MXCL BNL LAB Grand Opening and Isidro Pérez García: Por Debajo de la Mesa: Terreno Familiar | Under the Table: Familiar Terrain
2024-10-05 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
OPENING RECEPTION – The MexiCali Biennial is pleased to announce the inaugural exhibition and official opening of the MXCL BNL LAB (MexiCali Biennial Lab). Join us for Isidro Pérez García‘s solo exhibition Por Debajo de la Mesa: Terreno Familiar | Under the Table: Familiar Terrain. MXCL BNL LAB kicks off a two-year special initiative, the PARA/normal Borders Lab, which will allow a deep dive into concepts surrounding the upcoming 2026 MexiCali Biennial. The “LAB” consists of outposts in Calexico, CA at alternative exhibition space Casa la linea arte contemporáneo and in Uptown Whittier, CA. The Whittier location houses a space for rotating exhibitions, the MexiCali Biennial archive, and a soon-to-be released podcast series, titled the PARA/normal Borders Lab Podcast. “Secret” gallery located in the restroom currently displaying AI generated art. Click HERE for more information on the MXCL BNL LAB.
Grand opening event sponsors include Brewjeria Company. DJ set by Blythe Bizzczar.

MXCL BNL LAB is made possible with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Isidro Pérez García: Por Debajo de la Mesa: Terreno Familiar | Under the Table: Familiar Terrain
2024-10-05 18:00 - 2024-11-16 17:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
The MexiCali Biennial is pleased to announce the inaugural exhibition and official opening of the MXCL BNL LAB (MexiCali Biennial Lab). Join us for Isidro Pérez García‘s solo exhibition Por Debajo de la Mesa: Terreno Familiar | Under the Table: Familiar Terrain which revisits the communal project previously showcased at the borderlands for Land of Milk & Honey. Centered around a large scale table and chairs, the artist explores his familial connection to the way of life in the biocultural archives of plants – such as tule and maguey – that are shared across borders. This cross-border weaving collaboration con tule was created in collaboration with Don Irineo Rivera Honorato and family (maestros artesanos), Los Invisibles de Santa Ana (Santa Ana, CA), Colectivo ProArte (Michoacán, MX), and Plan Acalli (Xochimilco, MX). Learn more about the artist HERE.
FULL PRESS KIT

The MXCL BNL LAB embarks on a two-year special initiative, the PARA/normal Borders Lab, which will allow a deep dive into concepts surrounding the upcoming 2026 MexiCali Biennial. With outposts in Calexico, CA and Whittier, CA this special initiative will focus on the borderlands through the cultural production of the Californias.
The lab invites artists, culture bearers, humanities experts and local participants to engage in conversations through a series of exhibitions, salon style gatherings, oral histories, and community workshops, with the aim to collect a better understanding of our “borders” both real and metaphorical. Learn more HERE.

Mini Chair Weaving Workshop and Closing Event
2024-11-16 14:00 - 17:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
WHITTIER – Join us for a mini chair weaving workshop by artist Isidro Pérez García. This closing event project invites community members to create their own mini woven chair that can function as a cell phone stand. Space is limited. RSVP required. Register below.

CLOSED for Install
2024-11-17 08:00 - 2024-12-07 17:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
MXCL BNL LAB – Whittier is CLOSED for install and will reopen on December 7th, 6 – 9 pm. for OFF THE WALL fundraiser event.

Rancho Shampoo: Almendroides in Calexico 2.0
2024-11-30 19:00 - 22:00 UTC | casa la linea – arte contemporaneo, 947 E 1st St, Calexico, CA, 92231, United States
CALEXICO – MXCL BNL LAB at Casa la linea arte contemporaneo presents Rancho Shampoo and the Indian Dub Orchestra. This one night event will feature a film screening of the short film Aliendigenismo: Rancho Shampoo & The Indian Dub Orchestra. The group will accompany the film with a musical performance.

