Your Guide to the Tijuana Art Scene

From white Ford Mustangs and the Palace of Culture to the House in the Tunnel and the Cube and the Ball

By Glenn Michel Baja Breeze Arts & Culture Writer

In part one, Glenn Michel suggested that the real story, the one that doesn’t make headlines north of the border, is the thriving artist community in Tijuana, which has emerged and evolved unbeknownst to much of the world. Indeed, the very soul of Tijuana is defined in large part by its historical and ongoing commitment to the arts. In part two of this two-part series, Michel walks us through the Tijuana institutions, organizations, and players that collectively have created an environment in which art and artists can flourish in this complex and fascinating border city.

CENTRO CULTURAL TIJUANA (CECUT)

In the Mexican tradition, three levels of government – federal, state and city – provide funding for Tijuana’s cultural institutions. The Tijuana Cultural Center is not only the premier force in the Tijuana performing and visual arts community, it’s the city’s crowning contemporary architectural landmark. The IMAX Theater Building that Tijuanans call La Bola (The Ball) is a masterpiece of renowned Mexican architects Pedro Ramirez Vazquez and Manuel Rosen Morrison. El Cubo (The Cube), designed by Tijuana’s Eugenio Velasques of the Artesano architectural firm, harmoniously incorporates space for the visual arts while making its own architectural statement. The Ball was inaugurated in 1982. The Cube opened in 2008. The Center’s main theater is home to the Baja California Orchestra as well as the Spanish American Guitar Center.
Armando Garcia Orso, Sub-director of Exhibitions, is an architect by training and an experienced curator and manager of exhibits. He pointed out how The Cube meets the international standards for security, temperature, humidity and lighting. “Even San Diego museums do not meet these standards,” he said.

The current major exhibit, the 9th biennial Monterrey FEMSA, is an important showing of selected artists from throughout Mexico and Brazil. And yet, Garcia Orso stressed the many projects that are in collaboration with San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco organizations. “We will soon have an Ansel Adams showing from the San Diego Museum of Photographic Art,” he said. Also in the works is an exhibit devoted to the missions of Northern Mexico and California. Another example of cultural exchange with our neighbors to the north was a CECUT exhibit, “Heroes Y Artesanos,” displayed for a year by the Mingei International Museum in San Diego. In turn, a Mingei curated show will appear at CECUT next year.

While CECUT generates some income from projects such as the 300 seat IMAX “Ball” Theater, the majority of funds come through Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (the National Council for Arts and Culture.)

INSTITUTO DE CULTURA DE BAJA CALIFORNIA (ICBC)

The state’s most current and ambitious project is the creation of an important, new Tijuana cultural center that is almost identical to CEARTE in Ensenada and the state’s other museum and educational center in Mexicali. Under construction now, it is scheduled to open late this year, according to Norzagaray. This will give northern Baja three such centers. No other state in Mexico has more than one. More important, as part of Mexico’s network of state cultural centers, it will provide Tijuana with more access to mutual exhibits, expertise and resources.

INSTITUTO MUNICIPAL DE ARTE Y CULTURO (IMAC)

Not to be outdone by its national and state counterparts, the city of Tijuana has its own robust support system for arts and culture: The Municipal Institute of Art and Culture.

In 2006, the Municipal Palace in historic downtown was rededicated as the Palace of Culture to host concerts, exhibits, conferences, popular festivals, a film club and a history archive. It also has space for a future Tijuana history museum.

The two campuses of La Casa de la Cultura (House of Culture) feature theater, library and gallery space as well as classrooms and workshops for dance, theater, photography, painting, music and other disciplines for both the young and the old.

LA CASA DEL TUNEL (THE HOUSE OF THE TUNNEL)
The most dramatic – and ironic – international interchange of artistic thought and work is this art center. Originally a private home in Colonia Federal right at the border, renters of the building dug a tunnel to the U.S. and in 2004 were arrested for drug trafficking. The tunnel was closed and the house eventually returned to the innocent yet astonished owner.

Today, Director Luis Ituarte Mendivil, now retired from the cultural affairs department for the city of Los Angeles, is vigorously engaged in a far different kind of international trafficking. The small gallery currently displays three artists – all from the U.S. At the sidewalk, outside the front door, is a marvelous white Ford Mustang body painted white and riddled with holes. It’s by Charles Linder of San Francisco.

At Avenue 50, a gallery in Highland Park, Los Angeles, there is a showing of three Mexican artists arranged by Mendivil. He also has an artist in residence program in the start-up phase, providing studio space for artists from around the world. As if he weren’t busy enough, Mendivil also hosted an “Attentado Poetico,” a “Call and Response” poetry gathering. Half of the attendees were on the building’s rooftop garden overlooking the U.S. parking lot in San Ysidro. The other half was in the parking lot.

The El Consejo Fronterizo de Arte y Cultura (COFAC or the Border Council of Arts and Culture) is the parent of La Casa del Tunel. The bulk of its funding comes from U.S. sponsors like the Annenberg Foundation. But this past year, it received a substantial Mexican federal grant through CONACULTA. It was originally founded to channel artistic talent to address border issues, the environment and its local community.

Already Ituarte Mendivil is busy enhancing the neighborhood of Colonia Federal, to make it the first green community in Mexico. He is providing funds for artists to paint neighborhood houses with some appealing results. He also has funds to provide trees and shrubs in pots with built-in micro watering devices for residents who sign contracts to care for them.

Yet another project is a planned series of presentations in the U.S. to encourage American artists to rent inexpensive homes for studios in Colonia Federal. They can park their cars in the U.S., a short walk away.

With enlightened advocates like the Border Council of Arts and Culture and Luis Ituarte Mendivil, Colonia Federal can’t help but have a bright, colorful and artistic future.

All of these powerful forces, with slightly different goals and missions, somehow manage to work closely together and compliment each other. The net effect is a vibrant artistic and intellectual community that now commands international respect. As I researched this article, something dawned on me: It was no mistake when Newsweek named Tijuana one of the top creative cities in the world. That’s one instance where the media got it right about Mexico.