George F. Flaherty

As the recent opening of the University Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City and the regularity with which articles about the city’s burgeoning art scene appear in the foreign press attest—albeit from differing vantage points—interest in contemporary art in Mexico has reached critical mass. After a brief survey of visual culture produced in the aftermath of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, this course examines key artists, artworks and critical debates from last 20 years in light of international aesthetic currents and kaleidoscopic political/economic conditions, the latter including: neoliberal restructuring of the economy (NAFTA), Zapatista insurgency in Chiapas (EZLN), and the defeat of single party rule (PRI).