Right here.
By the young and talented visual artist Nika Milano.
(Gracias N!)
Filed under Tóxico Projects …
THIS WILL BE TÓXICO’S SUMMER HOME
Yes indeed. Come August and September, Tóxico will take over this lil’ beauty here called Casa del Lago, by the Chapultepec lake, right smack in the middle of Mexico City.
Plans for the space started to unfurl Friday night over wine, and I am every time more enchanted with the idea of working from here for two months, and filling it up with things and ideas.
(For starters, daily breakfasts on the terrace, no?)
(Gracias a Willy K. por la invitación.)
(Y a Andrés por los vinos.)
“THE MAN WHO LIVED IN A SHOE” COMPETING FOR BEST MEXICAN DOC AT THE GUADALAJARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FEST
Yes. News just out. We are soon off to the Guadalajara Film Festival–considered one of the most important showcases for Latin American Films–with our Man and his shoe.
After the break you will find the complete list of selected films.
(I am specially eager to see the new films by Juan Carlos Rulfo and Everardo Gonzalez;Â two of Mexico’s best doc filmmakers, who are also in competition.)
DESCENDING INTO MEXICO CITY No. 009: BERNARDO LOYOLA, AND AN ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING PARK
Yep. Bernard is in town once again. But this time he is not only descending for tacos, but actually back in Mexico for good, after many years of living in NYC.
Which makes me very happy indeed. So as part of my own personal celebration, I am reposting a blog entry I wrote in Feb 2010 about a VBS.tv episode that Bernardo and I did together.
Enjoy.
(Y bienvenido señor!)
+++
Some months ago, I got a call from Bernardo Loyola–senior editor at VBS, (plus DP, occasional producer, also director and now a dear friend who brings gifts in the form of chocolates with truffle oil and sea salt when he comes to visit Mexico City).
He had just read an article of mine that was published in Vice Magazine, which started off describing a certain amusement park in a certain indigenous town:
(“There is a certain amusement park in Alberto Town, in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is run by hñahñu Indians. There, instead of the usual merry-go-round or what not, amusement takes a different turn: one can pretend for a couple of hours to be an illegal immigrant trying to get across the border. You will be chased for 18 kilometers; there will be shots, barbed-wire fences, cactuses, sirens, shouting, running for cover and even a theatrical death or two: all for 25 bucks a head. It is a simulacrum of the “torturous travails of a ‘mojado’ crossing the border, with educational objectivesâ€, the organizers have explained several times. Non withstanding its educational and entertainment value “for the whole family, sometimes people even bring babies, like in real lifeâ€, the amusement park has been criticized by some as so-called training grounds for people who are truly planning to get across the border; by others for treating lightly the terrifying ordeal that real immigrants go through, in search for something a lot more basic than the American dream: just plain old food on the table and a roof over their families heads.
The idea for the theme park—even if it is in central Mexico, far from the real border– was not gratuitous. The town’s number of inhabitants dwindled to a little over two hundred (compared to an average of two thousand in former years) because their population started immigrating to the USA. So a council was formed and they decided upon a strategy: to gather stories of people who have been there and done that, all while reviving an ecological park and guaranteeing steady income for their townsmen so they would no longer feel the need to cross the border; only pretend to everyday. Almost 80 towns-people work there, don their police uniforms or become masked coyotes for the tourists as soon as the sun comes down, so they can imagine what the real thing is like.”)
So, yes, Bernardo had read this, and was calling from New York with a proposal: that we travel together to Alberto and do a 30 minute documentary for VBS.
And so we did. We ran in the dark for a few hours, huddled beneath the bushes,  hopped on ‘Border Patrol’ trucks with wailing sirens, heard stories of real crossings, and all the time our feelings verged madly between enjoying the surreality of it all and quietly pondering the complex social scenario at our northern border–so palpably visible in this small town–, mulling over questions with no easy answers. Bernardo, Rodrigo Teie (who assisted us with an additional camera) and I where in a thoughtful mood on our drive back to Mexico City.
No easy answers, no. But creative ones in Alberto: that, for sure.
