Material Fair bets on more Latin American art

The Mexican contemporary market gives signs of autonomy in the face of trends that may be generated by other large markets in Europe or the United States; the Art Week meeting reaffirms itself as a connecting bridge, they point out in a conference to present the eleventh edition.
The 11th edition of the Material Art Fair, a fundamental meeting of the Art Week in Mexico City, will take place from February 6 to 9 at Expo Reforma, in the Juárez neighborhood, which will once again become one of the nerve centers of this series of days of effervescence from and about art in the Mexican capital.

This year's edition of Material will have room for 72 galleries from 20 countries and 35 cities, with works by more than 200 artists. Of this selection, 25 exhibitors participate in the fair for the first time from cities such as Berlin, Los Angeles, Milan, Chicago, Guatemala, Lima, Toronto, Bogotá and San José, among others.
He also highlights that 56% of the selected exhibitors in this upcoming edition come from Latin America, which, as its director, Brett Schultz, mentioned at the presentation conference on Monday, consolidates Material as a bridge between contemporary work in the region and the rest of the world.

Also present at the conference were Isa Castilla, Development Director of Material; Miriam Torres, Coordinator of Alliances, and Adrian de Banville, Director of the VIP Invited Program.

The 11th edition of the Material Art Fair, a fundamental meeting of Art Week in Mexico City, will take place from February 6 to 9 at Expo Reforma, in the Juárez neighborhood, which will once again become one of the nerve centers of this series of days of effervescence from and about art in the Mexican capital.

This year's edition of Material will have room for 72 galleries from 20 countries and 35 cities, with work by more than 200 artists. Of this selection, 25 exhibitors are participating in the fair for the first time from cities such as Berlin, Los Angeles, Milan, Chicago, Guatemala, Lima, Toronto, Bogotá and San José, among others.

It is also noteworthy that in this next edition, 56% of the selected exhibitors come from Latin America, which, said its director, Brett Schultz, in the presentation conference on Monday, consolidates Material as a bridge between contemporary work in the region and the rest of the world.

Also present at the conference were Isa Castilla, Development Director of Material; Miriam Torres, Coordinator of Alliances, and Adrian de Banville, Director of the VIP Invited program.

The health of the market in Mexico

As this newspaper has noted, based on several of the most extensive studies on the behavior of the contemporary art market, in recent years the weight of buyers with medium purchasing power in the world on affordable works of art has grown noticeably.
This universe has established itself as the great force that sustains the global market, especially after the instability generated by the pandemic and war contexts. Although there was an excessive growth in art acquisitions in 2021, today the market shows signs of decline but stabilization similar to pre-pandemic levels, but now with a much stronger middle class within the market.

The organizers of the fair are asked about this and the weight that the fairs have had in this migration.

“At least in Mexico City, Material has played a very important role in giving visibility to a new generation of independent galleries and artists, but also in creating a market not only local but international for the work of this generation. In that sense, the fairs compress so many people in such a short time that from there opportunities are triggered at an international level for local exhibitors and vice versa, links are created between galleries and artists or foundations. In the end, it is a good sign that this segment of the market is growing in terms of sales at a global level. “This allows us to think that it could be a very successful week for our participating galleries,” Schultz replies.

On the other hand, Adrian de Banville pointed out that “we have seen, especially since the third edition of our fair Estación Material, in Guadalajara, that the contemporary art market in Mexico is in excellent health, beyond the capital. In this country, regional markets are growing and communicating, that is, artistic exchanges are increasing. And this also affects the general market in a very positive way.”
The ecosystem and the market of contemporary Mexican art, he reiterated, give clear indications of autonomy from large markets such as Europe or the United States.

A fair extended to the entire city

The event, at least the bulk of its programming, that reserved for Expo Reforma, will begin activities around noon on Thursday, February 6 with a prior visit exclusive to the VIP Invited program, followed by the afternoon opening to the public, starting at 5:00 p.m.

However, on Monday, February 3, the Material Monday program will be launched, with an invitation to a tour, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., of 14 galleries participating as exhibitors of Material. The tour will be facilitated by transportation with limited capacity that will take interested people through this circuit that includes 18 exhibitions in six different neighborhoods of the city.

Also, on the evening of February 5, artists Melanie Smith and Patricio Villarreal will present the work Tixinda-marcha por un color at the brand new Pabellón Escénico in the first section of Chapultepec. Two performances of this will be offered to the public with limited capacity.

In this vein, the Museo Experimental El Eco, located in the central San Rafael neighborhood, will host the 8th version of the Immaterial performance program, which will present the piece “Body loss” by Australian artist Angela Goh, represented by artist Gemma Sattler. This will also be offered in two performances on Friday, February 7.
Material Art Fair

Volume 11
From February 6 to 9

Expo Reforma

Av. Morelos 67, colonia Juárez
General admission: 250 pesos online
Box office: 300 pesos

Parallel program

Immaterial Program: Body Loss

By Angela Goh, performed by Gemma Sattler

Museo Experimental El Eco

Friday, February 7, 6 p.m.

Concert: Rolando Hernández and Dmytro Bereziuk

A concert and dialogue between Mexican and Ukrainian music

Saturday, February 8, 6 p.m.

Sierra Mixteca Booth

Forum: “Affective Constellations”

In collaboration with Salón Acme

With seven prominent curators from around the world

Auditorium of the Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art

Saturday, February 8, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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