Re-visiones (Dec 2016)
A common place is no my place: artistic relations between Mexico – United States in a globalized world
Abstract
During the 80’s and 90’s, some structural changes took place in Mexico to cope with the economic recession caused by the oil crisis in the end of the 70’s. This changes involved private investments which precipitated several adjustments in the way the commercial trade and politics were design an executed. This situation brought a radical transformation in the cultural field because, in Mexico, traditionally the State has had total control over cultural distribution. This form of private investment was tied up directly with the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, Canada and United States, which terms imposed United States’ conception of culture as an industrial one. The Mexican commercial aperture that involve the transformation and foundation of some cultural institutions as CONACULTA and FONCA in 1988-89 also promoted the aperture and consolidation of some private galleries, collections and foundations following the US model of cultural funding. What I will show in this paper is that the economic politics, that involved permanently the US as the main speaker, not only redesigned Mexican cultural politics but the art is understood. I will also demonstrate that the economics are regulated in the body of works and introduce new forms of making , buying, and distributing art in Mexico.
