This was what marked the cultural life of the country in 2022

JANUARY

For sale, the Citibanamex Cultural Development

In the second week of January, Citigroup announced its withdrawal from retail banking in Mexico and the sale of Citibanamex, including the collections and programs of the Citibanamex Cultural Development, with the most important private institutional collection in the country. This same year, an exhibition was inaugurated at the Iturbide Palace on the occasion of its 50 years of existence.

They promised social security for artists

Last January, the federal Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Fausto Guerrero, announced that this 2022 it would finally be possible to announce the launch of a social security program for artists, creators and cultural agents, which, it was said then, was discussed with the director of the IMSS. But it was not possible to take the first step this year on this path.

A new winner of the Alfaguara

The Chilean writer and journalist, residing in Argentina, Cristian Alarcón Casanova, was announced as the winner of the XXV edition of the 2022 Alfaguara Novel Prize for his novel “El tercer paraíso”, where, according to the jury, “the protagonist reconstructs history of his ancestors while delving into his passion for cultivating a garden in search of a personal paradise”.

Relay at the head of Culture UNAM

Considered the second cultural force in the country, the Coordination of Cultural Diffusion of the highest house of studies announced the departure of the writer Jorge Volpi Escalante and the replacement of the writer and academic Rosal Beltrán Álvarez, who advanced the two axes of his work: post-pandemic and post-patriarchy. In February, Volpi was announced as director of the UNAM-Spain Center for Mexican Studies.

FEBRUARY

Zona Maco returns to face-to-face

After two years of impossibility, Zona Maco, the fair as the most important bridge of the world art market with our country, was able to return to face-to-face at the usual Citibanamex Center, where more than 200 galleries from 25 countries gathered.

MARCH

They celebrate 80 years and face precariousness

The Seminario de Cultura Mexicana celebrated the 80th anniversary since its formation with a meeting, a National Lottery raffle and a concert by the Mining Symphony Orchestra. The SCM has suffered an annual budget reduction of more than 60% between 2018 and 2022.

Women from INBAL schools in 8M

Many struggles have been made, but few things have changed in the schools of artistic education and anthropology, pointed out women students from ENAH and INBAL in the 8M march; they pondered the defense of life over the care of the monuments.

The first black Pritzker

The Burkinabe architect Francis Kéré becomes the first African and black person to win the Pritzker Prize, the highest award for the discipline in the world, founded in 1979.

A Mexican recognized by the World Press Photo

Photojournalist Yael Martínez was announced by the world-wide influence contest, World Press Photo, as the winner of the Open Format category for North and Central America for his photographic series “La flor del tiempo. Red Mountain of Guerrero”.

Hugo Setzer Letsche, president of Caniem

The director of the Editorial El Manual Moderno, Hugo Setzer Letsche, was elected by the assembly of the National Chamber of the Mexican Publishing Industry as replacement for engineer Juan Luis Arzoz Arbide. Setzer was president of the International Publishers Union (IPA) from 2019 to 2020.

Unexpected win at the Oscars

The film CODA, in which the Mexican actor and comedian Eugenio Derbez participated, was the winner of the 94th edition of the Oscars, with the statuettes for Best Film, Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay. The night was highlighted by the slap that actor Will Smith gave to comedian Chris Rock.

APRIL

Mexico presents collective exhibition at the Venice Biennale

With works by Mariana Castillo Deball, Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Fernando Palma Rodríguez and Santiago Borja Charles, our country presented the exhibition “Until the songs sprout” in the Weapons Hall of the Venice Arsenal within the framework of the 59th edition of the Exhibition International Art of Venice.

Guadalajara, World Book Capital, Starts

The Jalisco capital also became the capital of the world of books as a replacement for the city of Tbilisi, Georgia. The activities started with the presentation of the Spanish translation of the most famous work of Georgian literature, the epic “The Knight in the Tiger Skin”, written by the poet Shota Rustaveli between 1205 and 1207.

MAYO

In Bella Artes to celebrate “la Poni”

The writer and journalist Elena Poniatowska celebrated her 90th birthday on May 19 with a cake and a national tribute in the Main Hall of the Palace of Fine Arts. In her thank you speech, the author remembered her friends and colleagues Carlos Monsiváis and José Emilio Pacheco.

JUNE

For Rivera Garza the Xavier Villaurrutia

The writer Cristina Rivera Garza is the winner of the 2021 Xavier Villaurrutia Writers for Writers Award for her novel “The Invincible Summer of Liliana”, in which she verbalizes the heartbreaking family experience of the femicide of her sister, Liliana Rivera Garza, in 1990. author dedicated the award to the memory of her sister.

JULIO

Adriana Barraza at the GIFF

Adriana Barraza receives the UNAM Film Library Medal and the Silver Cross from the Guanajuato International Film Festival (GIFF), at the start of the 25th edition of the film meeting.

AUGUST

“Night of Fire”, maximum nominated for Ariel

The film “Night of Fire”, the fiction debut of the documentary filmmaker Tatiana Huezo, received 19 nominations within the 25 categories for the Ariel Awards from the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC). Later, in October, the tape received seven statuettes.

