Mexicali Biennial

Rooted Voices
2026-03-21 12:00 - 2026-04-11 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Featuring artists from Whittier and surrounding communities, Rooted Voices centers stories shaped by place, how neighborhoods, labor, migration, ritual, and everyday encounters leave traces that linger across generations. The exhibition highlights how stories emerge through shared conditions and relationships, through proximity, care, struggle, and collaboration.
Rooted Voices is a student-curated exhibition made possible by Whittier College’s Poet StoryLab: Narrative, Community, and the Transformative Possibilities of Brown Storytelling. Through a special topics class, students selected works that reflect the talents of local artists while connecting themes of PARA/normal Borders at the MXCL BNL LAB.
Participating Artists:
Brook A. Logan Arcega, Emilia García, Roman Luna, Santos Nuñez,
Ramón Ramírez, and Jacqueline Valenzuela
Closing Reception will be held on April 11, 2026
The closing reception will include spoken word by Whittier College student Ember Hall and music by DJ Blythe Bizzczar.
About Whittier College StoryLab
Whittier College is one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the nation and is designated as both a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and Minority-Serving Institution (MSI). Located in Whittier, California, the College is committed to academic excellence, civic engagement, and inclusive, interdisciplinary scholarship.
The Whittier College StoryLab initiative, supported by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, advances innovative experiential pedagogy and research that amplifies stories reflecting the complexity and expansiveness of “brown” identity in the United States. Led by faculty in Art and History, the program centers storytelling, intersectionality, and public humanities as tools for cultural understanding and social engagement.
Student organizers:
Brook A Logan Arcega, Megan P Barayoga, Clark Paul Ehman, Yoselin Xiclaly Estrada, Hector Alberto Gastelum, Lilianna C Gorbea, Ember Hall, Mikayla I Hernandez, Ethan C Luevano, Cuauhtemoc Jude Luna, Skye Mendoza, Jessica Rios, Joaquin A Sanchez, Michelle G Sifuentes, Victor Soria Jr., Andrea Toledo

Planos planos: pinturas del folclor paranormal cachanilla
2026-04-18 15:00 - 20:00 | Arista 1701, Colonia Nueva, Mexicali, Baja, Mexico
Presented at Arista 1701 in Mexicali, as part of Semana del Arte 101, the MexiCali Biennial presents Planos planos: pinturas del folclor paranormal cachanilla (Flat Planes: Paintings of Mexicali Paranormal Folklore), an exhibition bringing together artists from Mexicali whose work engages with the Biennial’s current theme: PARA/normal Borders.
Working primarily through painting, the exhibition examines local paranormal folklore through overlaps between everyday environments, personal imaginaries, philosophical inquiries, invisible presences, and border memories. The artists span different generations, enriching a collective perspective on the cachanilla imaginary—‘cachanilla’ being the term used for people from Mexicali and their local identity.
PARA/normal Borders is a nomadic series of exhibitions and programs that conceives the CaliBaja region as a liminal space where spirits, ancestors, and displaced identities move freely.
Participating artists: Pablo Castañeda, Annia Monroy, Heriberto Morales, André Pereda, Mahra Zamora

MB Viewing Room
Coinciding with Planos planos, an MB Viewing Room will be open on the second floor of Arista 1701. The space features a selection of MexiCali Biennial publications available for purchase, including MexiCali Biennial: Art, Actions, Exchanges Since 2006, the first comprehensive account of the Biennial’s twenty-year history; ALIEN, produced with Taller California and curator Armando Pulido, with contributions by artists Ed Gómez, Luis G. Hernandez, Lorena Gómez Mostajo, Omar Pimienta, and Jessica Sevilla; and Border Patches, an artist book by Biennial co-founder Luis G. Hernandez, produced in collaboration with i21.
Additionally, works by MexiCali Biennial artists Ed Gomez, Luis G. Hernandez, Fidel Hernandez, Bibiana Padilla, and Adrian Pereda will be on display.

Here & There, Then & Now: MexiCali Biennial 20th Anniversary Exhibition & Book Launch
2026-04-25 18:00 - 2026-06-13 17:00 | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
The MexiCali Biennial celebrates twenty years of artistic experimentation, cross-border collaboration, and cultural exchange with the exhibition Here & There, Then & Now and the release of the landmark publication MexiCali Biennial: Art, Actions, Exchanges Since 2006.
Presented at the MXCL BNL LAB in Whittier, the exhibition reflects on two decades of binational programming that has shaped conversations around art, identity, migration, and cultural production across the California–Mexico borderlands.
LAB HoursSaturdays, 12:00 PM – 5:00 PMor by appointment

Here & There, Then & Now brings together selected works, archival documentation, and reconstructed projects from past MexiCali Biennial programs. The exhibition offers visitors a rare opportunity to encounter the evolving history of the Biennial through artworks, installations, photographs, and materials that trace the organization’s collaborative and experimental spirit.
Over the past twenty years, the MexiCali Biennial has worked with more than 150 artists across a wide range of media including installation, video, sculpture, performance, and socially engaged practices. Projects have unfolded in museums, galleries, public spaces, private homes, swap meets, and community sites across the Californias, emphasizing accessibility, dialogue, and the fluid exchange of ideas across borders.
Participating artists include:
Carlos Beltrán Aréchiga, Andrew Armstrong, Pablo Castañeda & Eduardo Kintero, Carmina Escobar, Ed Gómez, Fidel Hernandez, Luis G. Hernandez, Rebeca Hernandez, Albert Lopez Jr., Matt MacFarland, Ruben Ochoa, Nancy Popp, Mike Rogers, Paulina Sanchez, Jessica Sevilla, Sergio Teran, Diane Williams

Book Launch
Coinciding with the exhibition is the release of the bilingual publication: MexiCali Biennial: Art, Actions, Exchanges Since 2006
Produced in collaboration with The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum (The Cheech), this publication provides the first comprehensive account of the MexiCali Biennial’s twenty-year history. Featuring scholarly essays, artist–curator dialogues, and extensive image galleries, the book documents the evolving themes and artistic contributions that have defined the Biennial since its founding.
More than a catalogue, the book serves as an archive of a transborder art movement and a record of the artists and communities who have shaped it.
Contributors include Amy Sara Carroll, Amy Pederson Converse, JV Decemirale, Guillermo Estrada, Alejandro Espinoza Galindo, Maria Esther Fernandez, Ed Gomez, Luis G. Hernandez, April Lillard-Gomez, Emmanuel Ortega, Rubén Ortiz Torres, Rosalía Romero, Sam Romo-White, Joaquin Segura, and Pilar Tompkins Rivas.
The publication will be available for purchase online, at the MXCL BNL LAB and at The Cheech.
