A couple of weeks ago while I was sitting in a student’s office and caught glimpse of this image:
| Zona Maco 2014 |
"What is that?" I asked my student. To which he replied, "You want one? Here, it is yours". It was an VIP invitation, with two tickets and passes to the VIP section of an event called Zona Maco.
Several days past when texting with a designer friend I wrote “I have tickets to something called Zona Maco” Her reply “Are you inviting me or are you just being poshy?” "What do you mean by poshy?" I asked. "If we go, you'll see." she answered.
As we walked into Zona Maco on Feb. 8th, the very first stand was one by Hermès followed by one by BMW with a supermodel stading in front, I understood why Zona Maco had the very poshy reputation.
 |
| Hermès Zona Maco 2014 Photo Credit: Yao Keng |
Touted as Latin American’s largest event for contemporary art and design, this year Zona Maco celebrated its 11th anniversary. It is a space where galleries, designers and the like come to sell their wares. For four days, hipsters, buyers, artists, writers, the media, designers and those curious about the event milled through Hall D at Centro Banamex.
And of course since this is a poshy event, there were also overpriced things for sale. Like hand woven, wool yoga mats for $2000MXN or brightly painted wooden stools selling for $1800 to2,200MXN. So, basically, Zona Maco has capitivatingly gorgeous people walking about looking at art and each other.
As far as the artwork went, I enjoyed works from several gallaries like Gladstone, Mayoral Galeria d'Art, and and the there were some pieces that puzzled me. For example, a piece by artist Johann Koeng. The grey carcass of a giant squid laying in its own ink. I felt sad. I felt sorry for the animal that I supposed the artist used to cast the mold for the latex reproduction. Other pieces left me agein wondering, "why is this art?" like the instalation piece shown bellow with a obese person laying on a table at McDonald's looking on as what appears to be an employee wipes down the window. There were other pieces that seemed to me to be along the lines of practical art. Like the piece entitled "A Wolf, an Olive Tree and Circumstances" by Siobhan Hapaska. The fur covered, vibrating jungle gym with a uprooted tree dangling in the center was the perfect spot for me to put my tired feet for an imprompetou foot masage. It also would have been a great group vibrator. I know that art historians and philosphers ask and answer this question all the time but seriously, after seeing things like this, I still ask: who decides what art is and why do those people get to decide?
 |
| Photo source: www.fahrenheitmagazine.com |
 |
| A Requiem to Theater of Creativity: Self-portrait as Marcel Duchamp , 2010, by Yasumasa Mori |
 |
| Photo credit:@klarf |
 |
| A Wolf, an Olive Tree and Cirumstanes. Photo Credit:www.andrehn-schiptjenko.com |
 |
| @klarf in hipster paradise |
I should have guessed what this event was about when I opened the invitation to find a VIP pass. Of course I could have done some research before going. If I had, I would have found sites that poke fun at Zona Maco as well as criticize the event. The website 7Boom.mx has a post tittled "Dejen de Hacer Arte, Hagan Publicidad" (stop making art, make publicity) where writer Jose Luis explains "last year I wrote a review of Zona Maco: there were tears, laughs and a lot of people who demanded that instead of just criticizing, I propose new things." On Miguel Angel Morales' blog there are re-posted tweets about Zona Maco 2014. One tweet asks "is Zona Maco just for taking pictures for Instagram or does have another purpose?" I did find another purpose for Zona Maco when I realized Jose was there. Which Jose you ask? Why a Jose Cuervo 1800 bar offering tamarind and limon cucumber margaritas.
No comments:
Post a Comment