Click, click click to see the short VBS documentary.
HOY! LA VIE NOUVELLE
Buena plática, buena pelÃcula, buenos mezcales: no hay mejor forma de pasar un jueves.
Entrada gratuita.
(Labor, Interior13 Cine y Tóxico Cultura invitan)
AHà VIENE YA OTRO GRAN TALLER DE CINE PARA TÓXICO LAB
Oscar Ruiz Navia, talentosÃsimo y multipremiado director de cine estará impartiendo un taller teórico/práctico de 6 dÃas en donde exloraremos métodos de selección/observación de personas que existen en la vida cotidiana y que puedan convertirse en personajes cinematográficos, construyendo un universo que confunda la vida, el sueño y la ficción.
***
Más informes en www.toxicocultura.com/ruiznavia.
(Los talleres de Tóxico se llenan de volada, asi que si les interesa escriban muy pronto)
***
Tóxico Lab es una nueva serie de talleres diseñados especialmente para (y por) una nueva generación de talentosos artistas emergentes.
Agradecemos profundamente la colaboración de la Cineteca Nacional de México, asi como el apoyo de The Lift, el British Council, y el programa de TED Fellows.
THIS IS A TÓXICO CHILD IN THE MAKING
The yellow skeleton of our first feature-length film baby, mmm.
Almost finished, one month to go, news and website soon.
TEMA STAUFFER
Tagged Photograpy, Tema Stauffer, Toxico Lab
JULIANA BEASLEY/TEMA STAUFFER EN TÓXICO LAB!
Estamos muy contentos de tener a Juliana y Tema en la Ciudad de México dando un taller intensivo de foto en el marco de Tóxico Lab, una nueva plataforma de Tóxico creada para (y por) talentosos artistas emergentes.
Si eres artista visual o fotógrafo, haz click aquà para saber más.
A TREMOR IN THE STRUCTURE: LISTA DE SELECCIONADOS PARA EL TALLER DE LAUREL PTAK EN EL MUSEO TAMAYO
Los seleccionados para el taller “A Tremor In the Structure”, de Laurel Ptak son:
- Sonia Carolina
- Irving Cabrera
- Nayeli Cruz
- Jair Cabrera
- Lorena Moreno Vera
- Eunice Adorno
- Nadia Baram
- Juan Carlos López
- Chris Castillo
- Fershow Escárcega
- Adrián Gallindo
- Isaac Contreras
- Yareni Velazquez
- Daren Sanchez
- Marco Muñoz
- Yollotl Gómez
- Javier Sirvent
Dado el número muy limitado de lugares y de tiempo tuvimos que hacer una fuerte selección, muchas gracias a todos por mandar sus portafolios!
Y a los seleccionados: les pedimos a todos que manden un correo a foto@toxicocultura.com confirmando su asistencia, sino para darle el lugar al siguiente en la lista. Al recibir su correo les mandaremos los detalles para mañana; el taller comienza a las 10am en punto.
***
Noticias acerca de los resultados del taller pronto, aquà y en www.iheartphotograph.com
Y más talleres de Tóxico_Lab en Agosto.
***
(Gracias Laurel, gracias Museo Tamayo, gracias Colección/Fundación Jumex, gracias The Lift.)
A TREMOR IN THE STRUCTURE: LAUREL PTAK EN TÓXICO
Revisión de portafolio + plataforma de diálogo
30 de Junio
10am – 6pm
Entrada gratuita
Selección por portafolio
Cupo muy limitado
**
Laurel Ptak es la creadora de I Heart Photograph, uno de los blogs de fotografÃa más visitados del mundo. Por medio de éste Laurel ha dado a conocer a docenas de jóvenes fotógrafos, y de paso se ha vuelto una figura importante entre la nueva generación de curadores independientes–quienes logran moverse con la misma soltura entre territorios virtuales y los espacio de las galerÃas o museos tradicionales. Porque además de haber trabajado con instituciones establecidads tales como el Guggenheim Museum, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Art:21, Aperture Foundation y el Museo Tamayo, ha buscado experimentar continuamente con nuevas estrategias curatoriales y formatos altamente experimentales.
