ArtNews // CDMX Art Week 2024 Round Up
There is no better time for the culturally voracious to gorge on the excesses of Mexico City’s exhibition offerings than the city’s Art Week each February. Anchored by the Zona Maco fair and its two satellite fairs, Material and Salon Acme, the air crackles with anticipation as Mexico’s art spaces, both large and small, pull out their annual program highlights. With 2024 marking the 20th anniversary of Zona Maco and the 10th of Material, this year promises to be an unusually effervescent iteration.
Known for gallery heavyweights, like Kurimanzutto, OMR, and Labor, the city is also home to a range of small and mid-sized projects with programs that consistently punch above their weight. International arrivals like Commonwealth and Council and Mariane Ibrahim are further expanding the breadth and depth of the city’s exhibition spaces.
Paradoxically the recent international attention has in some ways made the city a victim of its own success with the echo of the pandemic tourism boom proving a complex blessing. Rents, prices, and tensions are up. Visitors in 2024 should not be surprised to find what locals have long known: Mexico City is not cheap.
Characteristically, despite its struggles, or maybe because of them, Mexico’s charms persist. International fascination continues unabated, so the city, and its art scene, grows. While few of the small and artist-run spaces remain truly non-commercial, the following is a selection of under-the-radar presentations with independent spirts offering visitors uniquely Chilango perspectives.
Image credit: A mosaic at the Casa/Estudio Nancarrow, site of Peana's exhibition during Art Week. PHOTO FABIAN MARTÍNEZ/COURTESY PEANA
