Espacio Escultórico (1979) and the Geometry of Urban Development in Mexico City
111th College Art Association Annual Conference
New York, NY

February 15-18, 2023

Conference Presentation by Ian Erickson-Kery (Duke)

Espacio Escultórico is among the most enduring and visible legacies of the vibrant experimental art scene of 1970s Mexico City, one which has at the same time proven enigmatic for stylistic classification and historicization. A collectively authored work of monumental geometric sculpture located on the rocky plateau surrounding the Ciudad Universitaria to the south of the city, Espacio Escultórico both paralleled global developments in Land Art and distilled a more localized genre referred to as “Urban Art.” Drawing from the work’s extensive production files recently donated to Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, this paper argues that Espacio Escultórico deployed geometric abstraction not in embrace of capitalist modernization or developmentalism, but as an intended remedy for the mounting crises of accelerated urban development, repressive city administration, and environmental deterioration. In this sense, the work addressed criticisms that geometric abstraction in 1970s Mexico was merely derivative of prior developments elsewhere in the region. Indeed, the “belatedness” of Mexican geometricism as manifested in Espacio Escultórico enabled a synthesis of more critical stances on the effects of modernization, particularly those embedded in the form of the urban environment and its everyday uses. In wresting geometry from the constraints of functionalism, Espacio Escultórico sought to conserve a space of social and environmental autonomy from the capitalist city, while also evoking spatialities rooted in pre-Hispanic cultures. As such, it conjured a future city less reliant on consumption and speculation, putting forth a counterproposal for urban planning rooted in emancipated expressions of everyday life rather than capitalist accumulation.