Las Reinas Chulas in their latest cabaret comedy

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 18, 2009

Dancing, shaking and strutting across the cabaret stage, Las Reinas Chulas sing their satirical, tongue-in-cheek renditions of the national "Vive México" tourism campaign, presenting the country's bitter truths with exaggerated dance moves and a hearty dose of satire.

In their latest project "Bailando con la más fea" ("Dancing With the Ugliest"), the four -woman Las Reinas Chulas comedy group present a series of hilarious vignettes, eccentric choreography and ironic musical numbers, debuting just weeks after their fourth anniversary of performances at the El Vicio Theater Bar in Mexico City.

The show, which kicked off Sept. 4, is set to run every Friday and Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. through the end of October at the Coyoacán-area cabaret club.

The women met years ago through common acquaintances at the University Center of Theater (CUT), and, upon discovering a clever chemistry between them, they began writing, producing and acting in shows almost exclusively in the El Vicio bar.

Actress Cecilia Sotres said that throughout their more than 20 different plays, the company has aimed to present itself with new challenges each time around.

"Dancing is new for Las Reinas Chulas, so in this case, we're making fun of ourselves in the way that we dance, which is very ungraceful. Cabaret and comedy always start by making fun of yourself," she said before the Sept. 11 presentation.

"I think we offer an intelligent criticism. The type of comedy that we offer here, for better or worse, is completely different than the others," she said.

Nora Huerta said that this play is a tribute to classic comedy reviews that combine sketches, dancing and musical segments. The expression "bailando con la más fea," she explained, is a Mexican saying used when something unfavorable happens to a person or group.

"Mexicans have always had to 'dance with the ugliest,' because we haven't achieved the country, the education, the institutions or the governments that we deserve," she said in a light but critical tone.

"Today in Mexico, we're almost at the point of celebrating our bicentennial, and we think these important celebrations are also a demonstration of the failure of an independence and revolution that fought for equality and equity among its citizens," she said.

Ana Francis Mor added sarcastically that the cabaret comedy aims to support the city and federal governments in their campaigns to promote tourism in Mexico.

"It took us a while to figure out how we could do it, but soon we thought up campaigns with messages like 'Come to Ciudad Juarez, where your women are sure to be killed!'" she mused, referring to the unresolved female homicides in the border city.

But despite the play's jarring criticism and harrowing allusions, Las Reinas Chulas are best known for their ability to make serious issues a laughing matter. And for non-natives, the cabaret piece is also an introspective look at how Mexicans view themselves and their society.

"Bailando" begins on a colorfully decorated stage, the steps lined with plastic agave leaves and the backdrop with legendary figures Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl atop their respective mountains.

The four women enter the stage covered in shawls, singing dramatically with an accordion played by music director Yurief Nieves. As they explain that they'll be offering a "portrait of the true Mexico," the actresses rip off their covers to reveal sexy lingerie, kicking off a peppy dance number resembling moves by U.S. pop star BeyoncAc and choreographed by Talía Loaria.

Sotres and Marisol Gasé remain on stage, detailing Mexico's darker side as if proudly selling éapulco's beaches to a group of prospective tourists. Clips from the genuine "Vive México" campaign commercials flash on the screen behind them.

Mor and Huerta soon take the spotlight, dressed in "china poblana" outfits, a traditional style of dress originally from Puebla that includes a blouse, shawl and long, puffy skirts. The women, however, also portray drunken vagabonds who through their slurred storytelling reveal accounts supporting Mexico's violent reputation, and who later break out into the cumbia-like "quebradita" dance.

In the following vignettes, Sotres and Gasé dress as hyper-macho painters reflecting ironically on public services like health, employment and education; later, the duo and Huerta portray anthropologists who comment on Mexican politicians while reviewing a tacky retro horror film.

Mor explodes into the scene with a neon green "rumbera" outfit for an energetic dance sequence, and, following a brief intermission, returns to the stage as a man hauling his wooden cross up to the bust of a patron saint. With clown-like makeup and plastic puppet arms, Huerta plays a miniature Catholic icon and questions the man's sexuality while attacking him with a dirty vocabulary.

The final scene brings all four women together dressed in gilded and bejeweled Aztec costumes, the ancient characters complaining about modern-day mishaps before breaking out in dance to the sounds of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" classic.

"[Comedy] is a fabulous tool," Sotres said before the show.

"Laughter becomes a vice - you laugh and you like it - only that this laughter is a sharp knife that cuts through to the heart. We're laughing about the misfortunes that are happening, but also at ourselves, because in the end, this is a criticism about our society."

Gasé added that, "Our job here is to make political satire. We address themes that come from the heart and churn our stomachs, but we try to do it in a humoristic way, understanding that humor is cathartic and helps us reflect on situations that matter to us."

