2006 MexiCali Biennial Los Angeles & Mexicali
The concept for the MexiCali Biennial is to provide a platform for border crossing contemporary art exhibitions. These exhibitions will features artists from southern California and the bordering Mexican states. the MexiCali Biennial may occur on either side of the U.S.-Mexican borders…[it} will provide an opportunity for artists to exhibit their work internationally and engage with the surrounding condition of the exhibition sites. This exchange process will facilitate open dialogues with both artists and audiences through the sharing of culture.
Projects involve on and off-site installations and border-crossing interventions including Ed Gomez’s 100 Envelopes from Los Angeles to Mexicali, consisting of 100 envelopes mailed between California and Mexico each containing a one-inch section of a map of the US-Mexican border, to be reassembled in the gallery. Mike Rogers fosters communication in his installation entitled “Telephone/Teléfono” consisting of two 10-foot telephone poles on either side of the border fence separating Calexico and Mexicali, connected by the string and tin cans of a child’s telephone game. Cindy Santos Bravo’s multi-layered construction investigates histories of imposed security barriers across international borders.
2006 featured artists include: Andrew Armstrong, Jesse Benson, Gomez Bueno, Cindy Santos Bravo, Luis G. Hernandez, Ed Gomez, Skylar Haskard, Gustavo Herrera, Hugo Hopping, Kristi Lippire, Ruben Ochoa, Mike Rogers, and Matt Wardell.
Project curators and organizers for the 2006 MexiCali Biennial were, Ed Gomez, Luis G. Hernandez, April Lillard and Pilar Tompkins.