Foto: Courtesy of Azul Enzué DuránThe News
April 14, 2010
Jorge Alba presses his palms to the dirty concrete surface and smoothes the tape adhered to his colorful photograph collage. Satisfied that the montage will stick, he steps aside as a swarm of outstretched arms approaches the wall with tape-covered snapshots, grainy printouts and pieces of personal artwork.
Half an hour later, the chipped white paint of a parking lot wall has transformed into an open-air art gallery surrounded by the heaving traffic and sour smells of Mexico City’s streets.
Wallpeople has made its mark.
The collaborative art project struck the city’s Roma neighborhood last Saturday as part of an international movement that encourages residents to get outside and revamp public spaces with acts of creativity.
Mexico City became the final urban center to join the Wallpeople project, which has 10 other bases in Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Seville, Lisbon, Rome, Nicosia, Budapest and Istanbul.
According to organizers, the group’s concept is to rescue the artistic spirit of mega cities, support physical works of art in a digital world, and give residents a chance to showcase their lives in a public space.
“Photographic exhibitions have always been indoor activities. Now is the time they come out to the street and convert walls into improvised and open-air museums where everyone can exhibit and observe the works of others,” they said on their Web site.
Mexico coordinator Fernando Figueros, 28, said the event called for photographs and posters in particular to demonstrate how artistic expressions other than graffiti and aerosol art can be exhibited on city walls. He noted that an outdoor group collage was an active alternative to passively posting images on file-sharing sites like Facebook and Flickr.
“People today are always so isolated by new technologies. The idea here is to get people out of their homes to retake the streets to make it a place where they can participate in collective activities,” said Figueros, whose friend, Pablo Quijano, developed the idea for Wallpeople in Barcelona last year.
“We hope that Mexico becomes more participatory, and that Mexicans become more involved in questions of art, collaboration and of going out on the streets. Our goals are the people be less sedentary and be more active, and we hope that (Wallpeople) can be a great start for many activities to come,” he said during a pause from organizing participants and soothing a policeman’s qualms about the growing crowd.
The coordinator said he expected around 200 children, teens and adults to plaster their contributions to the wall along the southern leg of Insurgentes Avenue. Participants on Saturday crowded onto the narrow sidewalk during the designated half-hour period for posting personal photos and posters. The massive collage remained up for two more hours before organizers peeled off the mural and restored the wall to its original gritty façade.
Alba, 35, said he had come out simply to be part of the massive public event.
“Here is a situation where you can establish yourself as a citizen and express yourself in a
cultural way,” he said.
He added that he selected images of his twin brother, his wife and his niece for his photomontage because, “The family signifies many things. It means support, understanding, friendship and companionship, even in the bad times. It’s a refuge.”
Ariana Torres, 23, passed around a communal roll of masking tape as she stood off to the side with a group of friends and waited for the call to hang up photos. She said she had printed off a headshot of herself so that passersby would know her face.
“I’m really interested in seeing everyone else’s photos. I like to see what other people are thinking and to see what’s inside their heads,” she said. “This mural is letting people know that we are interested in other things besides soccer, lucha libre (wrestling) and soap operas. It shows that in Mexico we are more than just these things.”
She said that she hoped Mexico’s participation in an international project would help shine a more positive light on her country across the world.
“I hope people can get to know us better and see that we’re all the same,” she said before scurrying toward an open space on the parking lot wall.
For more details on Wallpeople, visit www.wallpeople.org.
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