"We believe that this 'creative resistance' can undoubtedly change Mexico," she said.

Publívoros to screen 400 commercials in one show

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 18, 2009

Iconic television commercials and jingles can evoke in our minds those nostalgic images that have defined our popular culture. They also provide a glimpse into other worlds, reflecting the interests and desires of distinctly different consumers.

With more than 400 commercials from 30 countries, that's exactly what the Night of Los Publívoros hopes to project this weekend in Mexico City.

Now in its twelfth year, the six-hour program will screen commercials tonight from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Teatro Metropólitan in the city's Centro Histórico. This year's edition will also feature a 1917 silent advertisement featuring U.S. comedian Charlie Chaplin.

"It opens a window to the world through images and sounds," said event organizer Romain Greco. "Many times commercials as a genre have been undervalued, but we believe that in many cases, commercials are works of art. They're mini-movies."

Greco said the name Los Publívoros combines the Spanish words "publicidad" and "carnívoro," or "advertisement" and "carnivore." He estimated that around 3,000 fans of the marathon event, whom he called "ad-eaters," come out to the show each year.

"It's a great nighttime party," he said. "People applaud, whistle and cheer as if it was a concert or a soccer game."

The marathon concept was originally developed by French anthropologist Jean Marie Boursicot around thirty years ago, and the idea soon took flight in theaters around the world.

Los Publívoros began in Mexico in 1997, and today it presents itself as a dose of entertainment packed with social criticisms, reflections on contemporary society, images from the day-to-day and unexpected clips, Greco said. The short videos will screen in four 75-minute blocks, with brief intermissions between each set.

Similar programs will screen in 50 cities around the world, and cities in Russia, Japan, New York and others will show the same collection that will screen in Mexico.

However, Greco explained that, "It's not an event for advertisers, but rather, it is for everyone that likes film, photography, fashion and all these other genres."

He added that the selected commercials focus not only on marketed products, but universal issues such as AIDS, public health and political campaigns as well.

"Commercials talk to us about diversity. Many times we believe that diversity can create conflicts and problems, but it is part of our cultural richness. All of this diversity is shown on the screen by these various sources," he said.

Greco noted that it is particularly exciting for younger vieweres to experience the show.

"It is always interesting for a young person to see a commercial from Africa or Asia and see the priorities of the people there," he said. "Here, we're worried about having the lightest computer; others are worried about having water.

"There is a lot of social discourse over issues like terrorism, abuse, mistreatment of women, etc. It's not only commercials that are funny or sexy - there are more serious themes, too. We believe that commercials tell us much more than just 'Buy my product,' they speak to us about many other things.

"They teach us a little bit about the world we're living in."

Los Publívoros in the next months will also travel to other cities including San Luis Potosí, Irapuato, Puebla, Mérida, Campeche, Aguascalientes, Veracruz and Monterrey.

Interactive play visits Mayan culture

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 17, 2009

In a ritualistic and futuristic interpretation of Mayan society, a theater piece unlike any other is set to combine traditional Mayan customs with an outdoor discotech, sound and light installations and an edible character covered in Mexican treats.

"Pakal 2012 El Retorno" ("Pakal 2012 The Return") opens tonight at 8 p.m. at the Salón Juárez Terrace in the Tlatelolco Cultural Center in Mexico City. Upcoming performances include tonight, Sept. 19 and Oct. 1 and 3 presentations.

"This play is integrated and interrelated - it's a 'complete art,'" Jorge Tamatz Juanes, play director and anthropologist, said from the open-air patio.

"It's an art that synthesizes all other types of art," he said of the science fiction play, which includes live electronic music, light shows, multimedia installations, graffiti and photography, among other aspects.

Tamatz said the play developed after members of the Escuadrón Mutante theater company visited Mayan ruins and decided to create a play combining this ancient civilization with the high-tech contemporary society.

The theater piece begins with the introduction of King Pakal (Cesar Cárdenas), a character based on the Mayan ruler of the same name who governed the Palenque kingdom from 603 to 683 A.D.

In the play, Pakal is a guide, shaman and priest who encounters the four elements of nature - earth, wind, water and fire - along his journey, as well as the God of Fire (Juan Manuel González Camarena), the Red Queen (Ieany Chávez Cuahutencos) and the Uterus Woman (Luna Bizzueto).

A culture clash between the civilizations past and present unfolds when the monarch is suddenly transported to the year 2012 via a hieroglyph-covered temple.

Tamatz said evoking that specific year makes a satirical gesture to those who believe the apocalypse is coming in just three years. The Mayan's "Long Count" calendar, for example, curiously indicates an end to its 5,126-year on Dec. 21, 2012.

