Chicano Art Takes Over Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes

The Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City has opened 'AztLÁn, túnel del tiempo,' a major group exhibition dedicated to Chicano art, running from March 25 to August 26, 2026. Curated by artist Rubén Ortiz-Torres and researcher Jesse Lerner, with Joshua Sánchez and advisor Rita González, the show features 70 works by 33 artists and collectives of Mexican and Latin American descent, mostly based in Los Angeles. It occupies the museum's main halls—Sala Nacional, Diego Rivera, and Internacional—for the first time with Chicano art. The exhibition is organized into four sections: 'East Side Stories,' 'Varrio,' 'Desmuralismos,' and 'Transtemporalidades,' functioning as stations in a 'time tunnel' that blends archive, graphic art, painting, sculpture, and installation. Works range from a facsimile of the Codex Boturini to lowrider culture and LA urban iconography, connecting the Mexica myth of Aztlán to contemporary Chicano life. Featured artists include Judy Baca, the collective Asco, Eamon Ore-Giron, Cog·nate Collective, and Rafa Esparza, whose practices engage transnational and indigenous-pop references. The exhibition positions Chicano art as a cultural production field rather than a fixed aesthetic, emphasizing memory, diaspora, and identity disputes. It fosters dialogue between cultural hybridity and a space historically tied to Mexican muralism and national identity.