prodigiovulgar

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Something is happening in México´s art world

The contemporary argentine artist Ana Gallardo exhibited a piece at the University Museum of Contemporary Art (MUAC) in México. The exhibition, titled "Tembló acá un delirio", featured the work Extracto de un Proyecto Fallido , where Gallardo visited Casa Xochiquetzal, a shelter in Tepito for elderly sex workers in vulnerable situations. The controversial piece consisted of a large wall where she wrote about her experience going to the house, where she was asked to care for one of the residents in a deplorable state, written with slurs and derogatory language toward the shelter, the sex workers, and Estela, the woman she "cared" for. The text is dehumanizing, degrading, and, to top it off, she projects a video where she caresses Estela's hands, as if she were a religious figure holding a sick child for a photo-op. We don’t know, and the most probable answer is no, if Estela consented to have her image used in such a vile and cruel manner.

The most foolish people try to defend these atrocities by saying it's art, claiming it opens up a conversation, or that it qualifies as art because it generates a reaction, in this case, a disgusting one. Humans feel and react to all stimuli in more or less conscious ways, of course injustice generates a reaction, as do crimes, but that doesn’t make them art. Not everything that happens in a museum is art, and just because a video is projected doesn’t make it a work of art, no matter how much it's accompanied by curatorial text. It is not art, it is abuse.

In the wake of the exhibit, there were protests at the museum, demanding respect for sex workers and calling for an end to discrimination. The piece has since been removed, and the museum remains closed, likely to avoid further protests. The exhibition has been permanently removed down and the museum has not yet issued an apology after the scandal, but why let it get to that point? Who authorized this exhibit? Did they not read the supposed work, which is nothing more than a message of hatred and contempt? How much more can we exploit a person’s suffering and agony, displaying them in their most fragile condition just to provoke shock and hide behind the rhetoric of contemporary art?

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encontré coincidencias donde no las había, los hilos no estaban tejidos. Quise coserlos y sin querer, me enredé en un nudo que me asfixió.

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Vanebanana Bakery Store at Guasave, Sinaloa, México

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gatito funerario

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No serás lsd pero quiero tener un viaje contigo

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it’s getting boring here on the simulation

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Heroin Kids

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Cabaña lluviosa sobre lago con un puente

Hacienda Ucazanaztacua

Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán. Mayo 2018

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Neo-Tijuana series (2021) by Robbo Darko

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m0uthz

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psp slim 2010 vaporwave aesthetic

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Haus of MAYA by m0uthz

Render house by Daniel Lucas based on Sofia Herfon’s design for her video Vivienda Maya

The models are from Vogue by Helmut Newton

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credit: linnea sterte

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Ahora fuman piedra

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Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, 2012.