OFF THE WALL Fundraiser
2024-12-07 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
WHITTIER – Please join us for an “OFF THE WALL” fundraising event. Collect works from accomplished artists living and working in California and Mexico. This is a great opportunity to begin or expand your art collection and support the cultural production of the borderlands. All works will be priced at or below $500!! Join us for drinks and small bites at the MXCL BNL LAB in Uptown Whittier. Main event will take place on Saturday, December 7th from 6 – 9 p.m. where you can purchase works “off the wall”. Remaining works will be available Saturday, December 14th from 12 – 5 p.m.
CLICK FOR FULL PRESS KIT
Participating Artists:
Francis Almendárez, Fred Alvarado, Carlos Beltran Arechiga, Raul Baltazar, Gómez Bueno, William Camargo, Enrique Castrejon, Emily C-D, Tamara Cedré, Michelle Chong, xavier cázares cortéz, Victoria Delgadillo, Deliuz, Guillermo Estrada, Edgar Fabián Frías, Isidro Pérez García, Melora Garcia, Ed Gomez, Frankie Gutierrez, Luis Hernandez, Katie Herzog, Cynthia Hooper, Kristi Lippire, Maya Mackrandilal, Nancy Popp, Enid Baxter Ryce, Paulina Sanchez, Mariangeles Soto-Diaz, Sergio Teran, Matt Wardell, Diane Williams, Marcus Zúñiga…and more!!

Closed for Install
2024-12-18 08:00 - 2025-01-25 18:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Join us on January 25th for a new exhibition!

OPENING RECEPTION - Ed Gomez: Sacred Disruption
2025-01-25 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Join us for Ed Gomez: Sacred Disruption, a solo exhibition and retrospective. This will also be a birthday celebration for Gomez’s 50th birthday and curator Armando Pulido. Let’s dance and have cake!

Ed Gomez: Sacred Disruption
2025-01-25 18:00 - 2025-03-08 17:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
WHITTIER – Sacred Disruption is a solo exhibition by MexiCali Biennial co-founder and director Ed Gomez at MXCL BNL LAB Whittier as part of the PARA/normal Borders Lab. Curated by Armando Pulido.
For nearly 25 years, Ed Gomez – artist, curator, educator, and co-founder of the MexiCali Biennial – has interrogated power structures with every proverbial hat he wears. Ed Gomez: Sacred Disruption traces this cyclical critique through the languages of painting, sculpture, and design within the artist’s practice. The exhibition brings together work from across the artist’s practice, particularly highlighting the ways he has used space exploration, extraterrestrial presence, and apocalyptic myths to make sense of political realities involving surveillance, policing, and control in the United States.
Before assuming his current role as Associate Professor of Studio Art at California State University, San Bernardino, Gomez worked several jobs as an art preparator and handler for various museums and private organizations. Combined with his firm dedication to the aesthetic production from the borderlands, Gomez is uniquely positioned to critique and disrupt the intricacies of art history, classroom education, law enforcement, and even cultural conspiracy. Ed Gomez: Sacred Disruption thus brings us into the mind of the muti-faceted artist, culminating in recent explorations of the sacred and universal as a potential path into the unknown.
CLICK HERE FOR PRESS KIT

MXCL BNL LAB Whittier Closed for Install
2025-03-11 08:00 - 2025-03-22 17:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Closed through March 22. Join us then for ALMA ENTRE DOS MUNDOS: Aldo Cervantes & Amina Cruz.

Opening Reception: Alma Entre Dos Mundos
2025-03-22 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Please join us for the opening reception for Alma Entre Dos Mundos, an exhibition that brings together the work of Amina Cruz and Aldo Cervantes.
Working across Los Angeles and San Diego/Tecate, respectively, Cruz and Cervantes utilize the photographic medium to investigate the omnipresent feeling of being caught between the worlds of the United States and Mexico. The artists capture built, communal, and natural landscapes to reflect on the intimate processes of healing and mourning both within their personal communities and shared spiritual connections along the borderlands. The exhibition’s title borrows the words of Chicana cultural theorist Gloria Anzaldúa as an homage to her critical investigations on the entangled colonial, gendered, and spiritual legacies of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Alma Entre Dos Mundos
2025-03-22 18:00 - 2025-05-17 17:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
The MexiCali Biennial is pleased to announce Alma Entre Dos Mundos as part of the PARA/normal Borders program at the MXCL BNL LAB. Bringing together the work of Amina Cruz and Aldo Cervantes, the exhibition examines the U.S.-Mexico border as a porous site between spiritual realms. Working across Los Angeles and San Diego/Tecate, respectively, Cruz and Cervantes utilize the photographic medium to investigate the omnipresent feeling of being caught between the worlds of the United States and Mexico. The artists capture built, communal, and natural landscapes to reflect on the intimate processes of healing and mourning both within their personal communities and shared spiritual connections along the borderlands. The exhibition’s title borrows the words of Chicana cultural theorist Gloria Anzaldúa as an homage to her critical investigations on the entangled colonial, gendered, and spiritual legacies of the U.S.-Mexico border.
This exhibition is curated by Armando Pulido.
CLICK FOR PRESS RELEASE.

