After walking under the inclement sun of Mexico City, entering the Heat exhibition is paradoxically refreshing. In this culturally cultural activity it's hard to choose what to recommend, but it's a LagoAlgo has it all: lake view, trees, tasty food, interesting and free exhibitions (!), shade and of course, clean bathrooms. Since 2022, the restaurant on the lake has been transformed into LagoAlgo, a cultural proposal that combines gastronomy with an exhibition space and a dynamic public program. The building is an architectural icon of 1960s Mexican modernism designed by Alfonso Ramírez Ponce. Through its huge, asymmetrical windows, the Lago Mayor de Chapultepec can be appreciated in comfort.
Chapter V: Heat', the current exhibition, revolves around combustion and its implications, whether ecological, social or political. It is made up of four exhibitions with very different proposals but which have explosions in common. In the words of Jérôme Sans, LagoAlgo's creative director, "Each exhibition in this chapter echoes one of the four main types of combustion: slow, fast, spontaneous and explosive."
The first thing you see upon entering are the illustrations of the burlesque character Fatebe by artist Ebecho Muslimova (Russia, 1984). Her presence sweeps the walls as if they could barely contain her.
The room 'Topologías de la experiencia...Streams' by Ana Montiel (Spain, 1981), is subtle, colorful and silent. Paintings painted with aerosol drops of color invite us to reflect on perception. The artist subtitles this exhibition as "a pilgrimage through the river of being". Meditations in soft colors full of lightness.
The main room is dedicated to the work of Julian Charrière (Switzerland, 1987). It feels like entering another world. The sound is enveloping, the light is dim, there are huge rocks with obsidian and screens with contrasting and hypnotic images. One screen shows a fountain on fire. On the other, an aerial landscape of imploding fireworks. In the back, there is a kind of ritual chamber moving in stroboscopic motion and other enigmatic sculptures. "Earth listens when you speak" explores the excessive exploitation of natural resources and the relationship between our species and stratified materials such as coal or oil that are used as fuels.
Finally, 'Artists Against the Bomb' is a project organized by artist Pedro Reyes in collaboration with ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons). It brings together hundreds of posters demanding universal nuclear disarmament. Some are historical, others commissioned. There is work by Guerrilla Girls, Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot, Isamu Noguchi, Juan O'Gorman, Enrique Jezik, Yoshua Okón, among many more artists.
Hours to visit the exhibition are Wednesday through Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm at LagoAlgo in the II Section of the Chapultepec Forest. It will be open until July 2024. Admission is free.
