Statement
The MexiCali Biennial is a non-profit organization that aims to provide a platform for border crossing, progressive art exhibitions and events. These interventions, installations and performances encourage dynamic cultural exchanges that resonate within the fluid context of the territory covering Mexico and California. Concentrating on the border as the site of transgressions, this biennial distinguishes itself by tapping into a unique aesthetic derived from a culture of art and critical dialog evolving from the confluence of both countries in a region defined by its hybridism.
2006
The first MexiCali Biennial took place in Mexicali in 2006 with the idea of producing an exhibition featuring artists from California and Mexico. The addendum of “Biennial” was a deliberate political choice—to add to an art show in Mexicali a term that came with the baggage of art-world prestige and exhaustion, a Biennial at a time when no one could stand the thought of another one. The aim was to provide artists with an opportunity to respond and transgress the overarching environmental context of the production and display of their work with a notion of conversation that engages both with the heavily funded and institutionalized Biennial framework and the less formal and often more innovative process of bi-national exchange that happens every day.
Background
The MexiCali Biennial began as art project between Ed Gomez and Luis G. Hernandez in April of 2006. Gomez and Hernandez are both curators and artists who live and work in Los Angeles, CA USA. These two co-founders of the MexiCali Biennial were invited to curate an exhibition of Los Angeles based artists at La Casa de la Tía Tina ,espacio alternativo de arte y música. The MexiCali Biennial was their proposal for Tia Tina. Project organizers for the 2006 MexiCali Biennial were Ed Gomez, Luis G. Hernandez and Pilar Tompkins.
The premise for the MexiCali Biennial was to play with contextualization by labeling an art exhibition a biennial and simultaneously using the status of biennial in order to questioning how traditional biennials function. The title and structure of the MexiCali Biennial came about by looking at the specificity of the exhibition site and using the word Mexicali as a readymade for the exhibition’s structure. The word Mexicali is the merger of the two words Mexico and California and is representative of its geographical location. The location of the 2006 exhibition provided an opportunity to address social and political issues prevalent at the border of where two countries merge into one another.
The MexiCali Biennial may or may not happen every two years on either side of the US/Mexican border.
MexiCali Biennial @ King King in Hollywood May 24th, 2009
Thanks again for all your support at the May 24th event @ King King in Hollywood.
Special thanks to:David K. Parker, Chicle Atomico, AudioElementalRadio.com, Dj Santos, Royal Vibes, Son Locuaz, Merced, The Keith Walsh Experience, Velorio, Juan Bastardo, Bordermates, Cindy Santos Bravo, Jeff Chabot, Michelle Chong, Pablo Cobian, Fernando Corona, Ed Gomez, Fidel Hernandez, Luis G. Hernandez, Homeless, Ichiro Irie, Ryan Lamb, Aska Lida, Ivan Limas, Albert Lopez, Rodrigo Lopez, Matt MacFarland, Txema Novelo, Anibal Catalan Piñeda,
Joaquin Segura, and Jason Wallace Triefenbach. Curated by Ed Gomez and Luis G. Hernandez.
LINKS BELOW
EIN# 26-0615702
Conversation with project organizers, January, 2007
conversation covers the founding of the MexiCali Biennial and the 2006 exhibition
or download a PDF version here 2.25MB
The 2006 MexiCali Biennial catalog is now available for purchase online from lulu publishing.
Please visit http://books.lulu.com/browse/book_view.php?fCID=1389760&fBuyItem=5
to purchase or download a copy.
The MexiCali Biennial participated in "All Biennials of the World Today" organized by The Fundação Bienal de São Paulo and the curators of the 28th Bienal.
A large library installed on the pavilion's third floor, consisting of an archive, an auditorium, a meeting room, a reading room, a computer hall with internet access, and a collection of 600 publications from 72 countries. The library is based on the collections of the Archive Wanda Svevo of the São Paulo Biennial's Foundation, and will frame and support the cycle of conferences to take place between October and November 2008.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
Parque Ibirapuera, Portão 3
04094-000 São Paulo, SP
Brasil
Tel: (+ 55 11) 5576-7612
Fax: (+ 55 11) 5549-0230 www.bienalsaopaulo.org.br