SOMA Summer 2016
July 4 – August 25, 2016
Archive Fever, Jacques Derrida’s book on the power and politics of the archive, describes a perpetual tension between the will to secure documents that inscribe the past and the desire to share or disseminate them, even at the risk of loss. For the French philosopher, the archive is never a question of the past but a possibility of the future. During SOMA Summer 2016, we will focus on the use and production of documents in contemporary art, as way to expand the discussion of the archive that has been seminal in art practices for more than a decade. Along with scheduled lectures and seminars related to this topic, we will visit a number of important archives in Mexico City that will help us shape an image of the artistic scene in Latin America.
WEEK 01 — July 04 to July 07
Monday July 4 // 5 - 9 pm
Introduction, part 1: Participants will give 5-minute presentations about their work. Group discussion will address the social, political, and aesthetic implications raised by each piece. Local curators will be invited to attend these presentations.
Tuesday July 5 // 5 - 9 pm
Introduction, part 2: Participants will give 5-minute presentations about their work. Group discussion will address the social, political, and aesthetic implications raised by each piece. Local curators will be invited to attend these presentations.
Wednesday July 6 // 4 - 7 pm
Miércoles de SOMA: Ricardo Dominguez and Amy Sara Carroll
Thursday July 7 // 10 am - 7 pm
Visit to the studio of: Yoshua Okón
Individual critiques with: Eduardo Abaroa, Ricardo Dominguez, Nate Harrison, Carla Herrera-Prats, Yoshua Okón, Amy Sarah Carroll, Joaquín Segura, and Pablo Vargas-Lugo
WEEK 02 — July 11 to July 14
Monday July 11 // 4 – 7 pm
3 hour Seminar with Carla Herrera-Prats
The close readings of texts by Allan Sekula, Benjamin Buchloh and Douglas Crimp will facilitate our understanding the difference between the use of the archive for art production and the production of the archive as an artistic practice. Located in photography, this seminar is open to a wider range of artistic representation.
Tuesday July 12 // 4 – 7 pm
3 hour Seminar with Mónica Amieva
The session will reflect on the uses and abuses of archives in contemporary art practice, focusing on the narrative dimension of documents and the ways of activating their critical potential not only in relation to history but to the present.
Wednesday July 13 // 8 – 11 pm
MUAC visit with Mónica Mayer
Group critique with: Edgar Alejandro Hernández
Miércoles de SOMA: Lecture by Itala Schmelz
Thursday July 14 // 10 am – 7 pm
Visit to the studio of: Lorena Wolffer
Individual critiques with: Mónica Amieva, Carla Herrera-Prats, Angel Nevarez, Daniela Pérez, Valerie Tevere and Lorena Wolffer
WEEK 03 — July 18 to July 21
Monday July 18 – Wednesday July 21 // 4 – 7 pm
Off sideDF: 9-hour site-specific workshop with Eduardo Abaroa
This workshop will take place in non-academic locations around Mexico City. By getting to know our surroundings and their history, we will reflect and discuss concepts related to site-specificity and the possibilities of art to comment on cultural, political, social and geographical situations.
Wednesday July 20 // 8 – 11 pm
Miércoles de SOMA: Lecture by Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere
Thursday July 21 // 10 am – 7 pm
Studio visit: Mario García Torres
Individual critiques with: Virginia Colwell, Tatiana Cuevas, Carla Herrera-Prats, Graciela Kasep, Esteban King Alvarez, Bárbara Perea, Mono Schwarz-Kogelnik and Pablo Vargas-Lugo
WEEK 04 — July 25 to July 28
Monday July 25 – Wednesday July 27 // 4 – 7 pm
9 hour Seminar with Fabiola Iza
This seminar addresses notions of performativity in regards to the archive, specifically, archives under exhibition practice. Through a series of case studies, belonging to the fields of art, sociology, and cultural theory, we will look for strategies and methodologies that may inspire us to perform documents differently and, therefore, avoid the reiteration of hegemonic models of history.