En este taller intensivo Laurel nos platicará sobre los nuevos modos en que se está reconstituyendo el mundo de la fotografÃa hoy en dÃa; sobre las múltiples alternativas que existen para crear plataformas de visibilidad, comunidad e intercambios; y sobre la interesante posibilidad de poner en crisis a las estructuras jerárquicas tradicionales.
Además, habrá una revisión de portafolio en vivo y directo: podrás compartir tu trabajo, ver el trabajo de otros, intercambiar ideas y recibir retroalimentación. Los mejores portafolios serán publicados en iheartphotograph.com y en el blog de Tóxico; también se harán llegar a varios editores de las revistas culturales más importantes de México.
Laurel inaugura Tóxico: Lab, una serie de talleres multidisciplinarios de Tóxico: especialmente creados para (y por) una nueva generación de talentosos artistas emergentes.
**
Interesados en asistir al taller favor de mandar a foto@toxicocultura.com:
- Un PDF con tu portafolio
- Una breve biografÃa
- Un par de renglones que expliquen por qué te interesa asistir.
La plática se dará en inglés, si requieres traducción porfavor menciónalo también en tu correo.
Recomendamos escribir lo antes posible dado el número limitado de lugares.
Fecha lÃmite: Lunes 28 de junio, 6pm
**
I Heart Photograph es un blog sobre fotografÃa contemporánea. Se creó en el 2006 para explorar los bordes del medio y ayudar a darle forma a nuestro entendimiento de la fotografÃa como discurso contemporáneo. El blog es reconocido por mostrar trabajo vanguardista–tanto a nivel visual como a nivel conceptual– creado por jóvenes fotógrafos alrededor del mundo, y es explorado diariamente por miles de personas, entre ellas artistas, curadores, editores y coleccionistas. El sitio también se usa frecuentemente como herramienta educativa en preparatorias y universidades alrededor del mundo.
**
Agradecemos como siempre el generoso patrocinio de la Fundación/Colección Jumex, asà como el apoyo del Museo Tamayo, The Lift y Tomo.
OSCAR RUIZ + MARK POWELL + JOSE LUIS CUEVAS: UNA RADIOGRAFÃA INMERSIVA
“Si mi vista tuviera el poder de penetrar la realidad, verÃa a través de las paredes, que están constituÃdas por moléculas separadas, y a través de los cuerpos, que son torbellinos de átomos(…) No hay más que una unidad. Lo infinitamente grande es idéntico a lo infinitamente pequeño. El espacio es infinito sin ser grande. La duración es eterna sin ser más larga. Estrellas y átomos son lo mismoâ€
-Camille Flammarion, 1903-
Espacio que se vuelve identidad, individuo contra espacio, espacio anulado que crea identidad e intimidad: todas las paradojas empujan hacia dos lados que, mas que anular, crean el momento único del sentido.
Tóxico presenta para Postopolis! DF una radiografÃa inmersiva de la ciudad: comenzando por los retratos aéreos del piloto Oscar Ruiz, siguiendo con las fotos urbanas de Mark Powell y cerrando con pornógrafos de medio tiempo, sectas y burócratas, tres series del fotógrafo José LuÃs Cuevas.
-“¿Alguien reconoce éste lugar?â€- pregunta el piloto. Para los asistentes hay un aire irreconocible y familiar en la inestabilidad de sus geometrÃas. Grandes terrenos verdes contra infinitos puntitos en la ladera de una montaña, geometrÃas en idéntico patrón repitiéndose contra completa irregularidad orgánica, territorios llameantes contra enormes centros de comercio: SerÃa imposible no reconocer a la ciudad en éstos paisajes, más aún; serÃa imposible no ver los rostros de sus habitantes en sus contrastes.
Mark Powell, si de algo sabe, es de paradojas: un hombre fornido muestra sus músculos en el interior de un puesto de flores, un equipo de fútbol acostado en el piso alrededor de un balón, una coqueta niña de preparatoria rodeada de basura. ¿Quién mejor para no dejar desapercibida la curiosa cotidianeidad de la ciudad? Mark Powell, estadounidense ahora residente del D.F, muestra la poética relación entre el individuo y su contexto como solo un extranjero podrÃa notar.