Salon/Curator Walkthrough: ALMA ENTRE DOS MUNDOS
2025-04-12 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Join us for the second MXCL BNL LAB Salon Series as curator Armando Pulido guides audience members through the conceptual shaping of ALMA ENTRE DOS MUNDOS at MXCL BNL LAB followed by a discussion of the role of photography as a tool for cultural preservation and historical revisions. This event is free and open to the public.
This project is made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation and the California Humanities, a partner of the NEH.

Haunting Present, Vol. I
2025-04-26 19:00 - 23:00 UTC | casa la linea – arte contemporaneo, 947 E 1st St, Calexico, CA, 92231, United States
CALEXICO – Haunting Present is a series of screenings, performances, and listening sessions that explore the medium as a space for the ghostly, and its relationship to the archive, the moving image, and technology.
Framed within the notion of hauntology, these activations stem from the idea that certain elements of the past—social, political, cultural, affective—continue to insist upon the present, without being entirely alive or entirely absent. Like ghosts, they appear in the form of images, sounds, or gestures that persist, reemerge, and call out to us.
As the philosopher Jacques Derrida once said, “to be possessed by a ghost… means to remember something you have never lived. Because memory is the past that has never taken the form of the present.” In this sense, Haunting Present examines how archives and recording technologies—especially cinema, understood as “the art of allowing ghosts to return”—confront us with spectral presences: memories that are not our own, stories that inhabit us, voices that still speak to us.
In this context, the videos and recordings that make up the series activate a ventriloquial capacity: they give voice to local reflections that nonetheless speak from and toward other places. These activations open up a space for spectral listening, where the ghosts of the archive and of the present take form—even if only for a moment.
Haunting Present, Vol. I will take place on Saturday, April 26, from 7 to 11 p.m. at Casa la línea arte contemporáneo, located at 947 E. 1st St., Calexico, CA.

Artists: Maria Jose Crespo, Mariana Medrano, Talia Pérez Gilbert, Josh Tonies, Danila Cervantes & Jacquelin Zazueta, Fidelius X
Programs curated by Rosela del Bosque, Adrián Pereda Vidal, and Luis G. Hernández for the MexiCali Biennial.
CALEXICO – Haunting Present es una serie de proyecciones, performances y sesiones de escucha que exploran el medio como espacio de lo fantasmal, y su relación con el archivo, la imagen en movimiento y la tecnología.
Enmarcado en la noción de hauntología, estas activaciones parten de la idea de que ciertos elementos del pasado —sociales, políticos, culturales, afectivos— insisten en el presente sin estar del todo vivos ni del todo ausentes. Como fantasmas, aparecen en forma de imágenes, sonidos o gestos que persisten, reaparecen, y nos interpelan.
Como decía el filósofo Jacques Derrida, “estar poseído por un fantasma… significa recordar algo que no se ha vivido. Pues la memoria es el pasado que nunca ha tomado la forma del presente”. En este sentido, Haunting Present examina en cómo los archivos y las tecnologías de registro —especialmente el cine, entendido como “el arte de permitir que los fantasmas regresen”— nos confrontan con presencias espectrales: memorias que no son nuestras, historias que nos habitan, voces que aún nos hablan.
En este contexto, los videos y registros que conforman la serie activan una habilidad ventrílocua: dan voz a reflexiones locales que, sin embargo, hablan desde y hacia otros lugares. Estas activaciones abren espacio a una escucha espectral, donde los fantasmas del archivo y del presente toman cuerpo, aunque solo sea por un momento.
Haunting Present, Vol. I se llevará a cabo el sábado 26 de abril, de 7 a 11 p.m., en Casa la línea arte contemporáneo, ubicada en 947 E. 1st St., Calexico, CA
Artistas: Maria Jose Crespo, Mariana Medrano, Talia Pérez Gilbert, Josh Tonies, Danila Cervantes & Jacquelin Zazueta, Fidelius X
Programas curados por Rosela del Bosque, Adrián Pereda Vidal y Luis G. Hernández para la Bienal de MexiCali.

