Three friends who found themselves thrown together in the New York of the 1990s—artist Gabriel Orozco, who has been featured at MoMA, the Pompidou Center, and the Tate Modern; Mónica Manzutto, who worked at the Marian Goodman Gallery; and José Kuri, who was completing an M.A. at Columbia—originally came up with the idea for what is now arguably Mexico’s most influential gallery. Kurimanzutto began with some ephemeral Colonia Roma events, often in nontraditional spaces. Today the gallery occupies a structure commissioned from renowned architect Alberto Kalach; its stable of artists includes Mexican creators of international stature like Dr. Lakra, Miguel Calderón, Carlos Amorales, and Damián Ortega, as well as global talents like Akram Zaatari, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Anri Sala, Danh Vo, Jimmie Durham, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Monika Sosnowska. Kurimanzutto’s shows—not to mention the openings—mark the pulse of the Mexico City arts scene.
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Contemporary Art Near Chapultepec
Perhaps Mexico City‘s most popular gallery–a superlative it seized and has held pretty much since it opened in its own space near Bosque Chapultepec in 2008 (previously, it chose spaces around the city based on each exhibit)–Kurimanzutto specializes in contemporary art and represents a strong stable of Mexican and international artists. Among the former are big-hitter names like Dr. Lakra, Gabriel Orozco, and Damián Ortega. Kurimanzutto also sponsors and bankrolls a number of interesting projects that exist beyond the boundaries of the gallery’s walls. A 2011 exhibit about the writing of Chilean author Roberto Bolaño involved the production of a weekly newspaper by local journalists.
