Kaleidoscope of public art in Mexico City: actions, images and narratives

Abstract

Mexico has a long-standing tradition of public art. Nowadays, this practice is as alive as ever thanks to artists and art collectives who, despite the diversity of techniques, visual strategies and ends, continue to find in city walls the ideal support to capture – on a large scale and in public spaces— ideas, stories, concepts, claims, complaints and more. Because yes, the walls talk. But what languages do they use? What do they say? What are their visual strategies? Who do they question? What is their durability? What legal framework do they fit into? Thus, by counterpointing the perspectives of different cultural agents – coming from various disciplines and with different aesthetic-political positions –, this article outlines a kaleidoscopic mapping of the visual manifestations that are currently displayed on the walls of the Mexican capital.