Museum as Hub

Hub Notes: National Memories, 1/5/08

During “Museum As Hub: An Introduction”*, I had a really interesting conversation with a gentleman, Edgar Lopez. He had walked out of the elevator onto the 5th floor and gasped at the sight of TLATELOLCO, the neon sign by Christoph Draeger, hung directly in front of the elevators for both the introductory Museum as Hub presentation and the Museo Tamayo’s presentation, “Tlatelolco and the localized negotiation of future imaginaries”. He instantly took hold of my gaze and started telling me about how powerful the piece was for him.

Until I had spoken to Edgar, I had no idea that the typeface of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico city was such a recognizable font. Partly because I was not yet born during the 60s, but also because most visitors to the Museum As Hub space cannot decipher the stylized letters. To my surprise, as Edgar explained, anyone from Mexico can and will react to this piece, as it is a combination of form and content that speaks directly to the student massacre of 1968, a critical incident of modern Mexican history. The piece specifically evokes the memory of the massacre that took place ten days before the Olympics, usually called the “1968 student massacre” in the Plaza of Three Cultures. Edgar recalled that the font was familiarized through the countless posters plastered throughout the city that used the ’68 Olympics font in search of international recognition to relay messages of political discontent.

-Lena Imamura

*“Museum as Hub: An Introduction” was a presentation introducing the partnership and with works presented by all Museum as Hub partners, in the Hub space December 1, 2007-February 24, 2008.