Y que le digo, y que me dice | Talk #1

From Onda MX, we invite you to the talk "Materialities, their Assemblages and Narratives", the first in the series "Y que le digo, y que me dice: Symptoms in Contemporary Artistic Production.

This new conversation program aims to open a space for dialogue among artists, writers, and other thinkers around the recurring symptoms that permeate contemporary artistic production in Mexico. Drawing on themes that appear repeatedly in the practices and texts published on Onda, we seek to foster an exchange of ideas, sensations, and intuitions from and with the community.

The conversation will take place at Plataforma, Guadalajara, on Sunday, August 24 at 1 PM.

Participants: Ariana Díaz, Cynthia Gutiérrez, Valeria Michelle, Maya Renée Escárcega Moderated by: Sandra Sánchez

Maya Renée Escárcega is a curator and writer. She studied Art History at Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City. Her practice revolves around feminism and critical forms of knowledge production. She has developed solo projects with artists such as Yvette Mayorga (MAZ, 2024), Karian Amaya (Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez, 2025; Casa Redonda, 2024), Maximiliano Ruelas (Espacio Cabeza, 2024), and Donna Huanca (MAZ, 2023). Her writings have been published on platforms like Onda MX. Since 2020, she has been associate curator at the Museo de Arte de Zapopan (MAZ) / EstaciónMAZ, where she has collaborated on over twenty exhibitions and promoted educational programs focused on inclusion and diversity.

Ariana Díaz is a visual artist. Her work analyzes the practices normalized in the histories or uses of land, shaping approaches that exist both inside and outside notions of truth or territoriality. Her explorations span photography, video, installation, and various devices. She was awarded the GRODMAN Grant (2024) and the Young Creators grant (FONCA 2022–23). She studied in the Photographic Production Seminar at the Centro de la Imagen (2021), Visual Arts at the University of Guadalajara (2013–2017), and did an academic exchange at Universidad Finis Terrae in Chile (2016). She is co-founder of Espacio Negativo. Her work has been shown collectively in the United States, United Kingdom, and Mexico.

Cynthia Gutiérrez is a visual artist. Her practice is rooted in an understanding of sculpture beyond the medium. Her approach to the three-dimensional through various supports stems from a critical strategy that questions and tests the vulnerability and stability of structural elements—whether physical, conceptual, or political. She has exhibited and developed site-specific projects in museums and venues in Mexico and abroad, including Plataforma de Arte Contemporáneo, Museo Cabañas, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, and La Tallera / SAPS in Mexico; SCAD Museum of Art, USA; Venice Biennale, Italy; Izolyatsia Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Ukraine; and the Berlin Biennale, Germany, among others. Her exhibitions often involve a keen awareness of the social dynamics art provokes—through encounters with the public, within its network of agents, or through the political nature of cultural space. Gutiérrez was part of the collectives LIPO, Clemente Jacqs Laboratorio, and Aires de Occidente, a platform for reflection and learning created by artists and cultural workers in Guadalajara. She has also been a resident and speaker at institutions such as Insite Casa Gallina, MX; MCA Denver, USA; and Frac des Pays de la Loire, France.

Valeria Michelle is a transdisciplinary artist and educator from Guadalajara, Mexico. Her artistic practice explores the ecopolitical relationship between humans and the environment through printmaking, space, the performativity of matter, and co-creation with biological systems. She questions the utilitarian separation of humans from nature, proposing speculative forms of eco-representation in the face of biopower. Selected for the 45th National Young Art Encounter, Young Creators FONCA 2023–2024, and PECDA Jalisco 2022–2023, Valeria has had solo exhibitions at the Juanacatlán boardwalk, Espacio Cabeza, Guadalajara 90210, and at educational institutions such as the Preparatoria No.8 of the University of Guadalajara and Educar+e. In her commitment to sharing eco-narrative proposals from her surroundings, her work has also been presented in group exhibitions in various cities in and outside of Mexico.

Sandra Sánchez is an artist, curator, writer, and editor. Her work is grounded in the practical possibilities of art, collaboration, and listening as tools to critically disrupt the affective logics of neoliberalism. She is part of El Cuarto de los Ojos Sucios (a performative space for mediation, exhibition, and critical reflection on contemporary painting, together with Eric Valencia); Máquina Simple (an editorial research group with Imaabs, Ollin Vázquez, Tomás Urquieta, and Tamara G. Massimi); Círculo contra el soundscape (a sound research group coordinated by Rossana Lara); and Ambient para leer (public installations at the intersection of sound, reading, rest, listening, and contemporary art, with Adriana Kong and Arturo Plascencia). She is editor of the Onda MX magazine and teaches at Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana.

Many thanks to Plataforma and Félix for their support.

Cover picture: work by Ariana Díaz