Sin embargo, si uno no es extranjero ¿por qué no hacer exactamente lo contrario? Tomar lo ordinario, descontextualizarlo, vaciarlo hasta su verdadera profundidad y ver qué florece en su interior. José Luis Cuevas y su serie “el hombre promedio†toma a decenas de burócratas, paisaje gris casi amueblado de la ciudad, les elimina su espacio y los deja resplandecer en su personalidad.
Llevándolo aún más lejos ¿ por qué no explorar lo invisible de la ciudad? Cuevas descubre y captura, bajo la máscara del hombre común, sectas apocalÃpticas y estrellas pornográficas.
Casi al final de su presentación, Cuevas muestra un director pornográfico tomando parte en la escena, haciéndolo aún más intensamente que sus actores. Si el fotógrafo repitiera la pregunta del piloto –“¿alguien sabe qué es esto?â€- la respuesta no serÃa problemática : probablemente todos verÃan en ella el paisaje de la ciudad.
-Emilio Bassail, escribiendo desde Postopolis DF!-
*
(Mark Powell y Jose Luis Cuevas han asistido a varios talleres de Tóxico.)
(Emilio es parte de Tóxico In Vitro, una nueva plataforma de colaboraciones multidisciplinarias integrada por talentosos estudiantes)
BUENOS AIRES DIARIES No. 005: MEXICO CITY BOUND
(Image by our dear Pedro Meyer, Mexican photographer.)
At the airport. Buenos Aires comes to a close. And even though the day bombarded me with a good dose of soft yellow nostalgia after a series of goodbyes, now I cannot wait to once again peer out the airplane window and see the endless city below, let the eyes grow large.
I will also get immersed in Mexico City-ness right away: Postopolis! DF soon to begin, come Tuesday.
Mmm.
Nos vemos ahÃ?
TÓXICO AT POSTOPOLIS! MEXICO CITY
Happy to announce that Tóxico will be participating in Postópolis! DF, from the 8-12 June; very excited to see all that international blogging talent flying into DF, it promises to be a great event with an amazing line-up of talks:
*
“Storefront for Art and Architecture, in partnership with Museo Experimental El Eco, Tomo and Domus Magazine, will host the third edition of Postopolis!, a public five-day session of near-continuous conversation curated by some of the worldʼs most prominent bloggers from the fields of architecture, art, urbanism, landscape, music and design. 10 world-renowned bloggers from Los Angeles, New York, Turin, Barcelona, London and elsewhere will convene in one location in Mexico City to host a series of discussions, interviews, slideshows, presentations, films and panels fusing the informal and interdisciplinary approach of the architecture blogosphere with rare face-to-face interaction.
Each day, the 10 participating bloggers will meet in the magnificent courtyard of Museo Experimental El Eco, designed by Matthias Goeritz, to conduct back-to-back interviews of some of Mexico Cityʼs most influential thinkers and practitioners – including architects, city planners, artists and urban theorists but also military historians, filmmakers, photographers, activists and musicians. The talks will be conducted in either Spanish or English, and translations will be available. Each day of talks will end with an after-party hosted by some of Mexico Cityʼs most influential music blogs.
The first Postopolis! took place in the gallery space at Storefront for Art and Architecture during the summer of 2007, and a second edition was held in Los Angeles in 2009.
Participating blogs:
Urban Omnibus (Cassim Shepard)
Intersections (Daniel Hernandez)
DPR Barcelona (Ethel Barona Pohl)
Toxico Cultura (Gabriella Gomez-Mont)
Tomo (Guillermo Ruiz de Teresa)
Mudd Up! (Jace Clayton aka DJ /rupture)
Edible Geography (Nicola Twilley)
We Make Money Not Art (Regine Debatty)
Strangeharvest (Sam Jacob)
Wayne & Wax (Wayne Marshall)
***
More info on speakers and schedules here.
