Centro Redux +

After long hiatus due to an immense demand from the office, I have returned, albiet briefly. I will sum up these pictures, as I am sure there is generally more interest in them than in the content or composition of these glyphs. So I showed my new housemate, Mr. Benja, the magical center previously commented on in the pages below....

Our first stop was the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which I was lucky enough to get inside this time...
and was it a treat. The beaux arts facade belies the marvelous Art Deco/Ne0-Mexica interior....and while I knew there were Rivera murales inside, I didn't realize their scope or the diversity of artists represented...for instance the Sequiros nude in agnoy below right.

Being early Deciembre, the Zocalo was in full chirstmas spirit, even if the weather was not.

And then sometimes one is reminded, particularly in the less wealthy areas, just how many people call this valley home.

This time I made it into el Palacio Nacional, which is an archetypal example of how Mexican architects are interested in the spirt of symmetry if not necessarily the reality of such. Likewise with straight perspective lines. Its the ghosts of the mexicas buried beneath lake Tezcoco taking revenge on the classical influence of western architecture. Take that Alberti!

Like wise the courtyard, which is ringed by Rivera murals depicting the life of Mexico City before, during and after the Spanish came to crash the party.

And while the US portends to it's vehement seperation of church and state, in Mexico one can find a church inside the traditional home of both the executive and legislative branch. That altar must be rather weighty...
And since this was a day of repetition, I found my way back up in the Torre Latino, which afforded as excellent a view of the city as ever, being centrally located in a valley.

It is also an excellent place to observe the choke hold the automobile has here. In cases like that below, I know from personal experience you do much better on foot.

Pecha Kucka DF 08

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to get an invitation to this half of the year's DF installment of Pecha Kucha. I now know the misfortune of missing last years New York episode because what I saw was quite encouraging and more than a little fun. I say saw because while I heard much I simply could not follow but a few words here or there. Nevertheless, I understood, more or less, I believe, the gist of each of the presentations. Such is the power of images. Pecha Kucka participants are artists of a variety of media (in this case, architects, actors, artists, musicians) who have 20 slides and 20 (or perhaps 10) minutes to present something of their work. 20 slides can certainly make an argument where language is a barrier. The only piece I understood in full was the sound performance by one artists where the only words were the ones I (and I'd imagine most people in the audience) didn't understand to begin with - Pecha Kucha. Utilizing silverware, ripping paper, ceiling tiles, and a cell phone chronometro, this generously hairy dude made quite a show of simple sounds and rhythms while conciously ensuring the lights of the room were half on so the audience was quite aware of itself at the same time. Some of the other pieces were more conventional (especially the architects, who always seem to have the same kind of less than confident self-serving lecture style) and some were rather disappointing (the actress who presented more or less pictures of herself and her friends and not a single peice of video - her supposedly preferred medium). The disappointments only further illustrate that there are far more people in this world who want to be artists than who can actually make a case to being such.
Overall, laughter resounded, which I could only partially share in because I simply do not understand. Really, it was not even until the first presentation started that I even remembered all these presentations would be in a foreign tongue, so accustomed am I to attending lectures by foreigners with proficient English. Humor, if for no other reason, is cause enough to apply myself to this language issue. Frankly, I want to get as many jokes as I can, and they really resound in the office here (as opposed to the library-like stillness which sometimes envelopes the one back north).
Well, I'd recommend Pecha Kucha here or elsewhere to anyone who encourages the struggling arts and a good time with all those wannabes (which is really every one of them until somebody makes a breakthrough). Hasta Luego mis amigos.