Recently, I began visiting various parts of Mexico City again.
This article covers my brief thoughts and a lot of photos of UNAM campus (Ciudad Universitaria) with some comments thrown in.
Enjoy!
A Walk Through Ciudad Universitaria
I think this was my first photo I took.
The CU campus is literally just a 5 minute walk (or less?) from my apartment.
Not having much experience with the campus outside of a few visits years ago, I didn't know how to get around.
Was surprised to find out that the bus system is free to everyone.
Though I did find it inefficient. The amount of time waiting for a bus kinda annoyed me sometimes. Literally 30 minute waits.
They also have taxis in the area that can take you around for like 2 bucks in my experience.
I ended up taking them because I got tired of waiting literally 30 fucking minutes for a bus.
And it's only 2 bucks for all of the rides I took.
A bit cheaper than taxis in the rest of CDMX but also the distance is less to cover (and not as much traffic).
Highly recommend you just skip the buses and take taxis when needed.
Seems to be some election going on.
Around this point, I met some middle aged white math professor and asked her how to get to some random green space in the campus.
She immediately gave me the "you speak English?" vibe and I told her "no, I'm Russian."
She immediately apologized for assuming I speak English (first time that has ever happened lol) and she understood me perfectly in Spanish.
She explained how the campus works and the best spots to check out.
How to get to where I want to go.
Explaining how some of the green spots are off limits.
She was also kinda cute too.
She asked if I was a student. I said no.
Though I could tell she likely wasn't given she looked old enough, I was polite in asking "are you a student?"
You know -- I don't want to be rude and assume she is a professor because she looks older.
She said "no, I'm a math professor."
But, despite being older, she obviously ages well.
God damn I wanted to fuck her tits.
Anyway, she was nice. Very friendly. Helped giving me tips on how to explore the campus.
Then we went our own way.
Was happy to see people around the area not wearing a mask on. Made me assume they they aren't enforcing a mask rule outside on campus.
I did take the bus to this museum.
Walked inside.
A friend of mine named Gino went "oh, black face!" when he saw this photo.
I also thought how political some of the art seemed at first with the AMLO image you see.
Before I checked out this part of the museum, some random employee wanted to see proof that I paid for the entrance.
I didn't know I had to put a green sticker on my chest after paying and did so right there.
Anyway, I found what was basically a feminist art room.
A lot of the museum that day was dedicated to feminism.
Putting aside my thoughts on feminism, one thing I found strange was how non-Mexican a lot of the art was despite being on Mexico's biggest university campus.
Take for example the art work you see above.
It's basically a bunch of news articles covering feminist topics but with paint covered all over them.
I ended up counting the first two rows of news papers on the bottom to see how many were in English and how many were in Spanish.
A vast majority were in English and covering feminist issues in the US (Brooklyn, NYC getting special attention).
Some in Italian.
Not many in Spanish nor covering feminism in Mexico.
Seemed strange to me how little it focused on Mexico despite being in Mexico on Mexico's largest university campus.
More English lol.
All the videos were in English with Spanish subtitles.
Finally something focused on the Spanish speaking world but on Spain!
In a side room, they had this movie playing.
In English with Spanish subtitles.
Was OK. I didn't watch the whole thing.
The part I saw was of some random woman alone in her apartment crying about whatever.
Part of the reason why it kinda rubs me the wrong way to have so much in English (or any other language) is because it seems so cucked.
We're in Mexico and you can't put out the above in Spanish?
While I'm not sure why they chose English, it just reminds me of all of the cucked Mexicans you see who prioritize all things of "the foreign" over their country.
Including language.
As if putting the words above in English instead of Spanish will make their art work seem more sophisticated.
Maybe that wasn't the reason for why it's all in English but it reminds me of folks like that.
Of course, one might argue that maybe there's more impressive art work and videos to display that happen to come from the English speaking world than Mexico or the Spanish speaking world.
Maybe but I do have my doubts that they couldn't have found anything from Mexico and in Spanish to display here.
Of course, none of this is focused on the message of the art itself. I've always been a bit critical of feminism in general but that's not what stuck out to me when coming to this exhibit.
It doesn't matter too much either way. Let's not make a big deal out of it. Just found it weird personally how almost all of the above was in English.
Speaking of English, they had an entire room dedicated to some movie in English about the south and it didn't have Spanish subtitles lol.
Well, one other thing I will say is that sometimes I do find it funny how strongly represented my culture and native language is down here.
If Mexicans want to not accommodate well to their own native language in situations like this, then whatever!
Not my problem.
Obviously English is cooler than Spanish. VIVA USA!
At this point, I found a random room full of a bunch of art pieces.
They also had a lot of English but also focused a lot on issues in the US that have little relevance to Mexico.
Like one thing I saw focused on for profit prisons.
Going through this museum, you almost wonder if it was designed by someone from the US.
Though I think also it makes sense why a museum like this would have so much "US influenced art."