(See you there)
***
Twitter: @postopolis, #postopolis
@toxicocultura
***
Partners
Museo Experimental El Eco, TOMO, Domus Magazine
Organizers
Joseph Grima, Daniel Perlin, CeÌsar Cotta, JoseÌ Esparza
Sponsors
Mexicana, British Embassy, Urbi Vida Residencial, UNAM DifusioÌn Cultural, UNAM Museo Experimental El Eco, Cityexpress, XXLager
*
(Lots of news, soon, right here: deliriously paced blogging will begin come June.)
BUENOS AIRES DIARIES No. 003: EL BUEN POEMA SE COME FRIO
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqxGBXolmw4[/youtube]
I arrived in Buenos Aires two weeks ago. I stay for a little over a month. I have been living close to a train track, 100 meters away from an old metal bridge where  one can lean against the railing with a cup of hot coffee to watch the trains pass by. I have been editing my first feature-length documentary with el dueño de la tijera y el péndulo, la barbarie doméstica, editor descalzo, Felipe Guerrero.
Watch a fragment of his experimental film “ParaÃso” above. Directed by him and music by our friend Sebastián Escofet.
(10 am)
(Back to work)
(Mmm, film)
A (NEW!) TÓXICO PROJECT: AND A TEASER, FOR STARTERS
Tóxico Think-Tank: Project No. 001  is about to be launched.
The team is now being formed; and I am thrilled to be working with a very talented young duo of designers: señor Manuel Bueno and monsieur Santiago da Silva, of Combo, who will be project’s creative leaders.
(They also designed the great infographics you see above, presented a few weeks ago to TED attendees.)
More news coming soon.
TÓXICO, INTERVIEWED
Alexis Okeowo interviewed me about a month ago, for MIL, The Economist’s Cultural Supplement.
It was published yesterday. And you can read the Q&A here.
TÓXICO PROJECT ARRIVES IN CUBA
One morning, hunting the Mexico City flee markets, I came upon a small battered suitcase that caught my eye. When I opened it up I was surprised to find it full of old photographs, negatives, postcards and other personal mementos from the 30s and 40s. There was a whole story to be woven, image by image: I could tell that the original owner was both an amateur photographer and also an amateur physicoculturist; I could easily imagine that this suitcase kept a certain (nameless) young man’s favorite pictures, plus dozens of self-portraits in different stances and under different guises. I was mesmerized by all that was there to be inferred, and also wondered about how such a suitcase ended up in a stranger’s hands. It made me think of the story of The Mexican Suitcase–a suitcase full of negatives of the Spanish war, shot by Capa et al–and also of the suitcases that someone found on the streets of Massachusetts, full of pictures of a ravaged Hiroshima after the war… both of them surprisingly full of important historical contents. And then there was this suitcase, this other Mexican suitcase, also full of images, of a very different nature. The contents are not historical, but it is history nonetheless: a personal history taken, kept, forgotten and lost and then sold. Because yes, I bought it with all it contained. And Tóxico then invited several talented visual artists to reinterpret the materials–or rather be inspired by them, to propose their own.
Today the suitcase flew into Cuba, ready to be shown at the Fototeca, in Habana. Besides, Alinka EcheverÃa–wonderful Mexican photographer, and one of the artists involved–will be working with several talented local photographer’s: the suitcase will leave the island with a new artist-book, created collectively.
And so the suitcase will travel now, and keep on traveling, and it will acquire a will of its own. It will travel with what it contains, both the new and some of the old, making space for both chance and accident, and at every stop a new artist will be added to the list and at every gallery or museum the project will be presented in a different type of installation. And just like before: who knows where it will end up, and in whose hands.
—
Artists: Ramiro Chaves, Mark Powell, Mezli Vega, José Luis Cuevas, Carlos Casas, Maggie Delgado, Santiago da Silva, Carlos Ãlvarez Montero, Alinka EcheverrÃa, Lorena Moreno, Andrés Padilla, Corine Vermeulen, Alfredo Moreno, Omar Gamez, Gabriella Gómez-Mont and the anonymous photographer, the original owner of the suitcase.