Once transported to the future, Pakal comes across the futuristic characters Audioman (Evan Flores), a walking sound installation; Luzman (Fernando Huerta Zamacona), who is covered in lighting; Videoman (Carlos Alcántara Kna), who wears monitors projecting video clips; and Foodman, an edible suit constructed by Orgy Punk and Cesar Huesca Molina that is covered in mole, pasta and various dishes, encouraging audience members to take a bite.

Cárdenas explained Pakal's transition from one world to the next as a complete "psychological shock."

"We take the play beyond the traditional parameters of theater," he said, adding that playgoers will utilize their smell, touch and taste in the nontraditional theater experience.

Tamatz added that while audience members would not be forced to participate, their interaction with the characters and sets means that all four presentations would be distinct and fresh offerings.

He said that the play's ultimate goal was to encourage the audience to reflect deeply on a modern society entrenched in excesses, consumerism and an alienation from the natural elements.

"We hope we can achieve our objective, and that there will be a completely different type of theater in Mexico," he said.

For more info, visit www.my space.com/pakal2012

DJ event to benefit Mexico City orphanage

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 15, 2009

For many festive folks in Mexico, late-night Independence Day celebrations often entail hours of dancing, shouting and tequila-laced patriotism. Add a few high-energy deejays to the nocturnal mix, and a chance to party becomes a chance for charity as well.

As the streets of Mexico City teem with activity tonight, a group of local deejays will turn the traditional La Galería cantina into a thriving club, with 15 percent of the establishment's proceeds set to benefit the Colonia Cove orphanage Hogar Dulce Hogar (Home Sweet Home).

The "Shout!" event follows a similar 2008 benefit that raised around $400 for the orphanage.

"It's not so much about the impact the money will have, it's about the impact the night will have on our friends and the people who come out," said John Kelly, who will play under the moniker DJ Kid Kelly.

"The idea of awareness in any charity event is your key point, just to get people interested and to understand that there are children out on the streets and without homes," he said.

Nearly 109,000 children are living at risk on the streets of Mexico's cities, according to a 2004 study conducted by UNICEF and Mexico's National Agency for Family Development. The study estimates that 3.6 million children under the age of 18 are working, and an estimated 64,500 children in Mexico City alone are not enrolled in school.

Jason Schell, who will spin tonight as DJ Schell, added, "We think that part of living and working in a different country is owning its problems, and if you're going to own its problems, then there is an ethical responsibility to do something to help."

The charity event will feature a traditional Mexican dinner from 8 to 10 p.m. From 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., Kelly, Schell and Ana Origel (DJ Isa) will play eclectic mixes of house, hip-hop, rock and indie music. Event organizers also include Nuria Cortina and Seema Iyer.

Eccentric paintings elevate positive art

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 15, 2009

In a world filled with deep and moody artists, Mexico City painter Juan Rodríguez Lütje offers a simple, refreshing and inspiring proposal of warm colors, eccentric shapes and energetic patterns.

His 12-piece collection of acrylic-on-cloth paintings is on display now as part of his exhibition "Higher Ground" at the Pasagüero gallery, located in the capital city's historical center. The paintings will remain up and on sale through Wednesday, Sept. 30.

The exhibit's title, he said, refers to the 1973 song of the same name by U.S. funk and soul singer Stevie Wonder.

"The song's lyrics talk about how there are good things and bad things in this world," he told The News at the Sept. 9 inauguration.

"It also says that our duty is to always hold on to this 'higher ground,' to perceive everything in a more positive and creative way,"

That same feel-good vibe reveals itself in Rodríguez's paintings, themselves a reflection of the artist's personal, yoga-inspired ideologies of balance, well-being and inner peace.

"I've practiced a lot of yoga, and it leaves you in a joyful mood. It's from there that I paint, from this frame of mind," he said, adding that upbeat music like Wonder's songs inspires him while he works in the studio.

Inside the Pasagüero's concert-gallery area, the paintings hang like bursts of energy on the whitewashed walls. The works are simply titled numbers 1 through 12, and all were all produced during the same months-long period throughout the year.

The first piece in the exhibit is one of Rodriguez's more subtle works, with a gray and green background covered by a spiraling bronze-brown circle almost mirroring the rings on an exposed tree trunk. Opaque ovals and crudely painted lines indicate the shape of a flower and stem, while pastel oblong shapes and strokes float throughout the canvas.

"I used to draw and paint figurative art, so the paintings in this exhibit have to do with that," he said, adding that while his use of shapes is informal and not necessarily intentional, the objects are full of symbolism.