Audiovisual Promotion Project Launched

The Ministry of Economy, still headed by Tatiana Clouthier, launches the Project to Promote the Audiovisual Industry with the aim of consolidating the country as a “global leader in the creation of content for the Spanish-speaking public” with objectives such as the creation of filming laws approved and the creation of film commissions in all states, among other objectives. A couple of months later, in October, Clouthier announced her departure from her office.

The Carlos Fuentes Award, for Margo Glantz

The writer of “Las genealogías”, who turned 92 last January, was announced by the federal Ministry of Culture and UNAM as the winner of the Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Literary Creation in the Spanish Language 2022.

Attack on Salman Rushdie

British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie sustained 15 stab wounds to his back and torso during a lecture at an educational institution in New York. For this fact, according to the medical report, Rushdie lost an eye and the mobility of a hand.

Tribute to Silvia Pinal in Fine Arts

The first actress was recognized for a career as a symbol of television and cinema, a fundamental piece for the survival of the film “Viridiana”, by Luis Buñuel, during the Franco dictatorship in Spain. Pinal said she was grateful and moved with the honors organized by the federal Ministry of Culture in the highest venue for the arts in the country.

New president for the Canacine

The audiovisual producer and founder of the advertising agency The Lift, Avelino Rodríguez, was elected by the assembly of the National Chamber of the Cinematographic Industry (Canacine) as replacement for Fernando de Fuentes in the presidency.

SEPTEMBER

They resume the Mondiacult summit in Mexico

Ministers of culture from more than 160 countries met in the Mexican capital for the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – Mondiacult 2022, whose last edition took place 40 years ago. In this meeting, they defined the lines to follow to consolidate a Sustainable Development Goal focused on culture.

OCTOBER

The Nobel Prize for Literature for a “self-made ethnologist”

In early October, 82-year-old French author Annie Ernaux was announced by the Swedish Academy as the winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she discovers the roots, estrangements and collective restrictions of personal memory”.

The Cervantino celebrates 50 years of existence

The gold edition of the so-called festival of the spirit was finalized, with South Korea and Mexico City as Guests of Honor. It was, according to what was said, the “most widespread edition in history”, with more than 115 stage shows by artists and companies from 34 countries.

“Pinocchio” and “Bardo” at the Morelia Festival

The new and long-awaited films by Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu debuted in Mexico as part of the 20th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival. Pinocchio was placed as the highest grossing international film of the year at the Cineteca Nacional, while Bardo topped the top ten of Mexican films.

Matos Moctezuma receives the Princess of Asturias

At the end of October, anthropologist and archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, founder of the Templo Mayor Archaeological Project, dean of the discipline in Mexico and emeritus researcher at INAH, received the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award in Sciences and Humanities in Oviedo, Spain. “History is implacable in its judgments, you cannot pretend to manipulate it or commit the absurdity of misrepresenting it,” he declared in his reception speech.

NOVEMBER

Sor Juana for Tarazona

The writer Daniela Tarazona was announced the winner of the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Literature Prize 2022 for her book “Isla partida” (Almadía, 2021), “a novel where poetry and its meanings coexist (…) of displacements by the slopes of sanity and literary madness”.

New protection of the Templo Mayor patrimony

The INAH and the management of the Templo Mayor Museum presented the new roof of the Casa de las Águilas, which collapsed in April 2021 due to the atypical hailstorm over Mexico City.

UNAM invests with the Doctorate Honoris Causa to 12 personalities

Among the personalities that received the distinction from the highest house of studies are the film director Guillermo del Toro, the philosopher Judith Butler, the historian and academic Javier Garciadiego, the graphic designer Rafael López Castro and the writer Angelina Muñiz-Huberman.

AMACC declares itself in crisis and postpones the Ariel process

The Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC) officially announced that it is in a “serious financial crisis” and, therefore, the postponement of the Ariel Awards process until viability is guaranteed. The Ministry of Culture defended that support for the cinema has not diminished and showed its willingness to support the Academy, although without privileges.

The FIL Guadalajara starts amid political disputes

With a fair protected by a human chain before protesters sympathetic to the Jalisco government, the most important editorial meeting in our language started its 2022 edition, back to face-to-face. The president of the fair, Raúl Padilla López, closed with a call to “normalize relations with all government entities.”

DECEMBER

Ticketmaster enriches… with bad fame

The concert of the Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny in the Azteca State was the end of a series of user complaints against the prevailing ticket sales system in Mexico. Hundreds of people were left without entering the Puerto Rican’s first concert due to system failures and duplicate tickets. Given the fact, Profeco intervened and announced sanctions against the system.

Three-year Fine Arts Medals awarded

The National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) held three days of delivery of the Fine Arts Medals corresponding to 2020, 2021 and 2022 to fundamental Mexican artists and thinkers in Theater, Dance, Music and Opera; Literature, Architecture, Heritage and Visual Arts. It also recognized with the Gold Medals the playwright Miguel Sabido, the painter Irma Palacios, and, posthumously, the leading actor Héctor Bonilla.

ricardo.quiroga@eleconomista.mx