–
(Muchas gracias a Alinka EcheverÃa, Lorena Moreno y Maggie Delgado por su ayuda. Y gracias a Nelson–curador de Noviembre fotográfico– por su invitación.)
–
(Soon a website for la Maleta)
A TÓXICO + BLOK PROJECT WINS INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION
In January 2010 Tóxico Cultura and Blok Design launch a new grant: The Blok+Toxico Film Project, created to support young talented filmmakers and visual artists working in Mexico with professional video and audio equipment, free film stock, help with the design of titles, posters etc, plus the possibility of being part of a mentorship program with experienced filmmakers.
And good news starts coming in, even before we have officially started. We just received news from Vanessa Eckstein–the wonderful woman behind the logo and print design, plus our accomplice in this new adventure– that the project’s image won an award at the coming Coupe International Design Competition. It seems the competition is usually quite fierce: last year’s 10 winners include Stefan Sagmeister–one of the world’s most admired designers, a TED speaker and also Tóxico’s first international guest. So needless to say we feel honored and are very happy indeed to be included in this year’s top-ten list.
(More news on this soon, and a bilingual website too.)
(Tantas felicidades Vanessa y Paty)
BAJITO Y SUAVECITO
(Salvador ‘Chavo’ Figueroa with his radical hopper: a ‘83 Cutlass Supreme, modified so it can hop 80 inches in the air.)
.
(Jaqueline, Alejandro, Guisela, Alejandro Jr, Jocelyn Villasenor and their ‘82 Cadillac Coupe De Ville.)
.
(Clockwise: Gilberto ‘Potente’, Gilberto Jr, Maria, Alondra Diaz and their ‘48 Chevrolet Fleetline. Rick with his ‘93 Fleetwood Cadillac. Francisco, Checo and Angel Vallejo with ‘El Cotorro’ (the Parrot). Edgar ‘Cholo’ Becerra with his ‘90 Lincoln Town Car.)
***
“Agressive Levelz” and “Good Times” are the names of two automobile clubs that get together in a parking lot near the house of Corine Vermeulen, in Detroit. Lowriders are cars that have been adapted with an hydraulic system that lets them ride much closer fto (or much further from) the ground; lots of time and mechanical work goes into these cars, and then a whole world is created around them. (The Lowrider tradition started within the Chicano culture of L.A., during the 40s.)
***
Photos by Corine Vermeulen, Dutch artist based in Detroit, and frequent Tóxico partner in crime.
(This series will be included in “La (otra) maleta Mexicana”, a new collective and itinerant Tóxico Art Project that will start its journey in Mexico City and then travel to Cuba and New York.)
LEFTOVERS FROM HIROSHIMA INSIDE A BATTERED SUITCASE
“One rainy night eight years ago, in Watertown, Massachusetts, a man was taking his dog for a walk. On the curb, in front of a neighbor’s house, he spotted a pile of trash: old mattresses, cardboard boxes, a few broken lamps. Amidst the garbage he caught sight of a battered suitcase. He bent down, turned the case on its side and popped the clasps.
He was surprised to discover that the suitcase was full of black-and-white photographs. He was even more astonished by their subject matter: devastated buildings, twisted girders, broken bridges — snapshots from an annihilated city. He quickly closed the case and made his way back home.
At the kitchen table, he looked through the photographs again and confirmed what he had suspected. He was looking at something he had never seen before: the effects of the first use of the Atomic bomb. The man was looking at Hiroshima.”
***
This essay was originally published on Design Observer in November, 2008. It is republished here to commemorate the 64th anniversary of Hiroshima, and with a new slideshow of 100 photographs courtesy of the International Center of Photography. See more images and read the full essay here.
***
(Tóxico also found a small battered suitcase, full of old photographs, negatives, postcards and other images, at a flee market in Mexico City a couple of months ago. The contents are not historical, but it is history nonetheless, a personal history taken, kept, forgotten and lost and then sold. We bought it with all it contained. We then invited 15 talented photographers to reinterpret the personal materials–or rather be inspired by them, to propose their own. The suitcase will be presented at the Feria Internacional del libro de artista, in FotoSeptiembre–a bienal-type festival, based in Mexico City– in a couple of weeks. More news here soon.)
