CDMX is a global epicenter of art and architecture—full of creative people and big ideas. With nearly 9 million residents, it is one of the planet's great urban laboratories where social, artistic and ecological problems meet solutions every day. For UT students who enroll in the new Urban Art and Design: Mexico City program this upcoming fall, it’s an opportunity to enhance their undergraduate degree with global knowledge exchange and set themselves apart in their career.
Led by Art History Professor George Flaherty, who specializes in Latin American and U.S. Latino Art, the program bridges historical knowledge of Mexico City, its design, architecture and arts with an exploration into its continued evolution today. "The program is an opportunity to get out of the classroom and into leading galleries, museums and alternative spaces to see first hand cutting edge art and design and meet the makers, curators and critics that influence and shake up the global art world," said Flaherty.
Flaherty partnered with Leslie Moody Castro, UT Austin art education alumna, independent curator and founding partner of entrepreneurial travel startup AtravesARTE, to deliver students a historically grounded, but future-focused understanding of Mexico City’s hybrid art, architecture, and urban design scenes. A self-identified itinerant curator, Moody Castro splits her time between Texas and Mexico City (aka CDMX) and offers UT students a unique lens by which to take in the city.
“I am so excited about this program with UT Austin!” writes Moody Castro. “As an alumna of the department, opportunities like this one are exactly what I was looking for when I was a student to further professionalize my practice and learn from other practitioners in the field. Being in Mexico City is just another perk, and I am proud to be on the team to make this happen.”
A semester-long course offered for the first time in Fall 2020, Urban Art and Design: Mexico City is designed to bridge disciplinary boundaries—as relevant for the urban planning student in the School of Architecture as it is for the Studio Art or Art History major hoping to expand their practice and network. Vibrant, welcoming, boisterous, dissonant and ultimately one of the most dazzling cities in the world; CDMX has something for every student.
For more information, please explore the study abroad page. Applications for fall 2020 are now open and the deadline for applications has been extended to March 15, 2020. To hear more from the program leads, join Flaherty and Moody Castro for a wide-ranging discussion about working in CDMX’s contemporary art scene on March 4 from 4:30 – 5:30 pm.