We can theorize all day why that is, such as:
1. Perhaps better art is produced up there and donated down here (I'm doubtful of this given the art in the museum wasn't that good or high quality anyway. Surely plenty of Mexican artists could compete with this).
2. Like I said before, perhaps there was a priority given to foreign based art work because sometimes Latin Americans in general put on a pedestal all things foreign from US/Canada/Europe.
3. I'd almost wonder if the local artists/artist management of the museum would naturally have more connections to some US artists and US issues because perhaps they are more likely to be upper class "white mexicans" and more likely to have that connection to artists in say Brooklyn, NYC (like what we saw with those feminist news articles on the wall).
Anyway, I'm just shooting from the hip here as to why there is so much focus on any country not Mexico.
Not to say you don't have art work dedicated to Mexico. You do!
Just seemed like a strong overemphasis on all things foreign when I walked through the place.
I'll cut the foreplay -- it was a disappointment to see that if you haven't guessed by now.
To see a lot of low grade by random ass people that nobody gives a fuck about from other countries instead of what Mexican artists can produce for this museum.
Even though I often do find myself at odds with feminism, I generally didn't let that persuade my thinking on the art I saw.
It really just came down to "why couldn't they find more room for Mexican voices to be expressed here?"
Though, to be fair, as you'll see in the next few photos, you did have a funny strong leftist vibe to the art beyond feminism.
Some of which made me remember my days looking into the Zapatista movement years ago.
When I showed a friend of mine Gino this image, he said "well, that didn't do shit. Private prisons still exist."
A lot of "anti-capitalism" stuff you see at this museum in certain spots too.
This was one art work I actually really enjoyed.
Despite it not being Mexican, who cares?
You get my beef with that already.
Still, as I wrote here, I always hated the cleaning lady shit you have in Latin America.
Not because I think these women are poorly treated. I just hate Mexicans trying to force me to have one, god damn it!
Regardless, I found the artwork here putting the cleaning ladies up against their employers to be interesting to look at.
Definitely some strong vibes of "you can tell who has Spanish blood and who doesn't. Who is the cleaning lady and who isn't."
A good work that, on its own, really demonstrates certain inequalities in Latin America but, on a deeper level, the different worlds they both live.
This museum definitely has connections to Peru.
Supposedly abortion tools put on the wall.
This artwork was kinda cool.
If I remember right (it's been weeks), I think it showed the stages of motherhood and raising a family.
Shit like that.
It's been weeks since I was here but I think this was the part of the museum that showed early 20th century European stuff.
Art focused on that topic.
Most of it anyway.
Years ago, I used to focus on the Zapatista movement in Mexico.
And other social movements in Latin America.
Was interesting to see this bit of the museum because some of it related to old themes I focused on years ago (including the Zapatistas!).
I was at first confused when I walked into this room.
Wasn't sure if I was still at an art museum or a Mexican version of IKEA.
Anyway, it was actually art as I saw soon enough.
For some reason, I really enjoyed watching this small clip they had showing here.
Was about some woman who was giving birth to a dolphin.
Honestly, I think it was just the music of the clip that I enjoyed.
Here is what they were playing below titled "I Wanna Deliver a Dolphin."
Finally out of the art museum!
Some movie place. I remember taking dates here before.
Around this point, I noticed A LOT of foreigners speaking in English.
Surprisingly so.
It didn't bother me but it was surprising because I hadn't seen other foreigners in this area ever.
Granted, when I say "this area," I'm talking of Santo Domingo.
Which is literally a 5 minute walk from this campus.
Just not used to seeing foreigners in this area but I also don't spend much time in CU campus and CU campus is obviously very different from Santo Domingo.
So it shouldn't be a surprise.
They had some trail that you can walk around with random art structures.
I read on other blogs that you can spend hours at this place.
I disagree.
I walked through the entire spot in like 15 minutes.
The art was OK but I didn't care for it much.
Unless you are a person looking to take a Instagram photo (saw a few like that during this trail), then you shouldn't need much time to see what is part of this section of the campus.
By this point, I was tired of taking the bus and just took a taxi.
Like I said, it was only 2 bucks.
Really, just take the damn taxi on this campus. Fuck the bus and its 30 minute waiting time.
Anyway, here's the more famous part of the campus whenever you look up stock photos of the CU campus.
Probably my favorite part of the campus.
Aside from the nice looking building with all its art, this general area really looks like a good spot to just relax.
What they need though is more park benches around this spot and maybe a few food stands to offer water, chips, etc.
Oh -- and trash cans so people don't litter (though littering didn't seem as much of an issue on this campus than rest of CDMX to be fair).
My second favorite part of the CU campus.
Wasn't sure what this was but it seemed to be some religious building if I had to guess. I didn't walk inside.
Or a place for wealthier people?
Saw a lot of people in suits walking around.
Seemingly some random dude's house during the walk around this "jardin."
Yeah that's right -- I got a picture of your house, fool!
Anything to Add?
And that's it!
If you got anything to add, drop a comment below in the comment section.
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Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt