Estancia FEMSA is a cultural and artistic platform sponsored by Casa Luis Barragán with FEMSA Collection support, that has been curated by Eugenia Braniff and Patrick Charpenel.

The 2017 program included 3 expositions in addition to activations and academic activities. In our “Dada Zúrich” we exhibited a collection of 30 documents that emerged in Zurich during the early years of Dada. On the other hand, Christodoulos Panayiotou, a chipriota artist, was in charge of “Mármol Rosa”; he intended to recontextualize and redefine Luis Barragan’s personal and domestic elements. The third exhibition presented Juan José Gurrola’s “Monoblock” (1969-1972); it’s a FEMSA Collection piece that consists of a group of poems, photographs, a bilingual performance and a found object sculpture.

Over the course of 25 years, the Bienal FEMSA has established itself as an open space that recognizes, strengthens, stimulates and broadcasts Mexico’s artistic creation.

The 12th edition of the Bienal FEMSA ¬-conceived as a transitory edition- established two visions: the exhibition that summoned Mexican and foreign artists to participate (with at least a two-year residence in the country) and the curatorial program with its specific objective in mind: bring Monterrey’s artistic community closer to developed programs that stem from the theme: “Poéticas del decrecimiento. ¿Cómo vivir major con menos?”

As part of the edition’s closing, we scheduled two Keynote Talks in 2017; one of them was titled “Estudios sobre la Felicidad” and was delivered by Alfredo Jaar and the other one was titled “Historia de la Bienal de La Habana” and was delivered by Gerardo Mosquera.

It is the route that led a generation of artists towards abstract thought; it drove them away from the nationalism that had distinguished Mexico’s art during the revolutionary period. It was expressed in the exhibition “Transición – Ruptura. Colección FEMSA” and was presented in the 45^th edition of the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato; it’s an event that we participate in annually since 2014.

This sample –exhibited at the Museo Casa Diego Rivera and in Alhóndiga de Granaditas’s open space– has collected 34 works of art that illustrate precedents and major representatives of the Breakaway Generation; it was distinguished by the quest for change in Mexican art during the 1950s with creativity, style and each artist’s own means of expression.

The exhibition “México: Identidad Fantástica. Obras Maestras del Siglo XX. Colección FEMSA” offers a journey through different artistic movements that stemmed from European avant-garde and were therefore developed in Mexico; the portraits of artists were key figures of the search of the creation of Mexican art.

Over the course of 70 artworks, visitors can appreciate the avant-garde influence in the murals inspired by the Mexican Revolution and the new plastic art tendencies in the country.