Wednesday July 27 // 8 – 11 pm
Group critique with: Edgar Alejandro Hernández
Miércoles de SOMA: Lecture by Nate Harrison
Thursday July 28 // 10 am – 7 pm
Visit to the studio of: Iñaki Bonillas
Individual critiques with: Eduardo Abaroa, Magalí Arriola, Nate Harrison, Carla Herrera-Prats, Fabiola Iza, Yoshua Okón, Joaquín Segura
WEEK 05 — August 1 to August 4
Monday August 1 // 10:00 am - 7:00 pm
Visit the performance archives of: X-Teresa Arte Actual with curator Sofía Carrillo and Centro de la Imagen / Antonio Reynoso
Tuesday August 2 // 10:00 am - 7:00 pm
Visit the anarchist archives of: the Flores-Magón brothers at El Hijo del Ahuizote with Director Diego Flores-Magón
Visit to the exhibition: Rastros y Vestigios with curator Magnolia de la Garza at San Ildefonso Museum
Wednesday August 3 // 10:00 am - 10:00 pm
Visit the art archives of: Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo with Curator Sol Henaro
Miércoles de SOMA: Lecture by Susana Vargas
Thursday August 4 // 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Visit to the studio of: Virginia Colwell
Visit the Juan José Gurrola archive at: House of Gaga with Curator Mauricio Marcín Álvarez
Visit to Tlatelolco archives with Curator Julio García Murillo
WEEK 06 — August 8 to August 11
Monday August 8 – Wednesday 11 // 4 – 7 pm
9 hour Seminar with Irmgard Emmelhainz
Tuesday August 9 // 7:30 pm
Special Session with Camell Colective
Wednesday August 10 // 8 – 11 pm
Group critique with: Edgar Alejandro Hernández
Miércoles de SOMA: lecture by Giacomo Castagnola
Thursday August 11 // 1 pm – 7 pm
Individual critiques with: Eduardo Abaroa, Giacomo Castagnola, Helena Chávez Mac Gregor, Magnolia De la Garza, Irving Dominguez, Irmgard Emmelhainz, Nate Harrison, Carla Herrera-Prats, Víctor Palacios Armendáriz, Yoshua Okón, Paola Santoscoy, Joaquín Segura, Pablo Vargas-Lugo
Friday August 12 // 10am
Visit to Tepito with Alfonso Hernández
WEEK 07 — August 15 to August 18
Monday August 15 // 4 – 7 pm
Special session with: Dee Williams
Tuesday August 16 // 4 – 7 pm
Special session with: João Enxuto and Erica Love
The art museum is now many years into the process of retrofitting collections as “flexible memory machines” to meet the perceived demands of digital and networked culture. Can this transition be cleanly mapped as the migration of data from archive to database? How have recent technologies and the increasing dominance of contemporary art discourse reshaped the function of collecting institutions? And lastly, how have the business models of digital platforms produced new challenges for institutions interfacing with constituent publics. We will address these questions with an exploration of our recent research, along with the work of others.
Wednesday August 17 // 4 – 7 pm and 8 pm
Group critique with: Edgar Alejandro Hernández
Miércoles de SOMA: Lecture by Dee Williams
Thursday August 18 // 10 am – 7 pm
Visit to the studio of: Alex Dorfsman
Individual critiques with: João Enxuto, Carla Herrera-Prats, Alejandra Labastida, Erica Love, Susana Vargas, Dee Williams
Friday August 19 // 11 - 1 pm
Visit to El Chopo
WEEK 08 — August 22 to August 25
Monday August 22 - Tuesday August 23
Preparation for final critique
Wednesday August 24 // 10 am – 11 pm
Final critique with: Eduardo Abaroa, Nate Harrison, Edgar Hernández, Carla Herrera-Prats, Yoshua Okón, Joaquín Segura, and Pablo Vargas-Lugo
Miércoles de SOMA: D.U.M.P.
Thursday August 25 // 8 – 11 pm
Closing session: Reconsideration
Camilo Barboza
Michael Barraco
Elena Bellatoni
Elisa Bergel Melo
Catarina Bota Leal
Tanya Brodosky
Chloe Courtney
Catherine Czacki
Andrew Davis
Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos
Deanna Erdmann
Mikey Estes
Ashley Fischer
Gabriele Garavaglia
Lara Goldman
Kailum Graves
Shana Hoehn
Rachel James
Kathleen Kohl
Kerry Ann Lee
Arnando Rosales
Vinzenz Meyner
Prima Sakuntabhai
Neil Sanzgiri
Giles Thackway
Amanda Turner Pohan
Anthony Warnick
Collaborators 2016
Eduardo Abaroa
Magali Arriola
Iñaki Bonillas
Camel Collective
Sofía Carrillo
Amy Sarah Carroll
Giacomo Castagnola
Helena Chávez Mac Gregor
Virginia Colwell
Tatiana Cuevas
Mariana David
Magnolia de la Garza
Irving Domínguez
Ricardo Domínguez
Alex Dorsfman
Irmgard Emmelhainz
João Enxuto and Erica Love
Diego Flores-Magón
Mario García-Torres
Anthony Graves
Nate Harrison
Sol Henaro
Edgar Alejandro Hernández
Carla Herrera-Prats
Fabiola Iza
Graciela Kasep
Willy Kautz
Estéban King Álvarez
Alejandra Labastida
Víctor Lerma
Mauricio Marcín Álvarez
Mónica Mayer
Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere
Yoshua Okón
Raúl Ortega Ayala
Victor Palacios Armendáriz
Bárbara Perea
Paola Santoscoy
Mono Schwarz-Kogelnik
Joaquín Segura
Dee Williams
Lorena Wolffer



















