THE PROJECT
This project examines the recent history of a terrain located at the margins of Mexico City. Lake Texcoco, an ancient salt lagoon the current size of the capital, was progressively displaced from its basin since the times of the Spanish conquistadors: as the city demanded growth, the lake became a threat, an obstacle for urban development. By the beginning of the 1970s, it had become a dry, vacant territory, located in the outer edge of the metropolis. Ever since its transformation, this body of water turned into no-man’s land has become a highly contested territory, serving as the setting for a series of political, social, ecological, and even geological disputes, all outlining the current state of affairs in this particular region of the world.
All things Living, All Things Dead: Lake Texcoco is composed by two distinct collections of evidences on this uniquely hybrid land: on one hand, a collection of material traces of failed projects and acts of abandonment, all in relation to the lake’s soil; on the other hand, an intangible realm (with equally political, social, historical, and affective dimensions), which has been assembled during the encounter with its terrains.
Each collection has entailed a profound and thorough understanding of this particular place, in which every found fragment, detail, and fact becomes a unique source of information. Two different, non-hierarchical bodies of knowledge have resulted from these sets of materials, which have been built through two appropriation exercises: the Animist Museum of Lake Texcoco and the Encyclopedia of Things Living and Dead re-visit traditional approaches to all-encompassing knowledge; two “universes” are extracted from the singularities found in a seemingly dead basin.
THE TEAM
Creative director: Adriana Salazar
Curating advisors: David Gutierrez, Cecilia Delgado-Masse, Chantal Garduño, Maxime Dossin, Ariadna Ramonetti
Research advisors: Ivan Mejia, Elia Espinosa, Alberto Lopez-Cuenca
Context consultants: Ernesto Carrillo, Ariadna Ramonetti
Terrain explorer: Adriana Kozub
Videographer: Esther Rivas
Website developer: Nobara Hayakawa
Graphic designers: Nobara Hayakawa, Chantal Garduño, Maxime Dossin
Editorial advisor: Carlos Benavides
Photo editor: Yorely Valero
Publisher: Idalia Sautto
Translation: José Luis Rico, Carlos Benavides
Book design: Nobara Hayakawa
Production team at Muca Roma (Mexico City, Mexico): Selene Castillo, Magali López, Lucía Peñalosa, Isaac Correa, Araceli Molina, Rafael Gutiérrez, Karla Rodríguez, Kimberly Lima
Production coordinators in Morelia (Mexico): David Gutierrez, Magui Ponce, Diego Rodríguez
Production team in Morelia (Mexico): Azucena Vargas, Uriel Carmona, Sergio Arroyo, Ana Sofia Colado, Melanie Leal, Cecilia Crescencio, Alfredo Huerta, Mariana Toraya, Carlos Reyes, Diego Hernández, Karla Tellez, Claudia Marquez, Melissa Aguilera, Víctor Sandín, Martha Gutiérrez, Alina Hernández, Mari Carmen García, Mariana Labrador, Víctor Pérez, Daniela Méndez, Yolotzin Jiménez, Leo Rosas, Diana Suazo, Andrea González