Cyanotype Workshop
2025-05-10 12:00 - 14:30 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Join us for a cyanotype workshop led by artist Amina Cruz. Create a unique sun-powered photograph using organic materials. Bring your own or use materials provided. Free and open to the public. First come first served. Space and materials are limited.
This project is made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation and the California Humanities, a partner of the NEH.

MXCL BNL LAB Closed for Install
2025-05-19 08:00 - 2025-05-31 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR INSTALL
Please visit us starting Saturday, May 31 for Adrián Pereda Vidal | Sonic Meditations: Synthesizing the Supernatural

Adrián Pereda Vidal | Sonic Meditations: Synthesizing the Supernatural
2025-05-31 12:00 - 2025-07-05 17:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
The MexiCali Biennial presents Sonic Meditations: Synthesizing the Supernatural, Adrián Pereda Vidal’s ephemeral sound exhibition at the MXCL BNL LAB for the PARA/normal Borders program. The artist has created three distinct soundworks which will play simultaneously to inhabit the LAB. The installation invites visitors to immerse themselves in a paranormal state of contemplation as they explore the layered soundscape from shifting physical perspectives in the gallery. Sonic Meditations explores the idea that paranormal experiences – such as an inexplicable bump in the night or a sudden silence – are epiphenomena: perceptible traces of something that exists just beyond our world. Synthesized graphics projected on the gallery wall will generate in response to the modulations of the soundworks, producing a visual epiphenomenon of this sonic presence. The artist will inaugurate the exhibition with a live performance on opening day.
Sonic Meditations: Synthesizing the Supernatural is curated by Sam-Romo White for the MexiCali Biennial’s current research project, the PARA/normal Borders Lab at the MXCL BNL LAB.
PRESS RELEASE
MXCL BNL LAB is open Saturdays from 12 noon – 5 PM, by chance, or by appointment.

OPENING RECEPTION | Sonic Meditations: Synthesizing the Supernatural
2025-05-31 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Join us for the Opening Reception for Adrián Pereda Vidal | Sonic Meditations: Synthesizing the Supernatural. The artist will be performing a sound and visual piece live at 8:00 PM.
More on the exhibition HERE.

This is not a homage. A Mini-Epic Tale of Alien Assault: Yízus the man and the Kiosko Boys | Alejandro Espinoza
2025-06-26 19:00 - 22:00 UTC | Arista 1701, Colonia Nueva, Mexicali, Baja, Mexico
This is not a homage. A Mini-Epic Tale of Alien Assault: Yízus the man and the Kiosko Boys by Alejandro Espinoza is a conversation and virtual walk through both current and vanished sites featured in the narrative journey of the novel Yízus the Man y los Kiosko Boys, with the aim of creating a memory-based map where literary fiction intersects with the recent history of the city of Calexico. This will be based on the reading and presentation of excerpts from the novel, which recounts encounters and missed connections with characters and locations that were part of the life of its author, the recently deceased writer, translator, and musician Juan Di Bella, during the years he clandestinely crossed the border to work in the San Diego State University library.
Drawing from the classic structure of the “hero’s journey” found in The Odyssey and later in James Joyce’s Ulysses, in his novel, Di Bella fashioned himself as an autofictional character who lived out these everyday adventures “on the other side.” After crossing the border—a threshold between two realities—he would enter a world both hyperreal and fantastical. Like Odysseus or Joyce’s Leopold Bloom, Di Bella’s narrative is populated by ghostly figures of the city: the homeless, junkies, street workers—figures who are both present and absent in a borderland reality whose history disperses like dust in the wind.
This is not a homage. A Mini-Epic Tale of Alien Assault: Yízus the man and the Kiosko Boys is a Haunting Present event, a PARA/normal Borders program at Arista 1701 in Mexicali, B.C.
Haunting Present programs curated by Rosela del Bosque, Adrián Pereda Vidal, and Luis G. Hernández for the MexiCali Biennial.

