Wikipedia

Espacio de Arte Muy

Espacio de Arte Muy (also known as Galeria Muy or Muy Gallery) ) is a cultural space devoted to contemporary art by Maya peoples and Zoque people (being the two main ethnicities of indigenous peoples in Chiapas, Mexico). The name “Muy” comes from the Tzotzil language and is the root of the word meaning “pleasure”.[1] The cultural center is located in a clay house in a central neighborhood (Barrio de Guadalupe) in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas and consists of a large patio, gallery spaces, a collection of over 150 Mayan and Zoque artifacts, a residence house, and a painting and ceramics production studio.

Espacio de Arte Muy
LocationSan Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico
Typeindigenous peoples contemporary art gallery
FounderJohn Burstein
DirectorJohn Burstein and Martha Alejandro Lopez
Websitegaleriamuy.org

The Muy opened its doors in December 2014 and has since organized over 30 individual and collective art exhibits of Mayan and Zoque creators. It was founded by anthropologist John Burstein, who had been in Chiapas for over 30 years, participating in different NGOs and community projects,[2] when he decided to launch the cultural project. Along with co-director Martha Alejandra López, a Zoque from Rayón Chiapas, they offer curatorial and representation services to over 20 indigenous creators from Chiapas.[3] They are among the most representative artists of the indigenous people's contemporary art movement in Mexico. The Muy has maintained an average of 4 exhibits a year every year since its opening in 2014.

Context

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The state of Chiapas, historically a backwater, interesting to anthropologists and site of great exploitative industries (logging – written about by B. Traven – coffee plantations, dams, mining, and oil), became a world-renowned hotspot for post-modern Indigenous autonomy – particularly since the Zapatista uprising. Espacio Muy originally responded to the lack of, and a need for Indigenous-specific non-governmental spaces where Maya/Zoque creators and intellectuals can debate and collectively enact the cultural aspects of the contemporary reformulations of traditionalist communitarian autonomy for which Chiapas has become a Mecca for young Mexican and predominantly European short- and long-term visitors.[citation needed]

From the onset, it was framed not just as a space to showcase artists, but to be used as a headquarters and community center for these important debates and practices, as well as to provide employment to the different young artists and cultural workers who make up the team that runs the space. As stated by the artists themselves in different interviews,[4][5] the project has achieved its goal of supporting the needs of local indigenous artists and has therefore established itself as a cultural institution over the course of its first decade.

Critical reception

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Espacio MUY has been featured in prominent national newspapers like El Universal (Mexico City),[6] La Jornada,[7] and its artists’ projects and exhibits have likewise been covered in different media outlets such as newspapers and art magazines.[8][9] Art critic Ingrid Suckaer devotes a section to the Muy gallery in her book Arte indígena contemporáneo: dignidad de la memoria y apertura de cánones (Indigenous contemporary art: the dignity of memory and opening up of canons), published by Samsara Editorial in 2017.[10]

Coinciding with the increasing interest in Indigenous art practices since the beginning of the century, the Muy has also engaged with major contemporary art museums such as Seminario 12, [4] Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo,[11]Palacio de Bellas Artes,[12][13] and Museo Universitario del Chopo[14][15] in Mexico City, as well as with curators such as Itzel Vargas Plata, to highlight the contemporary art production among the Maya and Zoque of Chiapas. The Muy and Muy artists have been invited to participate in prestigious international art fairs such as Material Art Fair,[16] where it received the Hennesey Prize for Best Project[17][18] the first year it participated, and Outsider Art Fair[19] in Paris.

Social Mission

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The MUY is also recognized for its distinctive commitment to bringing art into Maya and Zoque communities. This includes the promotion of local exhibits of visual and performance art and especially the development of workshop model that combines low-tech local materials – in ceramics and textile – with modern technologies of digital film and social media-based practices, in a manner influenced by Situationist International, relational art, and theater of the oppressed.[citation needed]

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  • Abraham Gómez
  • Antún Kojtom
  • Carlos de la Cruz
  • Cecilia Gómez
  • Darwin Cruz
  • Dyg'nojoch
  • Genaro Sántiz
  • Gerardo K'ulej
  • Humberto Gómez
  • Juan Chawuk
  • Kayúm Ma'ax
  • Manuel Guzmán
  • Marco Girón
  • Maruch Méndez
  • Maruch Sántiz
  • P.T'ul Gómez
  • PH Joel
  • Raymundo López
  • Säsäknichim Martínez
  • Saúl Kak
  • Xun Betan

References

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  1. ^ "Acerca del equipo". Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  2. ^ Burstein, John (9 April 2009). "Learning from innovation: implications of an integrated development project in Chiapas, Mexico". Development in Practice. 9 (3): 371–380. doi:10.1080/09614520902808118. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Artists". Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  4. ^ a b Oropeza Alvarez, Daliri (18 February 2023). "Descolocar la visión del arte contemporáneo: Galería Muy en la semana del arte". Pie de Pagina. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  5. ^ "The Joy of Making Art By-For-With the Native Peoples". Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  6. ^ "Galeria Muy: una ventana para obra contemporánea de artistas indígenas". El Universal. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  7. ^ Bellinghausen, Hermann (24 January 2023). "La galería Muy, semillero en Chiapas de la obra plástica indígena". La Jornada. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  8. ^ Martinez, Israel (July 2019). "Voces #15" (PDF). Voces. 15. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  9. ^ Guzman, Maria Victoria. "Maternar. Entre el síndrome de Estocolmo y los actos de producción". Artishockrevista. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  10. ^ Suckaer, Ingrid (2017). Arte indígena contemporáneo: dignidad de la memoria y apertura de cánones (PDF). Samsara Editorial. ISBN 978-970-94-3007-3. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Maternar. Entre el síndrome de Estocolmo y los actos de producción". Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  12. ^ Cristi, A.A. (26 January 2022). "El Museo Del Palacio De Bellas Artes Presenta La Exposición "Arte De Los Pueblos De México. Disrupciones Indígenas"". Broadway World. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  13. ^ Delgado, Karen (29 January 2022). "¡Arte indígena tradicional y contemporáneo toman Bellas Artes en una nueva expo!". Chilango. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  14. ^ "Los huecos del agua. Arte actual de los pueblos originarios". Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  15. ^ Sierra, Sonia (25 May 2019). "Sin folclor, arte actual de pueblos originarios". El Universal. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Galería MUY at Material Art Fair 2023 February 6 – February 26, 2023". Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  17. ^ Rojas, Helena; Weiner, Juan B. "Galería MUY: arte maya y zoque en Chiapas". Coolhuntermx. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  18. ^ Mendoza, Darwin (18 March 2020). "Reconocen a Galería Muy como el mejor proyecto". Cuarto Poder. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  19. ^ "OUTSIDER ART FAIR PARIS – 10 AÑOS". Artishock. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
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