Monday, 25 January 2016

Imagen, dancers and a bikes

News flash!!  Mexico City has become the 32nd state of Mexico and has, just last week, changed its official name from 'Distrito Federal' to 'Ciudad de Mexico'.  States have more autonomy but, other than that, I don't really know what this means.

For the month of January, photography is the theme at the museums operated by the city.  This is particularly exciting for me in that I love to take photographs and love to look at the work of good photographers. I didn't take pictures of the photographs for the most part as it's not allowed at many of the exhibits and taking photos of photos seems somehow redundant to meBut how it differs from taking photos of paintings, which I readily do, I'm not sure.  

My first photo viewing was at the Museo Archivo de la Fotografia.  This little museum houses revolving photography exhibits and is a regular stop for me when visiting DF.  On this visit were three exhibits, one of photos of the 1985 earthquake, black and white pics done by various photographers that graphically described that awful event.  On the second floor were aerial photos of Mexico City in the 1950s by a German photographer, Walter Reuter. Interesting to see what the city looked like then.  And on the third floor was the show "Jardines de Arena", Gardens of Sand, quite exquisite photos by a variety of photographers, middle eastern and European, taken in the middle east and north Africa between 1859 and 1904.  Amazing photo chronicles of Damascus, Cairo, Istanbul, Mecca and surroundings.  

One of the exhibits I liked best was a show at the Museum of Modern Art of photographs by Lee Miller, a American surrealist photographer whose personal story is as interesting as her art.  I suggest reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Miller



The Centro de Imagen is an institution dedicated to the study and diffusion of photography.  There are educational programs and exhibitions there and it is an interesting building.






































After visiting the Centro de Imagen I popped over to the Parque de Ciudadela, Citadel Park, it being a Saturday afternoon when older folks get duded up and gather to dance to Cuban Son, thought to be the precursor to salsa music.  I've blogged about this before but, for those who don't remember, here are some photos and videos.






























































For something completely different, here are some bikes from car free Sunday:


The ultimate in comfort bikes


Complete with stereo




1 comment:

  1. Cool to see folks just enjoying the music and moving on what looks like a nice day outside. Cool bikes too!

    ReplyDelete