CITY - Issue 60 - (Page 82)

THENEWFRONTIER With alternative art spaces popping up throughout the city, Tijuana, Mexico, is reversing the effects of its well-publicized violence and finding renewal. By Angela Cravens 13 JAVIER R AMIREZ LIMON, “DESIERTO DE ALTAR”, Die as Gun Battles Jolt Tijuana” says one headline. “Tijuana Tou ism Plunges mid D ug Violence” sc eams anothe . et in spite of the d ug- and gang- elated violence that has g ipped this Mexican bo de city and sp ead th oughout the count y since ea ly this yea , Tijuana’s c eative people a e foste ing a new a ts movement built on community and esolve. Tijuana is a t ansient city, teeming with t aﬃc and split by wide chasms between ich and poo . et in the midst of all this, a enaissance is afoot. Long the g anddaddy of Tijuana’s c eative scene, the Cent o Cultu al, o CECUT, as its known locally, gained a new exhibition space in Septembe with the opening of El Cubo, an . million, , -squa e-foot building poised to host majo shows. Fo a city that has been so disillusioned by its institutions and dist ustful of its gove nment, the new facility signals new possibilities. “It’s a enewal,” says cu ato Lucia San omán. “Cubo has eally injected a sense of establishing new ways of looking at things, and developing a new na ative.” San omán, who lives in Tijuana, is associate cu ato at the Museum of Contempo a y t San Diego, but is cu ently commuting back and fo th ac oss the bo de to o ganize one of El Cubo’s inaugu al exhibitions, P oyecto Cívico/ Civic P oject, with co-cu ato Ruth Estévez. With so many themes to explo e about living on the bo de , San omán feels that Tijuana a tists “a e almost ove bu dened by the city. It becomes ve y diﬃcult to get away f om it as a na ative.” P oyecto Cívico invites some of the egion’s bette -known names — including photogaphe vonne Venegas, conceptual a tist Ma cos Rami ez ERRE, and a chitect and a tist Raúl Cá denas of To olab — to look mo e closely at pe sonal st uggles. P ojects explo e not only the ecent violence, but also identity, family dynamics, and even the expe ience of the city’s Chinese immig ant population. Tijuana is a transient city, teeming with traffic and split by wide chasms between rich and poor. Yet in the midst of all this, a renaissance is afoot. “It’s taken the inte est of a big fede al and state institution to eally make a enewed commitment to the city,” explains San omán. “I know that these gestu es can be seen as cynical on the pa t of a non-ca ing gove nment, but in this case I think it’s eally gene ated excitement and a sense of optimism, at least fo me. The e’s symbolism in the fact that so many a t spaces a e opening up eve ywhe e.” One of these venues, Lui Velazquez, collabo ated on a p oject fo P oyecto Cívico. “We a e actively engaged in b inging people to Tijuana and showing them that the e is an amazing, th iving a t community he e, and that it is safe,” says di ecto Kathe ine Sweetman. Founded by g aduate students f om the Unive sity of Califo nia San Diego, the Lui Velazquez galle y hosts a tists f om va ious count ies in a esidency p og am. “We a e located in Colonia Fede al,” she continues, “which is one of the neighbo hoods that has been ta geted by the media as a ‘dange ous place,’ but this has neve been an issue fo us.” s pa t of the O ange County Museum of t’s Califo nia Biennial, opening this month at venues all ove the egion, Lui Velazquez is collabo ating with the museum to host events in Tijuana. “The city is so tumultuous, but it’s inspi ing,” says Kinsee Mo lan, a Tijuanabased w ite and the a ts and cultu e edito fo San Diego CityBeat, the local alte native weekly. e living and wo king in San Diego fo seve al yea s, Mo lan, who was aised in a small town in Colo ado, found he way to Tijuana fo the same eason c eative people in New o k ﬁnd thei way to B ooklyn: cheape ent and a sense of excitement. Mo lan insists she’s neve felt unsafe in Tijuana, and desc ibes he self as the city’s “little de facto PR machine,” wo king ha d to dispel what she sees as fea ful umo s, sp ead mostly no th of the bo de , that sca e people f om visiting the city. “It’s a eal city,” she says, “[and] a tough city, but if you take the p ope p ecautions it’s like Chicago o .

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY - Issue 60

CITY - Issue 60 Contents Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment In Rogue Luscious Life Temporary Contemporary Fast Food Diary Leona Naess Matthew Stone Henrik V Ibskov Massimiliano Nogioni Young Bloods Keys to the Ferarri Fine Craftsmanship The New Frontier Conscious Evolution New World Order Spiral Casual Fridays Where to Buy It Cityscape

CITY - Issue 60

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