FIELD NOTES / PROJECTS / HORIZONTES MEXICANOS
Horizontes Mexicanos: Building a Platform for Mexican Artists in Tulum
How a curatorial project became part of Tulum Art Club’s long term effort to connect Mexican artists, public space and the changing cultural landscape of Tulum.
Tulum has attracted artists from around the world for years.
But being a place where artists visit and building a cultural ecosystem are two very different things.
Horizontes Mexicanos began from that distinction.
Created by Tulum Art Club in collaboration with curator Benny Vergara of Artery, the project was conceived as a platform for Mexican artists to create, experiment and leave a visible cultural imprint in Tulum.
It was not simply about bringing more art to the destination. It was about creating stronger connections between artists, territory and the people who experience Tulum every day.
THE BEGINNING
Why Horizontes Mexicanos began
For much of Tulum Art Club’s history, artists arrived through an international network built organically over years of collaborations, residencies and public art projects.
Horizontes Mexicanos represented an important evolution. The intention was to create more space for artists working across Mexico and to bring different regional perspectives into Tulum’s rapidly changing cultural landscape.
The project began through conversations between Tulum Art Club and Benny Vergara, founder of Artery. Together, the idea developed into a curatorial program centered on artistic production, encounters and work created directly within the territory.
THE FIRST WALL
A story from Michoacán arrives in Tulum
One of the first works created through Horizontes Mexicanos came from Colectivo Cherani, an artist collective from Cherán, Michoacán.
Their mural, “Mis Abuelos Me Contaron,” brought a very different visual and cultural language into Tulum. The work draws from memory, ancestry and stories passed between generations.
Placed in the streets of Tulum, it became more than an individual artwork. It became a meeting point between two territories.
“Art can arrive in a place. Or it can become part of its memory.”
THE ARTISTS
Different parts of Mexico. Different ways of seeing.
Horizontes Mexicanos continued with artists coming from different regions of Mexico.
- Secreto Rebollo
- Bache
- Fina Ferrara
- Colectivo Cherani
Each artist brought a different visual language, process and relationship with place. Some works became murals. Others developed through installations, encounters and temporary interventions.
Together, they began forming a broader conversation about what contemporary Mexican art could look like when placed directly into Tulum’s public and cultural landscape.
BEYOND THE FESTIVAL
From an event to a long term platform
Horizontes Mexicanos was never intended to exist only as a festival. It became part of a larger direction for Tulum Art Club.
Since its beginnings, Tulum Art Club has worked through artist residencies, murals, exhibitions, public art and collaborations with spaces throughout the region. Horizontes Mexicanos expanded that model by creating a clearer platform for Mexican artists within the network.
The objective is not to represent one definition of Mexican contemporary art. It is to create opportunities for different voices to enter the territory, produce work and become part of Tulum’s evolving cultural memory.
TULUM ART CLUB
Building cultural infrastructure through art
Today, Tulum Art Club operates as a cultural production platform connecting artists with spaces, collectors, projects and experiences in Tulum. Public art is one part of that ecosystem.
Artist residencies, commissions, exhibitions, editions and collaborations with hospitality and real estate projects create other ways for artists and the territory to interact.
Horizontes Mexicanos represents one chapter in that larger story. And many of the works produced through the project can still be discovered across Tulum today.
AUTHOR
Alfonso Garrido
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