The first version of this exhibition curated by Lowery Sims and Ana Elena Mallet, was presented in September 2017, in the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, California as part of the Getty-sponsored initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA event. In February 2018, another interpretation was displayed in the Albuquerque Art Museum and also in 516 Arts, an independent art museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. For lille3000 and the Eldorado event, a new interpretation was created featuring new materials and taking into account new policies and conditions concerning the border between Mexico and the United States and the idea that it is not a static site but one which is in constant flux.

The exhibition presents the work of contemporary artists who explore the border as a physical reality, as a theme and subject in its own right as well as a vehicle for envisaging solutions. The inclusion of a variety of different disciplines such as drawing, architecture, sculpture, painting and photography reflects the manner in which both designers and artists constantly criss-cross the margins of cultural disciplines. Through artistic output and art per se, these artists are seeking to show, understand and reconcile the rupture caused by borders.

The US-Mexico border spans almost 2,000 miles, stretching from the Pacific Ocean in California and encompassing Baja California, the Gulf of Mexico, Texas and Tamaulipas. Historically the boundary between the two countries was marked by metal or stone monuments. Crossing the border between Mexico and the United States without authorisation was made illegal in the 1920s due to migration policies based on racial exclusion. Today, the line between the two countries consists of man-made fences, mountains, deserts and the breathtaking Río Grande. The administration of President Donald Trump and his form of communication in the media when speaking in public have given a negative impression of the border, turning it into a media issue, an ethereal and ghostly place inhabited by faceless individuals without an identity or history.

As physical spaces, borders create dual experiences for the people living between two existential spaces. Separating families and displacing them, forcing them to envisage a reconciliation beyond political limits and to identify new possibilities for coexistence driven by creative thinking. This exhibition displays the wide scope of design thinking in which different projects combine aesthetic values and cultural creativity, with a social compromise aimed at a divided and diverse population seeking to have a significant impact on the future.

Artists : Pilar Agüero Esparza, Tanya Aguiñiga, Haydee Alonso, Alejandra Anton Honorato, Judith Baca, Guillermo Bert, Elvira Bessudo, Raquel Bessudo, Margarita Cabrera, Cristina Celis, Julio Cesar Morales, Tricia Creasson-Valencia, Co•gnate Collective, Einar de la Torre et Jamex de la Torre, Jorge Diego Etienne, Hector Dionicio Mendoza, Alfredo Durante, Adrian Esparza, Andrés Fonseca, Guillermo Galindo, Rupert Garcia, Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, La metropolitana, Lorena Lazard, Andrés Lhima, Pablo López Luz, Viviana Paredes, G.T. Pellizzi, Ray Smith, Marcos Ramirez ERRE, Betsabeé Romero, Zinna Rudman, Mauricio Saenz, Rael San Fratello, Eduardo Sarabia, Agnes Seebass.

Curators : Ana Elena Mallet and Lowery Stokes Sims.

Guided tours:

SAT & SUN: 04:00PM and 06:00PM

FREE

Registration on site the same day 15 min before the visit