The curatorial and exhibition proposal of Xaltilolli: arts, memories, resistances

Abstract

This article presents the development and initial findings of a curatorial project focused on artistic, cultural, and social expressions as processes of resistance, negotiation, memory, and identity among various indigenous communities in Mexico and Latin America. We take Tlatelolco as our case study and framework for reflection, as it is the site where Xaltilolli is located as part of a university cultural center (CCUT) that engages deeply with these themes. Starting with the question, “How can a curatorial proposal based on critical and social museology rethink narratives about heritage, memory, the arts, and the resistance of Indigenous peoples, using the case of Tlatelolco as a starting point?”. These pages will present the importance of highlighting diverse lines of continuity from the Indigenous past, with changes that respond to historical events but remain rooted in arts, culture, language, worldviews, and the multiple traditions that define social heritage in the 21^st century. As a project of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), this is a critical proposal toward the official and hegemonic discourses of the arts and history of the American continent; for this very reason, it has, from its inception, combined the perspectives of critical museology, social museology, and the importance of the collaborative and critical construction of narratives and interpretations. This is a recount on our curatorial expe­rience with this project.