Los cines en el México del siglo XX: Espacios distantes de la memoria

As part of its program Derivas de Arte y Arquitectura de Arte Abierto, Arte abierto presents the conversation Cinemas in 20th Century Mexico: Spaces Distant from Memory where Alejandro Ochoa Vega and Francisco Haroldo Alfaro Salazar participate.

Movie theaters represent typical 20th century architecture; a century that marked its appearance and also its decline. In modern Mexico they were a response to the technological and scientific developments of a time. With them a milestone of the new spectacle and a new place to share not only the space, but the feelings and aspirations of modern cities originated. In the beginning, they appeared in spaces such as the adapted hall or the marquee and in the 20th century, during their boom, they were built in all types of formats, from film palaces to multiplex complexes.

Each new cinema was a new carrier of alternatives and architectural solutions. Their approaches increasingly required multidisciplinary work between engineers, urban planners, technicians, plastic artists—such as Carlos Mérida or Manuel Felguérez—and decorators, who captured colors, textures and styles in the space with all types of furniture and proposals. Cinemas such as Paris, Bella Época, Ópera, El Roble, Latino, Diana, Teresa, Ermita, among many others, whether classical or functionalist in style, played a determining role in the recreation of the modern city and provided an artistic legacy, cultural and architectural to the present day.

Nowadays movie theaters fight for their permanence; Its spaces change as our way of making and watching films has also changed.

ALEJANDRO OCHOA VEGA He is an architect from the University of Guadalajara, a master in Architecture and a doctor in Art History from UNAM. Professor of history and criticism of architecture at the universities: Autonomous of Sinaloa, Intercontinental and Autonomous Metropolitana, Unidad Xochimilco.

>> FRANCISCO HAROLDO ALFARO SALAZAR He is an architect from the UAM He has collaborated in different postgraduate programs, research and conservation and restoration projects of immovable cultural heritage. He is a professor-researcher in the division of Sciences and Arts for Design (CyAD) of the UAM Xochimilco, where he has also been Coordinator of the Bachelor of Architecture, Coordinator of Postgraduate Support, Academic Secretary and currently Director.

Derivas de Arte y Arquitectura de Arte Abierto is a program that seeks to renew our view of the architectural legacy of Mexico City. Based on a series of talks focused on rescuing the parallel stories of emblematic architectural projects and public spaces that have witnessed the variable intersection between art and architecture. In this first stage, the program mainly addresses modern architecture, based on a series of talks proposed by invited curators, architects, artists and urban planners.

With this program, ways are tested to return to architecture part of its public, experiential, collective character that is close to those of us who live in the city, recognizing in it its condition as a living archive. From these talks, circumstances, contexts and anecdotes are revealed that have been part of his sensitive memory and that complement his material memory, a relationship that often escapes documentary narratives and academic stories.

Derivas de Arte y Arquitectura proposes imaginary routes and drifts without a path for spatial rediscovery, necessary to rethink the immediate past and present of the city, at a time of urban complexity that intensifies our habitation. The drifts take place for free, on the last Saturday of each month of 2024 at 1:00 p.m. with limited capacity.

— Arte Abierto

Photo: Guillermo Zamora. Courtesy: Sordo Madaleno Foundation.