JULIANA BEASLEY
Our next Tóxico Lab international guest!
Tóxico Lab is a new series of workshops created for (and by) talented emerging artists.
TÓXICO AT TED!
.
It is official!
Says the TED press release:
TED CONFERENCES ANNOUNCES 25 TED FELLOWS FOR TEDGLOBAL IN OXFORD, UK
New program brings outstanding world-changing leaders to participate in TED Community
Organizers of the TED Conference introduced today the first group of TED Fellows to participate in its new international conference, TEDGlobal. Twenty-five individuals from around the world have been invited to participate in the TED community this year by attending TEDGlobal 2009, to be held in Oxford, UK, July 21-24… In addition to participating as full members of the TEDGlobal Conference audience, each TED Fellow will participate in a two-day pre-conference where they will receive world-class communication training, deliver a short TEDTalk, and collaborate with their peers, among other benefits…
The TED Fellows program helps world-changing innovators from around the globe become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities. Fellows are drawn from many disciplines that reflect the diversity of TED’s members: technology, entertainment, design, the sciences, the humanities, the arts, NGOs, business and more.
.
And, well, among these 25 fortunate people chosen as TED Fellows is me, ajá, very excited. A profound thank you to TED, a project I have loved and followed since I heard about it about four years back, from our first-ever international guest, Stefan Sagmeister. Mmm. What a nice closing of circles. And an opening of new ones too, let’s hope. Let’s make sure.
And the list of 25 fellows after the break.
TÓXICO EN EL GIMNASIO
A petición de nuestro querido Jose Luis Cuevas estaré dando un taller de fotografÃa y diseño editorial en el Gimnasio de arte y cultura, en la Roma.
Empieza el 20 de abril, y ya casi está lleno el grupo.
Más informes en www.gimnasiodearte.com
(Nos vemos por ahÃ)
CONFERENCIA HOY DE CHRISTOPHER DOYLE!
Tóxico Cultura Presenta:
*
DOYLEÂ XÂ DOYLE
Lunes 6 de abril
Cine Lido
8pm
Cupo Limitado
Entrada Gratuita
Lleguen temprano
Tamaulipas #202, Col. Condesa
*
En colaboración con Interior 13 Cine.
*
(Además de la conferencia magistral del reconocido director de fotografÃa, durante un mes se proyectarán todos los lunes en Cine Lido pelÃculas de Christopher Doyle, escogidas por Christopher Doyle)
*
Muchas gracias a La Fundación/Colección Jumex, Max Cruz, Sandra Gómez, Hotel Condesa DF, Gabriel Sabido, Ernesto Miranda, Enrique Covarrubias, Maricarmen Guajardo, Mauri Katz, Jorge Orozco, Ramiro Cháves, Victor y Ricardo Sotomayor.
TEASER No. 003
(Próximamente en la gran Ciudad de México.)
THIS IS 7 YEARS AGO
These rolls of film were shot by me in 2001, during a six-month trip around the world. I have kept them in a small carton box for more than seven years. The seven-year mark is no coincidence: it is said that it takes precisely that long for a body to completely regenerate. And so, in fact, not a single cell of the now-me was part of the then-me: nor, hence, part of the original experience. (“J’ est une autre.”)
I never forgot that the films were there in their carton box. But nowadays, hard as I try, I find it difficult to remember even one of the actual photographs I might have taken back then. The images themselves–locked up in the undeveloped film–have purposefully been left to weather, time, chance: a process probably more faithful to what happens with the moments themselves; to the memories locked up in our (sometimes humid, sometimes dusty) brain.
So. To go. To click. To age. To fade. To wait. And wait. And wait, and wait until seven years is finally past: yesterday I dropped off the first four films to be developed.
We shall see.
Or not.
(Maybe a double ghost of an almost remembering, like the dream of an I once was.)
