11th FEMSA Monterrey Biennial

The call for participation in the 11th FEMSA Monterrey Biennial occurred this year. The event aims at continuing to serve as a platform that supports projects centered on contemporary art and created by talent that resides in Mexico, as it also seeks to contribute to the creation of new publics interested in innovative art proposals. The FEMSA Monterrey Biennial (BMF) emerged in 1992 with the goal of recognizing, strengthening, stimulating and promoting artistic creation in Mexico. The call is open to Mexican and foreign artists who can prove that they have been residing in Mexico for the last two years. The categories are inclusive and can range from painting, photography, installation, video, object art, among other artistic disciplines. There are no thematic or conceptual restrictions in order to allow for the most diverse range of proposals possible. This year the call included the participation of 1,255 creators from every state across the country and a total of 3,487 works were submitted for participation. The categories in which the proposals were divided depended on the format and whether they were two-dimensional or three-dimensional. The event included the participation of the guest country of Colombia with the project titled Impressions of the Body: Action, Archive and Installation. It was curated by Sylvia Suárez and included the participation of ten artists. The call resulted in an exhibition that was inaugurated on August 14 and that will remain open until November 9 of this year at the Centro de las Artes in Parque Fundidora, in Monterrey. It includes the participation of 65 works by 40 artists that were selected by a jury formed by the following persons: artists Betsabeé Romero and Pierre-Olivier Arnaud, curator Gilbert Vicario and art critics Agustín Arteaga and Ramiro Martínez. The recipients of the FEMSA Grand Acquisition Prize in its two categories were: Hugo Crosthwaite. Tijuana Radiant Shine No.2. Drawing, pencil and acrylic on masonite, 2014. Two-dimensional format. Antonio Monroy. Segundo Paisaje de Sombras (Second Landscape of Shadows). Intervened acrylic and projectors, 2013. Three-dimensional format. There were also two honorable mentions, one for each category of the competition that went to artist Rolando Jacob Vargas and the group Objeto Posible, respectively. Lastly, concurrently with the exhibition and with the intention of involving the people attending it, attendees were given the opportunity to vote for a people's choice award. The results will be announced in the BMF's Facebook page. Noteworthy in this category was the work by artist Gustavo Villegas, which has already been awarded twice with this recognition since the exhibition was inaugurated. His proposal titled Ensamble de una Destrucción (Assembly of a Destruction) presents a group of metal lines that form the sculpture of a compact car pierced in the middle by a post. The piece is complemented with a painting that captures the image of the real incident and paperwork from the police report. This work has been consistently praised by the press because of the boldness with which the artist went about materializing the concept and because of the perfect dialog between the diverse objects that make the piece. The exhibition of the 11th FEMSA Monterrey Biennial will travel to Mexico City in 2015. La muestra de la XI BMF itinerará a la Ciudad de México durante el 2015.