Alma Colectiva

In the late 1980s, Aurelio López Rocha, a Guadalajara businessman, and his wife "Pepis" Martínez de López enthusiastically embarked on an unprecedented cultural adventure in western Mexico. In fact, their interests led them to create Alma Colectiva [Collective Soul], one of the most important contemporary art collections in our country.

On the advice of the prestigious curator Carlos Ashida who proposed this name, the title fully reflects "the unconventional, relaxed and playful character conveyed by the collection." It also clearly expresses the intention of the López Martínez family members when assembling this collection to express a relationship of love and proximity to the themes, the creators and the works included.

Over time, for more than three decades and after a journey full of difficulties, the collection has enriched its holdings as a living entity that seeks and finds diverse channels of manifestation in a natural and organic way.

With a preference for contemporary Mexican art, the expressions of emerging artists and select pieces by notable international artists, this multidisciplinary collection includes painting, sculpture, photography, graphics, installation and other alternative media. Its variety is a clear demonstration of the diverse traits of affinity, proximity and passion at its origin. Its structure, on the other hand, allows for the generation of a multiplicity of discourses and readings on the artists' trajectories and the changing dynamics of the local and international context to which the works are related.

The collection is currently housed in Kasa Capital, located in the heart of the Capilla de Jesús neighborhood in Guadalajara. In this house, an artistic and cultural meeting point, ar brouht together sui generis a collection of classic cars, two family libraries, the library and documentary archive of the journalist and automobile specialist Hugo Desdier, the Capital Pecado craft beer operating offices, and most of the collection's works.

Kasa Capital is an open space with a constant flow of visitors attracted to learn about and enjoy these contents. The contrast between this space immersed in a traditional neighborhood and the collection's contemporary vocation endows the project, born out of a passion for collecting fascinating, interesting or seductive works, with a singular sense of meaning. It is also, and no less important, the manifestation of the spirit of sharing the taste and the vital joy of approaching culture and artistic forms condensed in a selection of works. Alma Colectiva, the core of this stupendous cultural space, allows viewers the opportunity to interpret our individual, social and cultural nature through a wide and peculiar group of artworks unique in the country.