TÓXICO WORKSHOP EN MONTERREY
Lo (im)posible de la curadurÃa experimental
Imparte: Gabriella Gómez-Mont
Sala 3, Centro de las Artes, Monterrey
3 sesiones, 8, 9 y 10 de diciembre.
De 18:00 a 22:00 horas.
Dirigido a  artistas, fotógrafos, diseñadores, curadores y estudiantes.
HOY! PLÃTICA DE TÓXICO
Â
Â
Â
Â
Â
Â
Â
Tóxico en Container y 17, Instituto de Estudios CrÃticos
Plática sobre nuestros proyectos y las cositas que nos mueven
Jueves 27 de noviembre. 8 pm
Colima no. 166 esquina con Orizaba, Colonia Roma
t. 5207 51 52
Â
Â
Â
EXPO DE TALLER TÓXICO EN EL MUSEO DE LA CIUDAD DE MEXICO
AnatomÃa de la creatividad. Disección de un taller
Una exposición a partir de un taller de Andrés Reymondes (Fabrica) y Erik Ravelo (Colors Magazine)
25 jóvenes diseñadores, fotógrafos, artistas y cineastas de 25 años o menos fueron escogidos por portafolio para ser parte del taller impartido por Ravelo y Reymondes. Tuvieron cuatro dÃas en total para escuchar, conversar y luego crear una pieza en base a ciertos parámetros esbozados por los invitados internacionales.
La exposición muestra los resultados de este intenso ejercicio mental.
Trabajo de Alfredo Moreno, Irving Cabrera, Jair Cabrera, Arlen Hernandez Lombera, Diego Cohen, Lina Caballero, Juan Pablo Romo, Lorena Moreno Vera, Gerardo Gascón, Juan Carlos López, Elizabeth L. Treviño, Iván Löwenberg Sainz. Janeth Alcyone, José De Jesús Castro, Giovanni Cervantes, Manuel Bueno, Olga Olivares, Juan Pablo Villegas, Martha Ãlvarez, Maru Calva, Matteo Salas, Mercedes Nasta, Santiago Da Silva, Lex Freeman.
Gracias al apoyo de Rodrigo Teie, Maggie Delgado, Leslie San Vincente y todo el equipo del Museo de la Ciudad de México.
Gracias también a nuestros patrocinadores: Colección/Fundación Jumex, Instituto Italiano de Cultura, Dylema, Suena Tremendo, FineArt y Omelette de Héctor Galván.
Museo de la Ciudad de México
25 de noviembre. 8pm
Pino Suarez no. 30, Centro Histórico
ERIK RAVELO
Erik es el director creativo de la querida Colors Magazine. Esta imagen es parte de una serie de su trabajo personal.
Y ahorita el Tóxi-team está preparándolo todo (bienvenidas, conferencias, exposiciones, fiestas, talleres, revisiones, tacos, tequilas, mezcales) para su llegada a México; llega el domingo junto con Andrés Reymondes (director del departamento multidisciplinario de Fabrica).
Más info de los eventos intoxicantes aquà merito.
Ya pronto, muy pronto, tan pronto. En una semana empieza el circo. Esperamos verlos por allá.
ÚLTIMO DÃA!
para la entrega de portafolios para el Tóxico Workshop de Ravelo (Fabrica) y Reymondes (Colors Magazine).
Click aquà para más información.
COUGHS AND SNEEZES (1945)
How To Be Eccentric: The Films of Richard Massingham
“An unusual combination of comedy, social history, and surrealism, this British Film Institute collection of films consists of 15 archival shorts directed by and featuring the man many consider to be one of Britain’s best-kept cinematic secrets: Richard Massingham. Throughout the 1940s, Massingham appeared in a series of comic short films that instructed U.K. citizens on everything from how to cross roads to sneeze into a handkerchief to conserve water during wartime by taking shallow baths. In addition to his public-service themed shorts, this collection also includes cinema advertisements and training films featuring Massingham.”
(Richard Massingham trained for a medical career but ended up making these quirky little films.)
ITS A MAD MAD MAD WORLD, PART II.
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”
-Jack Kerouac-