{"id":107607,"date":"2025-07-31T13:11:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T13:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/107607\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T13:11:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T13:11:24","slug":"anti-gentrification-protest-targets-mexico-city-contemporary-art-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/107607\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Gentrification Protest Targets Mexico City Contemporary Art Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEXICO CITY \u2014 A group of anti-gentrification protesters vandalized the contemporary art museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on Sunday, July 20, as demonstrations against rising housing prices and the growing displacement of local residents continue across the city.<\/p>\n

Black bloc protesters graffitied and broke windows on the campus before arriving at the cultural center, which houses the Museo Universitario Arte Contempor\u00e1neo (MUAC), a concert hall, several theatres, and other facilities, including the Julio Torri Bookstore, which they broke into and ransacked. Protesters smashed the glass balustrade surrounding the museum\u2019s angled fa\u00e7ade and cracked half a dozen tempered glass panels, which dangled near a small pile of burning books on the esplanade while others graffitied Rufino Tamayo\u2019s monumental outdoor sculpture \u201cLa Espiga\u201d (1980). Protesters did not gain entry to the museum, and no other artworks sustained damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Protesters smashed the museum\u2019s glass balustrade and panels.<\/p>\n

\"\"Shards of broken glass strewn outside the museum entrance<\/p>\n

According to one of the organizers, N\u00e1me Villa del \u00c1ngel, the protest was not meant to arrive at the UNAM\u2019s campus, but had branched off from the planned route after being harassed and kettled by riot police. The previous day, organizers had explicitly called<\/a> for a peaceful protest on social media, citing the possibility that the march might face a smear campaign. Police, who do not usually enter the campus because of the university\u2019s self-governing status \u2014 although they are not legally barred from doing so \u2014 were no longer on the scene when demonstrators arrived at the MUAC. The UNAM, Mexico\u2019s largest university and an important civic symbol, was on a three-week summer break, with the campus sitting largely empty.<\/p>\n

The extent of the damage, and a perceived incongruity between the cause of the march and the museum\u2019s public mission, generated a local news avalanche. A group of notable academics and artists, including Graciela de la Torre, a former MUAC director, issued a statement<\/a> on July 22 condemning the events and demanding \u201cthe origin of these acts of vandalism be clarified.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cWe are fighting for dignified housing for Mexicans,\u201d reads a protest sign.<\/p>\n

Among the signatories was artist Magali Lara<\/a>, whose ongoing career retrospective at the MUAC is visible from the gallery windows facing the esplanade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks more like \u2018shock groups\u2019 than a real protest,\u201d said Lara, referring to the historic use of paid groups to subvert righteous causes in Mexico. \u201cI think it is very dangerous that the UNAM or any other public institution be exposed in this manner to groups that are bent, it appears to me, on destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most infamous of Mexico\u2019s shock groups was the Halcones (\u201cFalcons\u201d), a paramilitary group involved in the Corpus Christi massacre of June 10, 1971, when a student protest in favor of university self-governance ended in bloodshed. The \u201cHalconazo<\/a>\u201d marked the beginning of the period known as the \u201cdirty wars<\/a>,\u201d a time of increased social repression in the country.<\/p>\n

\"\"Caution tape surrounds the area near Rufino Tamayo\u2019s sculpture outside MUAC.<\/p>\n

Supporters<\/a> of the anti-gentrification movement framed the events within the context of a city-wide dispute over public space, water, and housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of anger, there is a lot of outrage,\u201d said Villa del \u00c1ngel. \u201cContemporary art represents elitism and an elitization of spaces that were initially created for the working class, like the UNAM.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impact of gentrification in Mexico City has been felt profoundly by many of its residents, and its root cause is a topic of heated political<\/a> debate<\/a>. A measurable increase<\/a> in demand for short-term rentals \u2014 especially through Airbnb \u2014 in centrally located, trendy neighborhoods has fueled a perception that so-called \u201cdigital nomads,\u201d who work from the city remotely and earn in stronger currencies than the Mexican peso, drive the issue, displacing less affluent renters to the city\u2019s periphery.<\/p>\n

\"\"Graffiti on the floor reads \u201cMexico for Mexicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the second time in less than a year that the MUAC\u2019s building has been targeted during a demonstration. Last fall, an exhibition by Argentinean artist Ana Gallardo generated protests for its inclusion of derogatory language toward elderly sex workers<\/a>. The museum apologized, removed two works from view, and organized a series of public programs in collaboration with the aggrieved parties.<\/p>\n

While sympathetic to the anti-gentrification movement, Lara is skeptical that the recent protests will help the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a complicated moment. But that does not justify the destruction of an institution whose function has to do with learning, connection, critique, and dialogue,\u201d she said. \u201cThe MUAC may have many flaws, but not these.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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\nProtesters graffitied poster stands and banners.<\/p>\n

\"\"Graffiti on the bookstore window<\/p>\n

\"\"Signs read \u201cHousing is a right, not a business\u201d and \u201cDignified housing for workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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