Arte Abierto begins its 2024 exhibition program with Cositas, an exhibition commissioned to Mario García Torres (Coahuila, 1975).

Cositas features a series of aesthetic devices that take up and reinterpret images of popular culture, art and everyday life.

More than an exhibition, it is a conceptual and audiovisual experience that critically and humorously addresses the consumption of images, the communication of current information, the relationship with art and the dissemination of content in the present. Cositas takes its name from a phrase that became popular on open television during the 90s to generate expectations around a future event, and which has currently gained great popularity on social networks without losing its original spirit: “things are coming.” ”. Based on this idea, García Torres presents 5 works that take as reference a world-renowned comic character - which this year becomes a public domain image -, the song of a popular rock band from the 80s, the aesthetics of the photocopier as a pictorial practice, and memes and videos that today form part of our collective imagination due to their viral circulation on social networks.

With this project, the artist plays with the idea of audiovisual experiences intended for mass audiences, taking into account the particular context in which Arte Abierto finds itself. In this way, Cositas invites us to question the dynamics of consumption today, our role as spectators and co-creators of meaning, and the coincidences that exist between images and everyday life: How is it that a child's fall can be as relevant as a historical fact? How does a famous comic character allow us to remember so many stories? How can a meme be recreated so many times, becoming increasingly viral for different generations and social spheres? How do these images impact and change language? Or, more importantly, who creates the images? Who defines the concept or who gives them meaning?

Thus, through a game marked by intuition, suspicion, mystery and humor, Cositas addresses the relationships that exist between reality and the perception of our daily lives, the collective imagination and individual memory, as well as the absence and presence of our thoughts.

Cositas

Recovery fee $40.00 pesos mxn (Students, teachers and seniors enter for free by showing ID)

Mario García Torres (Coahuila, 1975) Conceptual art plays a decisive role in his work, when investigating little-known stories and novel narratives, as a compendium of strategies, when exploring the different possibilities of its languages or as a form of critical thinking in the world of art. art, constantly questioning the functioning of its elements. Trained at the University of Monterrey (UDEM) and the California Institute of the Arts, he develops his practice in media such as video, installation, photography, painting, sound, performance and, recently, augmented reality. He is considered one of the most internationally recognized Mexican artists. His individual works include La poética del viaje (MARCO, 2021), Illusion Brought Me Here (Walker Art Center, 2019), Caminar Juntos (Museo Tamayo, 2016), ¿Have you ever have you seen the snow fall? (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 2010), among others. Collectively, their work has been part of the XIII FEMSA Biennial (Zacatecas, 2019), the 13th Sharjah Biennial (United Arab Emirates, 2017), Manifesta 11 (Switzerland, 2016), the 8th Berlin Biennial (Germany, 2014 ), Documenta 13 (Germany, 2012), and the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007), to name a few. His work is part of the collections of international museums, such as the MoMA in New York, the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Tate Modern in London, as well as the University Museum of Contemporary Art, the Tamayo Museum and the Amparo Museum, the latter three in Mexico. More info: These artworks

— Arte Abierto