Marissa Johnen
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Day 21

7/22/2015

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Before I got here, as part of my proposal, I asked to borrow a bike, as riding is part of who I am and therefore part of my art
Finally I got it, I didn't know what to expect which was part of the fun, it is very lovely.
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Went to Diego Rivera's house and studio. This is artwork that I love. You do have to pay to take pictures I feel I got my money's worth.
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Little Eddie Munster guy
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I mean Hell yeah
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Day 35

7/22/2015

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Ciclovia Mexico City

7/22/2015

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Today I was super Excited to get out with all my fellow riders. I read they close one of the main streets, Reforma, every Sunday so I wrote down how to get to Reforma, but it didn't matter. As soon as I got out on the streets, bike riders were passing by and I followed them knowing they would take me where I needed to go. As a bike rider it is a special feeling that the city would do this and it is also very freeing not having to dedicate so much thought while riding to cars. We cruised past beautiful monuments. 
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Amazing Street Art. The city has a tons of street art and graffiti everywhere.
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I like how these were blank canvases
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It got warm out there so I thought it was great that these women put there dogs up in crates. I saw so many panting dogs and I felt like I even saw some of them try to trip up there owners just get them to stop for some rest.
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I saw a beautiful clown                                                          and a community dance class, that tent is filled with people
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We rode past La Lagunilla a Sunday market where you can get anything you're looking for. I stopped and picked up these paintings by Nicolas Lorenzo, he is not famous, but he should be. The streets to get out there are generally too congested for beginning riders. go out on Sunday Ciclavia and you'll be fine. RIP.
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On my way back I stopped in the Bella Arte Museum, near downtown, free on Sundays.
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There was an architecture exhibit on the third floor with some awesome models, you can even faintly above that little grey staircase in the center and the floor right above it the murals on the walls.
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The details of the interior of this building are 
incredible (I'm trying not to use the word beautiful too many times)
And then we have the murals. I pieced them together, they have pillars blocking them. 

Diego Rivera, Man, Controller of the Universe, 1934
The painting was originally commissioned by Rockefeller Center in New York but because he refused to remove the image of Lenin they made him stop and painted over it. The title at that time was Man At The Crossroads.
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I mean Rockefeller Center has this on their ceiling so uhh. No I get it it's a business thing. But Diego's artwork is so good, too bad for them.

Then we have


Jorge Gonzalez Camarena, Liberacion, 1963
Also pieced together the best I could
Favorite acrylic painting ever (beside the one from my brother)
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                            There's me riding home solo after a great day, love those squarish painted bikes.
                                                   Best way to get to learn my way around the city.
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Ecobici First Twenty-Four Hours

7/22/2015

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Rode up to to Polanco, a neighborhood that reminds me of Beverly Hills, very nice, lots of shopping, but much safer to ride a bike in. Polanco is home to the Soumaya Museum. This picture makes it look small, it does from the outside. The museum is named after the founder Carlos Slim's late wife and the shape resembles her body. This museum is free everyday. Which reminds me many of Mexico City's museums are closed on Mondays. I usually plan my museum visit agenda by which days are free.
The interior of the Soumaya reminded me as if I was on the ship of "2001 Space Odyssey." You can start from the top and wind down, but unlike the Guggenheim all the art is in the center so you end up walking these long closed corridors.
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These are what I consider the gems of the museum, with all do respect, to the artists who's names I didn't record (I rarely do because I always mix up that information) and to the collector.
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Literally right next to the Soumaya is Jumex a Contemporary Art Museum. Free on Fridays.
Jumex has three floors and a book shop in the basement
First floor
Jerzy Grotowski, born1933 in Poland
He was a performer and shaman like Beuys.
His movements were based on cultural movement practices like yoga.
He dabbled with peyote saying it helped free his imagination and he made art instead of worrying about making art.
I felt weird reading that he had followers, ironically I was snapped out of taking most of it seriously after that. Maybe if they would have said he had super fans I would have felt differently.
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Second Floor Jumex

