The garden

In 2023, the garden of La Tallera went from being a space with restricted access to a place open to the public. With Florescencias radicales, las plantas tienen ojos, a project by the artist Vanessa Rivero (Yucatán, 1976), the pool, previously reserved for human use (only for artists in residence), became a pond where different species coexist. Likewise, the insect hotels and the sculptures created by the artist to draw attention to the sensitivity of plants were eventually integrated into the natural landscape, initiating a new phase in which the garden became a place of recreation; later, the library was added, which allows the public to visit the former home of the muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros.

As a kind of ecosystem, the garden is now home to various artistic projects that overlap like a palimpsest, blurring the boundaries between the human and the non-human, or culture and nature. The works exhibited today in this space of coexistence come from different projects and moments: Florescencias radicales (2022) by Vanessa Rivero was part of the cycle América espectropical; the sculptures Piedras en el jardín de los 1000 bailes (2024) by Ray Smith (Brownsville, 1959) and Sin título, from the series Utopía de la forma (2024) by Federico Barrault (Mendoza, 1981), are part of the exhibition El tiempo está fuera de quicio; and the exhibition Nos toca ser el asteroide, curated by Palmera Ardiendo, includes the works Ser árbol (2024) by Adriana Mendoza (Cuernavaca, 1998) and Riqueza encerrada (2024) by Rodrigo Alatorre, (Mexico City, 1994).

Finally, the low relief stele La humanidad marcha, by artist Antonio Bravo (Mexico City, 1983), which refers to the mural La marcha de la humanidad de la tierra hacia el cosmos (1965–1971), created by David Alfaro Siqueiros during his work at La Tallera, also joins this collection of works from different projects that overlap and coexist in the garden.