His painting Number 12 is an intense flurry of circles, dots, spirals, rings and ovals that populate the canvas in a busy and confusing order, utilizing virtually every color on the artist's palette. But stare long enough at the shapes and the spotted columns, colorful floor and descending drops at the top reveal themselves as elements in a psychedelic forest.

"I strongly believe that art is a catharsis," Rodríguez said.

"I also believe that it's a good message to send, that despite the fact that many negative things are happening in Mexico and around the world, we must always maintain this elevated mindset because it gives you a different perspective on life."

"Higher Ground" marks the artist's debut in the Pasagüero gallery and his first exhibition since 2005.

Born in 1965 in Mexico City, Rodríguez studied architecture at the Iberoamericana University through 1990. He also studied painting at the "La Esmeralda" National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving in the early 1990s.

'Oveja Negra' herds into theaters

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 11, 2009

"Oveja Negra ("Black Sheep"), an unexpected success that won over critics at international film festivals this year, is set to hit the big screens this weekend across Mexico City theaters.

The Spanish-language film, which premieres tonight, is a subtle comedy, suspenseful drama and a charismatic love story set in a tranquil, rural ranching village in the State of Mexico's south.

In his feature film debut, director and screenwriter Humberto Hinojosa, 27, offers a contemporary story with an equally fresh cast, as the film's four protagonists are played by actors in their first leading roles.

"We had to gain many people's confidence at first," Hinojosa told The News. "But [age] helped me to give the film the energy that it has. It's like a contagiousness of will and desire that spread to all the contributors, and so the film feels very contemporary and new."

Filmed in the town of Malinalco, just south of Mexico City, the movie borrows heavily from Hinojosa's experiences and memories from growing up around such ranching communities.

The movie begins during the night, when an unknown hitchhiker hops into the cab of a sheep-hauling truck. He begins to recount a story, and the imagery soon flips to a sunny, lazy day on a pasture where brothers José (Christian Vázquez) and Kumbia (Rodrigo Corea) lay in the shade.

Both fed up with their directionless jobs of herding sheep and sick of mistreatment from the wealthy ranchers, the brothers start to hatch a vindictive scheme to leave their undesirable pasts behind them. Meanwhile, their boss's son Jerónimo (Iván Arana) develops a plan of his own to frame the brothers and get them off the ranch.

A second rivalry develops between José and Jerónimo when an incredibly coquettish María (Ximena Romo) taunts each character with batted lashes and passionate kisses. Mishaps and ill-fated adventures follow as both boys' attempts to bring each other down become increasingly more complicated. In the end, friendship and loyalty prove to the most important virtues of the film's moral story.

The comedy-drama found unanticipated success in March at the International Film Festival of Guadalajara. The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) chose the film as the festival's opera prima, or best first film by a director, and the public voted "Oveja Negra" the festival's best film.

It was also selected for the 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, the only Spanish-language film out of 14 in the July competition.

Hinojosa said that watching "Oveja Negra" screen for the first time in Guadalajara was the most exciting moment throughout the entire two-year filmmaking process.

"It was exactly when I saw the movie with people and saw their reactions with such good results. I suffered when they did, I laughed when they did; that was the most emotional moment," he said.

The film is also a very personal project, he explained, inspired by his friends, the people in his life and the ranching villages from Hinojosa's childhood.

"Many of these characters are heroes that already exist. I took these characters and I fictionalized them," the director said, who is already working on two upcoming film projects.

"I lov iu" is a romantic comedy following a young deaf man whose lip-reading skills hit a wall when he falls in love with an English-speaking girl. He is also producing "El Último Día ("The Last Day"), a terror and suspense film directed by Pablo Dávila Chapoy, he said.

Hinojosa has previously taken home awards for his short films at the Kinoki Festival, the La Feisal Argentina Festival and the Trieste, Italy Film Festival.

"Oveja Negra," a Tigre Pictures production, is set to premiere tonight at Cinépolis, Cinemex, Cinemark and MMCinemas theaters and will be distributed by Gussi Artecinema throughout the country.

For more details, visit www. ovejanegralapelicula.com

La ImproLucha takes the stage

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 10, 2009

"Uno! Dos! Tres! Cuatro! Cinco! Improoo Luchaaa!" the hysterical crowd shouts, pumping their fists in the air with each count.

Every last wire-framed seat in the Mexico City arena is filled as men, women and wide-eyed children circle around small, square wrestling stage.

They've all come out to see the Thursday night fights - La ImproLucha, that is.

La ImproLucha is a hysterical blend of improvisational sketches and simulated fights set inside the Foro Shakespeare theater in the city's Condesa neighborhood.

Once a week, the event adds a very Mexican twist by placing theatrical comedy in the context of Lucha Libre, the infamous wrestling routine that puts big-muscled men into tiny spandex leggings and sparkly facemasks.