IN GIRUM IMUS NOCTE ET CONSUMIMUR IGN
The title is a palindrome, you will find many different meanings. 
How about this one "We go into the circle by night we are consumed by fire."
The exhibition is an exploration of "several approaches to curating that help us understand the choices implicit in forming and activating an art collection". Yep makes sense to me. All the works come from the museum's collection.
An entertaining exhibit, little dark, got some good laughs and saw work by many well known artists

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Counterclockwise. There were many pieces with this sort of sentiment that I too feel. A self portrait. Mike Kelley, this is not what the piece actually looks like but I really had to show his text because he's right. 
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Third Floor Jumex

Gustav Metzger       born 1926, Germany
He developed auto-destructive art. I mean there is a ton to say about this. Destroying nature including human nature. Nature is not interchangeable with environment , which he believes is a meaningless term. We develop science for negative reasons. He thinks modern western society is burned out. He does not believe in permanent or object based art. I got his book I'm not done with it yet, maybe I'll report on it. But I feel like he reminded me of why I am an artist. 
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In this piece people are cutting out of this pile of paper and putting it up on the board. If I would have seen a bike as I walked around the pile I would have cut it out, otherwise I didn't want to try too hard to make a statement that no one will care about. I felt that I wasn't supposed to participate. I did use the scissors though to cut a tag out of my shirt that had been pestering me all day, that was awesome for me. I like Metzger's ideas. I also think it's interesting that he mentions people haave and need to get to nature and that speaks to exactly what Jerzy Grotowski from the first floor was trying to do in his art practice.
After Leaving the museums I took a nice ride through Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Forrest) which is right across the street from where I am staying. It is the hugest park in the western hemisphere. It has many places of interest, a castle, Modern Art Museum, Anthropology Museum, Natural History Museum, a zoo, many monuments, peace and quiet, a lot to do. You'll be seeing more of it.
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Here's one amazing thing. One of the first days I saw this bike connected to a structure getting rained on. Now the structure is gone but the bike is still there. Notice the bike lock, if this were L.A. no one would lock their bike like that, if they did it would be stolen, but a lot of people here do lock their bikes similarly to this, which I appreciate. This is a beautiful bike, needs barely any fixing, I can't believe it is still there.
Right outside of the park there is a sculpture by the artist whose artist residency I am participating in and the reason I am in Mexico City. He has many sculptures all over the city, this is the only one I have seen that is tagged up.
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I have read that only seven of these exist in the city, which I am glad and a little surprised that there are not more. But this is how bike riders killed by cars are memorialized, you will see this in L.A. too. Bike painted white. RIP.

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Ecobici Mexico City

7/21/2015

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Hey people. Let's get to it. Mexico City has a great bike rental program, let me try to explain it. First you find an office that will issue a tap card. The most "convenient" office I walked to turned to have moved, not tremendously further but the information online was not accurate, 175 Campeche is a sure thing. Take your passport, the address your staying at while in the city, and a credit card for a deposit. Also be prepared for a test, it's not that you won't get to rent a bike but they will school you on your incorrect answers, for safety purposes. You have the option of renting for 24 or 72 hours or seven days.
I say do one day because at some of the bike stations themselves is the option of buying more time, after you have the card. Everything is in English and Spanish. The card is active when you get it, simply tap it, you'll get a number to a bike, and lift it up, it's stuck in there about two inches.
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Bikes are nice. they come with three gears, a bell, adjustable seat, and in the front maybe you can see metal coming out and up in front of the handle bars you can put your bag there and there's a bungee cord connected to the bike that you can secure it with. There are bike rental stations everywhere. There are maps for stations at each station. 
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Some problems you might I ran into. I don't have a phone, so I write directions on paper. Street signs can be bent much more severely than above, some are incredibly rusty, or non existent, also streets stop and start up again. What is very helpful is that the names of streets in each neighborhood are themed and the name of the neighborhood is written on the bottom of the street signs, so you can tell if you're getting out of your zone. The streets remind me a lot of Los Angeles, they fan out, so you can easily move away from where you want to be.  
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