Art in the Twenty-First Century: Mexico City

In this film from the documentary series Art in the Twenty-First Century, artists from Mexico City exit their homes and studios to use the expanding megalopolis as their canvas. Reflecting order and chaos, narration and deconstruction, the personal and the political, four artists — Natalia Almada, Minerva Cuevas, Damián Ortega and Pedro Reyes — seek to transform the world in which they live. The artists present everyday materials as artworks, mine recognizable images for their poetic potential, and take their art to the streets. In the project undertaken by Pedro Reyes, for example, objects become vectors of change: with the help of children, he transforms firearms into artistically and socially powerful musical instruments and sculptures.