Now just a month into its fourth season, the comedic competition is set to finish with a final fight in mid-December.

"It's kind of cathartic," said program director José Luis Saldaña. "People yell at us, they scream, shout, laugh and literally go crazy."

Saldaña said he and co-creator Omar Medina developed the idea for ImproLucha after learning about the comedic "Catch" format at a 2005 international improvisation festival. The format pairs two groups of actors against each other, with a referee selecting scenarios and determining a winner and loser between the dueling duos.

"We decided to do this, but `a la mexicana,'" he said. The event is carried out under the direction of the theater group Complot/Escena.

The project's first run in 2006 took place at Teatro La Capilla in the Coyoacán neighborhood. The creators added a professional Lucha Libre ring to the mix, and, rather than just parody the set-up, they hired trainers to actually teach the faux-wrestling tactics to the actors.

They then incorporated live music, now offered by the three-piece band Los Sin Cara, a group that adds suspense and comedic relief throughout the 90-minute show.

After the first run, however, the ImproLucha show outgrew the 100-person theater, finding more ample space in the Foro Shakespeare for the second season - a 225-person space that has since sold out nearly every event in the current season.

AT THE SHOW

[Warning: Non-native Spanish speakers might laugh with the audience but not know why, as the actors' language is fast, jumbled and very "chilango"].

This season's ImproLucha roster includes 16 actors - six pairs of two teammates and four referees; most actors are involved in the event's production.

Three teams battle each Thursday, with the final victors returning to compete in the next week's fight. The rotation continues for 16 games until the first semifinal on Nov. 26, ultimately concluding with a final championship game on Dec. 17.

Actual Lucha Libre wrestlers sit in the audience at each game as the invited guests of honor, joining the crowd while donning their trademark headgear.

A recent Thursday evening event started with a packed theater as stagehands toted buckets of 20-peso beer to the crowd. The scrawny referee, El Contador Anónimo (The Anonymous Accountant), played by Juan Carlos García, approached the stage dressed in an excessively nerdy ensemble.

Then began the heckling.

As the charmingly tacky referee attempted to spell out all the event's rules and guidelines, boisterous audience members screamed at him to shut up, get off the stage and other unprintable unpleasantries. Yielding to their not-so-subtle requests, the referee welcomed on stage the first pair of "luchadores," Los Reyes del Swing (The Kings of Swing).

Wearing a skintight, strikingly red dress, actress Maricarmen Núñez descended the theater staircase amidst clouds of smoke and a loud band introduction as Claudio Lafarga followed her down the steps in a sparkly gold top with black pants and suspenders.

Next on stage was the 2007 ImproLucha champion team played by - naturally - co-creators Saldaña and Medina. Staying true to Lucha Libre's cheerful employment of tongue-in-cheek stereotypes, their team Inmolación Talibana (Taliban Immolation) approached the stage in long robes and flowing headscarves before ripping back the fabric to reveal wrapped skirts underneath.

The referee reached into his facemask-adorned bag and removed a slip of paper, revealing the night's first sketch: "abuelita," an affectionate name for little old ladies. Given a choice between comedy and tragedy, the audience opted for the latter, casting their final votes with a flat palm for the Talibana team or a closed fist for the zoot suiters.

"This year, none of the games will repeat themselves," Saldaña said in an earlier interview. "In the past, we had a list of more than a hundred games that were repeated many times. Our intention now is that the actor is in risk the whole time, `risk' meaning the sensation of not knowing where the sketch will go or what is going to happen.

After a flurry of five scenarios, or rounds, at the Shakespeare theater, the Talibana duo was ultimately voted to victory, and the teams broke out into an acrobatic, overdramatic Lucha Libre brawl.

Following an incredibly short intermission, a second team, Cópula Violenta (Violent Copulation), joined the first-round winners in a match. Nearly an hour and multiple sketches later, the effeminate Leonardo Ortizgris and his partner, an androgynous substitute for actress Dione Rubio's character, ceded defeat to the returning champions.

At the end, the audience erupted into applause, both cheering on and badgering the actors in the same screeching breath.

While the on-stage word battles might seem effortless to audience members, in reality the actors are challenged with constantly creating new material and characters to keep the ImproLucha fresh, spontaneous and unpredictable.

"It's more than a challenge, it's our obligation to make sure people who come back always see new things and, year after year, say that they like it even more each time," Saldaña explained.

Another objective, he said, is to attract fans of the theater to Lucha Libre, and to draw wrestling enthusiasts into the theater.

"People here like two things," Saldaña said.

"They've never seen improvisation like this, and they're always going to see new stories told in different ways by different actors."

