Words Su WuDate 29 January 2026
Su Wu is a writer and independent curator based in Mexico City whose work champions contemporary art and design through exhibitions, commissions, and cross disciplinary collaborations. Drawing from the histories of art, craft, design, and architecture, her practice foregrounds the cultural and material traditions shaping modern life in Mexico. She is the author of the forthcoming book Solid Light, which explores Mesoamerican presence in modern Mexican homes and traces how some of the oldest ideas continue to inspire architecture and interiors.
Curator and writer Su Wu, outside the Torre de los Vientos (Tower of Friendship) in Mexico City.
Trevor Paglen, Seal Rocks, courtesy of LagoAlgo.
If you only have time for one museum exhibition, let it be this: Columna Rota, a deeply felt and rigorous exploration of rejection, curated by Francisco Berzunza. It’s the most rousing example in recent memory of what Mexico City used to be for so many of us, a place of unfettered sincerity instead of practicality, of foolhardy ideas taken seriously. This is a show that is trying to break your heart. When I turned a corner and saw the early 20th-century José María Velasco painting of a comet, El Gran Cometa de 1882—a reminder of fleeting celestial passage amidst all this contemporary yearning—that’s exactly what happened to me.
Open until February 22, 2026.
Nearly every morning during Art Week, you’ll find me at Cafe Ideal, a brand new spot in Roma designed by Rafael Prieto, right next door to his book store Casa Bosques. As part of the Design Hotels global celebration of its new release Designed to Stay, I will be moderating daily conversations around design, craft, and curation, including talks with Rudy Weissenberg, Daniele Lora, and Perla Valtierra, among others, about how a design community is built and then nurtured, and the rare privilege of a life where work and friendship intersect.
Monday, Wednesday, 10:30-11:30am and Thursday, 10:00-11:00am. Cafe Ideal: Cordoba 23, 06700 CDMX
My beloved friend Cristina Artigas is the opposite of a gatekeeper; no one opens doors to 20th-century landmarks in Mexico City like she does, especially lesser known spaces that you haven’t already seen. During art week, her project Mexico City Modernism is offering visits to a range of architectural masterpieces and the exhibitions contained within just for art week, including inside Gonzalo Fonseca’s Torre de los Vientos, a sculpture built for the Mexico City Olympics in 1968; to Casa Locken, designed by Francisco Artigas; to Casa Alonso Rebaque, a little-known Félix Candela-designed residence; as well as an installation by artist Santiago Evan Canales at the former home of architect Juan O’Gorman. In true Mexico City style, trust the serendipity; past visits have even been known to be late-night, with impromptu concerts.
“Phenomenon: Peephole Aesthete” at Casa Estudio Juan O’ Gorman opening Feb 7, 12–5pm
“Muestra de Diseño Colleccionable,” curated by Regina Alencaster, at Casa Alonso Rebaque, Feb 7–8, 11–7pm (registration required)
OMET at Casa Locken, opening Feb 4, 19:30–23:00
Casa Alonso Rebaque, a landmark of Mexican Modernism.
I have a soft spot for an exhibition in an unexpected venue, which has become a hallmark of Mexico City art week; there’s a chance for discovery of both object and space, and how the two reflect one another. I’m excited to see what showroom Studio84, UNNO, and cc-tapis bring again this year, with an installation at an iconic building by architect Agustin Hernández—a patron saint of my forthcoming book, who reconfigured my entire understanding of Mesoamerican architecture and its cosmic alignment. Paired with new dimensional rugs by Sabine Marcelis, and designs by such Mexico-based designers as Alana Burns and Andrea Vargas Dieppa, the installation will also include new Murano glass pieces by 6:AM.
“Inner Stage” at Escuela del Ballet Folklórico
Calle de Violeta #31, Colonia Guerrero, Ciudad de México
February 2, 1pm–6pm. Performance: 5pm
February 3–4, 10am–6pm. Performance: 1pm and 5pm
Lucia Echavarría, Alana Burns, and Andrea Vargas Dieppa, who are exhibiting at Escuela del Ballet Folklórico.
Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo of LANZA Atelier were just awarded the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion, and an exhibition at AGO Projects celebrates the Mexico City-based architects before they arrive definitively and deservedly in wider recognition. In another life, I had hired them to renovate my own home and was moved by their distinct finesse of gaps, how they turn boundaries from separations into spaces of possibility, like their (very serpentine) “Table for Hundreds” that winds down hallways and through several rooms without interruption, even detouring outside. And since the real secret to any art or design week is geographical groupings, especially in a city as vast as Mexico City, don’t miss the inaugural exhibition of the wonderful LLANO gallery in their new space downstairs.
Azul y Verde at Ago Projects, Avenida Paseo de la Reforma 382
I’ve loved the programming and clarity of vision at art space LagoAlgo under the artistic directorship of Carolina Álvarez-Mathies, and this art week they are opening two in-depth exhibitions engaging with the idea of visibility and coherence, though from vastly different perspectives, along with what it means to be seen in a surveillance state. Trevor Paglen, perhaps best-known for sending the first “purely artistic” work to space, will show with the collective Troika; while Rafa Esparza examines domestic and underground queer spaces as refuges of care and interdependence beyond institutional control. (He's also showing with Beatriz Cortez at Museo Anahuacalli.)
“Chapter VIII: Hallucinations” and “juntxs” at Lago Algo, Bosque de Chapultepec, Pista El Sope S/N, opening Thursday, Feb 5.
“La Rebelión de los Objectos” opening at Museo Anahuacalli, Feb 3.
The exhibition Hallucinations brings together two distinct artistic practices that examine how technologies shape the construction of reality.
At Galeria Mascota, one of two exhibitions is a solo for Loup Sarion, whose brilliant sensitivity for how to create unexpected space was reflected in the beloved secret bar he built in the gallery’s back room a few years ago. In this exhibition, the artist’s capacity to work across materials such as leather, concrete, aluminum – qualities both pliable and unyielding – is again on full display. Of particular note is a large mirror sculpture bisecting the gallery, pierced with uneven openings: an expansion of the physical and auric space of an object into the realm of the viewer, both encompassing our reflections and depending upon our vantage point and movement.
“Midnight, Sea of Time” at Galleria Mascota, Valladolid 33, 06700 CDMX
Opening Feb 2
I’m a fan of Ana Peréz Escoto’s program at PEANA and am looking forward to this solo show by Tomás Díaz Cedeño, whose incredible light switches made of melted car parts I was lucky to show at Rockefeller Center with MASA in 2022. Cedeño was also featured in the New Museum Triennial, and his interest has long straddled art and design, or function and its complications, in addition to his separate design project Disciplina Studios. For “Withdrawal,” curated by Gaby Cepeda, the artist offers all new work, expanding on his interest in fountains and waterways in an exploration of architectural systems that promise both comfort and control, as well as the relationship between personal ritual and its interface with technological infrastructure.
“Withdrawal: Tomás Díaz Cedeño” at PEANA, Tlaxcala 103, 06760 CDMX, opening Jan 29.
Tomás Díaz Cedeño’s sculptures on show at PEANA during Mexico City Art Week.
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