum, Adrian Piper, and the Guerrilla Girls. 

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