"This makes people want to return, and they always come back at least two or three times," he said, adding that the comedy routine has had so much success that organizers will be seeking a larger arena for the fifth season.

"The idea is to continue growing, to keep improving `luchísticamente,' theatrically and logistically, so that each time more people attend."

Reviving Argentina

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 8, 2009

Walking past the exhibit's dark basement walls, still images of bloodstained bodies, sobbing mothers and political protestors' determined faces suddenly become very alive, transforming the photographs into a jarring reflection on the so-called "dirty war" in Argentina.

On display now at the Tlatelolco Cultural Center in Mexico City's Coyoacán neighborhood, the 65-piece collection pulls together photographs from various Argentine newspaper archives as part of the project titled, in short, "En negro y blanco" ("In Black and White").

The two-toned presentation starts with 1969 photographs from a civil uprising in Córdoba, Argentina, that was crushed by police repression and later coined the "Cordobazo." The collection ends in 1985 at the "Juicio de las Juntas" ("Trial of the Juntas"), the judicial trial held for members of the de facto military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

The project will also be shown alongside a multimedia installation by Argentine artist Enrique Je<017e>ik, titled "Práctica: 200 cartuchos caliber 12, 78 balas 9 mm" ("Praxis: 200, 12-caliber catridges, and 78, 9 mm bullets").

Although both exhibits were inaugurated on Aug. 31, they will open today to the public due to renovations at the center. The programs will run through Wednesday, Sept. 30.

"'En negro y blanco' allows us to talk about a history that is not in the official books.it collects all this history that is dispersed throughout various photography and documentary archives," Sergio Raúl Arroyo, general director of the Tlatelolco cultural center, said in a late August press conference.

Alejandro Montes de Oca, who works with the Centro de Image (Image Center) in Mexico, added that while many efforts in the past have revisited Argentina's dirty war through artistic and creative expression, this exhibit is one of the few projects that take an unaltered, historical view of the events that occurred during this period.

The project began four years in ago in the Buenos Aires office of the Association of Graphic Reporters of Argentina (ARGRA), when the group began sifting through national newspaper archives and the personal collections of photojournalists.

By 2006, the group had amassed numerous materials that could give testimony to the bitter realities of Argentina's past.

Alejandro Castellanos, director of the Image Center, said the exhibit aimed to create a "dialogue in memory."

"For the photographers, this project has been very important to do after more than 30 years since the beginning [of the dirty war]," he said at the press conference.

"They have worked so that this project can be presented in various cities throughout Latin America, particularly in those that were capitals for Argentine exiles during this period," he said.

"IN BLACK AND WHITE"

The photography exhibit can be graphic, shocking and tragic, but mostly because the images are not fabrications - they're genuine.

A 1974 photo, for example, shows the bullet-riddled bodies of three Revolutionary Army of the People (ERP) soldiers spread across the sidewalk outside a Córdoba police station. Investigators and passersby assess the damage with their backs turned away from the carnage.

In a 1982 image from inside the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, a young man crouches against a wall as a police officer menacingly points an army rifle in the boy's face. Similar confrontations are seen in the periphery as police detain the protestors.

Another photo captures a man digging through common burial sites, part of post-war reconstruction efforts beginning in 1983 to identify the whereabouts or, in many cases, remains of the estimated 30,000 people who were disappeared during the military government's rule.

"En negro y blanco," however, does not set out to be entirely grim and morose. Many of the images speak to empowerment, justice and vindication.

A 1983 image shows a crowd of mothers and daughters standing in the Plaza de Mayo in the pouring rain and holding up posters illustrating the faces of their disappeared family members.

An earlier December 1982 photograph shows political protestors ramming a steel frame into the doors of the government palace as tear gas is thrown around them.

The image's caption explains that at this point in the dirty war, the government had progressively weakened following a June 1982 defeat to Britain in the Falklands War (or "Guerra de Malvinas" in Spanish) and a strong economic downturn.

At the end of the exhibit, a 1985 image captures a scene inside the Trial of the Juntas as an investigator flips through incriminating projector slides before a panel of judges.

Castellanos said that hosting the exhibit near Tlatelolco's Plaza de las Tres Culturas (Plaza of the Three Cultures) was an ideal location for the display, referring to the similarly violent memory of the 1968 government-sponsored attack on student protestors inside the Mexican plaza.

"The main idea here is to relate the collective Argentine memory with Mexico's own memory," he said at the press conference.

Argentine photographer Marcelo Brodsky added that the photography exhibit opens up discussion on taboo topics for both Argentina and Mexico.

"Through this controversial history.Mexico and Argentina can begin to share this memory," he said.

The project aims to teach younger generations from both nations about Argentina's dirty past, he said.

