I remember: 2023 by the writers of Onda MX

We were summoned to chat on the seventh of December at seven in the evening. The streets of Mexico City were unusually still, so some couldn't make it to the appointment, and others arrived with a tardiness that we didn't anticipate. I found comfort in the contrast between the intricacies of the journey and the serene, warm atmosphere of the Onda MX writers' meeting. Wrapped in the soft light of Casa Tomada, sipping rooibos tea with honey, then figs, then nuts, and later beers, we sat in a circle to converse. As some of us have known each other for years and while others not so long, we began by sharing who we are, what we studied, our interests, and when we started writing. In the gathered group of writers*1, there are those who curate exhibitions, produce artwork, teach, and organize galleries, museums, and independent spaces; they look at art and the world that sustains it from these diverse perspectives.

"Do you work in art?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Are you an artist?"

"Not so unfortunately."

We laugh :)

Sandra and Joséphine*2 chose Je me souviens [I Remember] (1978) by Georges Perec, with its fragments of everyday life, as the pre-text to discuss our own and others' memories of art exhibitions visited in 2023. Soon, a relevant membrane for this text appeared: the intermittent curtain that divides the on-the-record, partially accessible now, and the off-the-record that, at the request of each writer, I will leave outside these margins. I can say, however, that they were very juicy things.

"In work, one discovers the backstage of artists, their warmth or treatment."

"So much of art is lost in galleries."

"Also in museums."

"In Guadalajara, people support each other more; in Mexico City, it seems like everything is a competition, too much emphasis on being young."

"You can tell when the curator is the one sweeping the exhibition, or not."

"There's an ocular pulsation that makes the texts."

Sweeping the text, placing the body. Surrounded by books and the chill of the night, we entered a more intimate atmosphere of recognition and remembrance.

We talked about seeing the art of Lorena Mal and Pablo Rasgado, Trilce curator-artist, Mariana Paniagua, Martín Soto, Jorge Rosano Gamboa, Ale de la Puente, Fernanda Barreto, Maseco, Emilio Gómez Ruiz, Cobertizo studios, Alejandro García Contreras, Sofía Táboas, Samuel Nicolle, Rodolfo Díaz Cervantes, Geles Cabrera, Joy Laville, Elizabeth Catlet, Ángela Gurría, Beatriz Zamora, Verónica Gerber, María Jimeno, among many more artists whose names my hand didn't manage to note as the evening’s parallel and joint conversations continued. Our faces were illuminated, there was excitement, astonishment, and admiration as we recalled the art we encountered, as well as some suspicions, reservations, friendly differences, and distances.

"Having both feet completely out of the art world interferes with my sensitivity and repels me."

"Lydia Hamann and Kaj Osteroth's proposal on radical admiration."

"I think the October magazine taught us that it's not about destroying and attacking but about creating scopophilic frameworks for dialogues."

"She said, 'Until menopause, I didn't feel free because I was no longer useful to capital.'"

Thinking about our art writing practice, we found interesting frontiers, such as the difficulty a significant part of the art system has in understanding and naming people who move between roles, i.e., those who are curators-artists-managers-writers, etc., and are impossible to fit into a framework of modern specialization; or the potential of education to find the punctum that collapses the artistic production logic of the 21st century.

Those of us who write from, about, and around art look at the stage and also its surroundings: the shadows, the resonances, its expanding waves. A great place to trace time.

— Cristina Torres

Translated to English by Sebastián Antón-Ojeda

*1: Participants: Nico Barraza, Jimena Cervantes, Joséphine Dorr, Bruno Enciso, Mariana Lagunes, Carolina Magis Weinberg, Sandra Sánchez, Cristina Torres, Mariel Vela, M.S. Yániz

*2: Sandra Sánchez is the editor of Onda MX magazine, and Joséphine Dorr is the founder and director.

Imagen de portada: Exhibition view of Donde nace la frivolidad. Objetos de mi afección, Samuel Nicolle. Courtesy of Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil