Diego del Valle Ríos on Decolonising Mexico City's Museums

In an essay published on March 25, 2021, as part of ArtSchool's Decolonisation in the 2020s series, Diego del Valle Ríos critiques the colonial underpinnings of Mexico City's 171 museums. The essay, produced in partnership with Museu de Arte de São Paulo, UAL's Decolonising Arts Institute, and Goldsmiths Department of Visual Cultures, argues that these institutions, administered by federal and local governments and UNAM, regulate political imagination and reinforce whiteness. Del Valle Ríos, a white editor, calls for betraying the colonial pact by sabotaging collections—the 'heart' of the art system's capitalist hydra, which also includes the biennial, art fair, and academy. He proposes radical acts such as selling works by Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Francis Alÿs, and Gabriel Orozco to fund reparations and community care. The essay traces the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL), founded in 1946, as a key agent in constructing a mestizo national identity through collections that naturalize racism and classism. Del Valle Ríos urges cultural workers to use publishing, whispers, graffiti, and memes to disrupt aesthetic governance and dismantle public collections.