'Agua' exhibit channels 19th century Japanese artist

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 7, 2009

Arctic ice floats gently along the pond. Clouds hang low and thick, masking the mountains behind them. Angry ocean waves curl violently against the wind.

These black-and-white images all form part of Mexican artist Marisol Paredes' photography exhibition "Historias de AguO ("Stories of Water"), on display now at the Mexico City gallery Medellín 174 in Colonia Roma.

The 18-piece collection, part of the international Fotoseptiembre program, will be up through Friday, Sept. 25.

The exhibit also pays homage to Hokusai, a 19th century Japanese painter who is best known for his 1833 woodblock print series "36 Views of Mount Fuji" and whose images capture the majesty of Japan's natural landscape.

"My project seeks to find expression through this artist, his movement, and also the representation of nature as something great and sublime," Paredes said, adding that her ink-on-cotton photographs have contrasts, textures and tones similar to Hokusai's prints. The images are individual impressions and have not been reproduced elsewhere except for this exhibition.

Paredes said she first learned about the Japanese artist as a university student; she later solidified her fascination with Hokusai during a 2006 trip to Japan, where she saw his original works at the Tokyo National Museum.

"He is very subtle in how he uses lines and contrasts in the presentation of movement," she said in an interview before the exhibit's Sept. 3 inauguration.

While her previous photo exhibition captured the details, antiquities and modernity of Japanese architecture, this 2008 reinterpretation of Hokusai's work will be Paredes' first time working with nature as a central theme.

"This exhibit is about water - ice, the sea, clouds, fog, everything that is water, but with a touch of Hokusai's paintings," she said, explaining that the titles of her works are adapted from those of the Japanese painter.

Paredes' photo series "Las 100 vistas del Monte Fuji" ("100 Views of Mount Fuji"), for example, is reminiscent of Hokusai's early 1800s collection.

Through the Medellín gallery's tall turquoise doors and up the narrow staircase, "100 views" is presented as a triptych, a three-frame piece capturing tranquil watery ripples and calm ocean waves.

The nearby triptych "La gran ola de Kanagawau" ("The Great Wave off KanagawO), however, depicts thrashing, ominous waves pulling the water up into forceful curls. The water is a smooth deep black, contrasting with the bright white foam of the waves.

In individual pieces from her series "Mil imágenes del oceáno" ("A Thousand Images of the Ocean"), a photograph illustrates scattered shards of arctic ice floating peacefully above pitch-black water. Another photo captures thick pillars of stalagmites as they grope upward to the top of a cave.

In Paredes' "Ciclo" ("Cycle") series, four separate photographs picture various stages of clouds as they move through the sky. In the first, the clouds create dark and light contrasts as they scatter like pulled bits of tissue. The second photo shows puffy clouds covering the sky like a quilted cotton blanket.

Organizer Carlos Castillo commented in the exhibit's press release that, "Nature, today like yesterday, is again taking its place, invading themes and motifs, demanding renewed attention. Remember that it's there, generous and expectant, waiting for us to return its love with the spell of its silence, its call and the cry of its sea."

Studio helps grow local music scene

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 4, 2009

For many up-and-coming bands in Mexico, taking that first step onto the local music scene can be tricky. Recording tracks, producing sounds and piecing together press kits is costly, and if bands aren't selling discs yet, then how do they pay for all that?

En Petit Comite has asked itself that same question.

For over a year, the Mexico City project has been offering local bands a one-day free pass to its Jamaica studio in Colonia Roma, giving musicians the chance to record songs, shoot videos and snap photos at a professional level, in exchange for legal rights to the finished project.

The results are then uploaded to the project's MySpace page - like the music and photos up now by Los Kitsch - giving groups full exposure to around 15,000 monthly visitors during their one month run.

"This is like a tool to discover and expose new talent and bands," said producer Santiago González from inside the studio's laid-back apartment headquarters.

"It's a very slow [process] for a band to equip themselves with good material that they can present and use to start moving around. It's worth it to try and help these people, because to have great material can help the music scene flow, put out more proposals and create better music," he said.

Video producer Paco Cano said the project's name "En Petit Comite," a French phrase for "small group," reflects the vibe of the day-long sessions.

"With more people, you'll break any kind of intimacy," he said at the studio. "So what we try to do is have a super-reduced team, with three people recording, two cameramen and a photographer."

The idea initially arose in April last year, after the Jamaica production team invited the Mexican rock band Simplifires to record an acoustic session in the studio.

The producers soon approached the MySpace staff about creating a virtual concert hall, and, after wrapping up a session with psychedelic rockers Sour Soul, the En Petit Comite project officially went online that May.

Since then, the project has hosted the once-ímonth recording sessions with artists and bands like Torre Blanca, Los Telecaster, Dirty Karma, Tropikal Forever and Felipe y los Principes del Amor, among many others.

At the studio, a typical project day starts around 10 a.m., with bands loading instruments and equipment into the studio.

The rest of the afternoon strikes a casual balance between jamming and recording tracks, taking a cigarette break on the rooftop patio, grabbing lunch in the cozy kitchen, having a beer in the living room and heading back to the sound-proofed room to work some more.

If creativity is really flowing, Cano said, sometimes sessions can run until two o'clock in the morning, creating a "divine magic" of inspiration.

Once the music, videos and photographs have been captured and materials posted online, En Petit Comite holds the exclusive copyrights for the first month following the studio visit. After that 30-day period, the project and the bands will then share the rights.

While En Petit Comite doesn't poise itself as a public relations team, the project will help bands by hosting weekend showcases, presenting the latest bands to play to the public.

González said oftentimes bands refer their friends to the project or return themselves to record again, this time working with the in-house Tamarindo record label to produce a more complete album.

"On the other hand, we also just want to help develop talent, and if another company or record label takes them, it's great," he said. "The cool thing is that now the scene is flowing so that there can continue to be a market for all these things."

"There's a lot of talent here in the city. Bands are reviving the scene that for several years was practically dead. There are a lot of people with a lot of desire."

Visit En Petit Comite at www.my space.com/enpetitcomite

Photo collection captures the borderland

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Sept. 2, 2009

A Mexican and a U.S. photographer have hit the road together to promote their bilingual, bicultural reflection on U.S.-Mexico border communities, a photography book titled "En la línea/On the Line."

Fernando Meza and Byron Brauchli presented their project last week in Mexico City at the Veracruzano Cultural Center in the Coyoacán neighborhood. Photographs compiled in the book are also on display now through Friday, Sept. 11 at the center's Galería Veracruzana.

"There exists this cultural development at the border that few people know about," Meza said before the presentation. "Our border has been characterized just by violence and immigration...But the border is very big."

The 2008 book is divided between Brauchli's black-and-white images of the border's Western side and Meza's colorful landscapes of empty ranches in Río Bravo, the eastern Mexico pueblo outside Matamoros, Tamaulipas in which the photographer was raised.

écompanying texts are provided by JaviAcr Durán, from the University of Arizona, and Leticia Mora and Vincent Kholer, both from the Veracruzana University. The two universities assisted in editing the compilation.

Brauchli's images are part of his collection titled "Cultural Refractions: Border Life in the No Man's Land," a series that juxtaposes the antique and contemporary by capturing modern-day images with a 19th-century platinum-palladium photography technique.

The photographer said that he had previously thought of the U.S-Mexico border as a place to avoid. As a graduate student in Austin, Texas, he and his Mexican wife often had to cross over to visit her family in Veracruz.

"It was sort of a no man's land that you wanted to skip over," he said. "Then, after we did more and more journeys, it became this intriguing third culture, a country almost, and a collaboration of the two cultures."

His images, taken mostly between 1997 and 1998, capture moments that could have been captured on either side of the border.

"Border Crossing Line" and "Border Taxi," for example, both show crowded parking lots packed with cars in Ciudad Juárez and Nogales, Sonora, respectively.

"Vía y mural" ("Route and Mural") captures an urban painting in Del Río, Texas that depicts women frying tortillas, a man pulling at his accordion and a cowboy on his horse. "GuadalupanO shows the figure of the Mexico's patron saint Guadalupe painted on the concrete pillar of an El Paso, Texas highway overpass.

Meza's color photographs, taken from his "Paisaje de la desolación" ("Landscape of Desolation") collection, form a nostalgic, bittersweet look at empty rural countryside.

Growing up in Río Bravo, Meza said he was surrounded by ranches and family farms. Today, however, the landscape has been replaced by large-scale crops of corporate farms or by the empty, crumbling shells of what used to be.

"A way of life has ended," he said. "The family ranches that existed during the age when I grew up no longer exist."

Demonstrating a similar sentiment in the book, he juxtaposes a 2002 photograph of a thriving ranch with a 2007 image of the same home, this time worn down from abandonment and neglect.

His 1997 photograph "Sombras de la ensoñación" ("Shadows of Reverie") is an inside-looking-out view of a concrete building in ruins, what was formerly a cotton barn. "Se acabó el trabajo" ("The Work is Done") is a 2003 image of a rusty tractor idly sitting on a barren field.

Brauchli said that part of the book's mission was to sensitize readers to the culture issues happening today along the U.S.-Mexico frontier.

"As it taught me, I hope that [the book] makes people more aware of the border, that area between Mexico and America," he said.