PARA/normal Borders Supper Club #1: Land of Milk & Honey
2025-06-28 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
Please join us for the first in a series of dinner events where guests are invited to share paranormal experiences, urban legends, and personal stories while enjoying a delicious meal. This family-style meal will take place at a private residence in Whittier, CA. Details will be sent prior to the event. Tickets are $100 and include a 3-course meal, drinks and an original artwork (combined $150 value). Purchase tickets below.
PARA/normal Borders Supper Club is a series of happenings centered around the act of consuming food along with casual conversations of the supernatural. Beginning in June 2025, the inaugural Summer Series of the Supper Club will take place at monthly installments throughout Southern California, with invited artists and creatives curating and preparing meals around selected themes. Participants will also receive an original signed print/menu as part of the ticketed event.
The PARA/normal Borders Supper Club is part of the MexiCali Biennial’s Creative Fundraising initiative to fill gaps in funding from recent cuts to arts and humanities grants.
Email info@mexicalibiennial.org with any questions or concerns including dietary restrictions and substitutions before ordering.
PARA/normal Borders Supper Club #1: Land of Milk & Honey
This menu is inspired by the MexiCali Biennial 2022-2023 series, titled Land of Milk & Honey – a series that examined historical, cultural, and political relationships through topics relating to agriculture and foodways. April Lillard-Gomez, the organization’s Director of Special Projects and a classically trained chef, creates a menu reflective of her upbringing in Oklahoma through a selection of hearty, approachable, and a little bit kitschy courses. As a celiac, she has dedicated her passion for food into crafting gluten-free versions of classic Southern “granny-inspired” foods that are just as comforting as the original. The entire menu is gluten free and made in a dedicated gluten free kitchen.
VIEW FULL MENU HERE
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April Lillard-Gomez is a curator, writer, and program director of the MexiCali Biennial. As a member of the Biennial’s curatorial team, her research and writing on borderlands art and history have featured in numerous exhibitions and catalogs, as well as the Biennial’s recently published research guide with the Library of Congress. She serves as lead grant writer for the Biennial, which has received numerous awards from sponsors such as the Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and California Humanities. A classically trained chef, Lillard-Gomez also organizes food happenings and events across Southern California, including the pop-up dinners “A Feast for Calafia” and “The Island of California.” Originally from Oklahoma, she is based in Los Angeles and co-runs MXCL BNL LAB, the Biennial’s new dedicated research facility and exhibition space.

OPENING RECEPTION | María José Crespo: Screen Memories
2025-07-19 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Join us for a public reception for María José Crespo: Screen Memories, an immersive, research-driven installation that explores Tijuana as a haunted city saturated with sensorial excess, systemic violence, and poetic resonance.

María José Crespo: Screen Memories
2025-07-19 18:00 - 2025-08-30 17:00 UTC | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Screen Memories, a solo exhibition by María José Crespo, is an immersive, research-driven installation that explores Tijuana as a haunted city saturated with sensorial excess, systemic violence, and poetic resonance. This project proposes a counter-infrastructure through a speculative data center where ghosts, understood as social figures, lead us into fractured temporalities and hidden memory circuits. This “data center” stages a confrontation between institutional records, found archives, sensorial traces, and fictional artifacts, challenging the ways we construct and access history in a border town defined by control, surveillance, and erasure.
Screen Memories is curated by Rosela del Bosque as part of the MexiCali Biennial’s PARA/normal Borders Lab.
LEARN MORE

PARA/normal Borders Supper Club #2: Pulque vs. Chicha: A Chinga-la-Migra Meal
2025-07-26 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
This communal dinner event – imagined by multi-media artist Isidro Perez Garcia – invites guests to dine on traditional foods and drinks from the Americas including tostadas, tlacoyos or tamales de chipilin, and nieve de tuna, pulque, chicha morada, and agua fresca.
This dinner series invites artists/creatives/chefs to craft food and drinks that translocate between distinctive settings in private residences and creative spaces across Southern and Baja Californias. Supper Club attendees are invited to share paranormal experiences, urban legends, and personal stories while enjoying a delicious meal.
The PARA/normal Borders Supper Club is currently by invite only. Click below to join the waitlist.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN WAITLIST

Isidro Pérez García (aka ChiloTe) is a borderless artist from Santa Ana, CA and Atotonilco El Grande, Hidalgo, México. He uses various artistic media in his artwork, drawing on his perspective as a formerly undocumented migrant and a campesino urbano. After more than twenty years living undocumented in the US, he received his US residency and quit his job in a furniture-making factory to pursue his BFA from CalArts and his MFA from UCSD. His thesis artwork was awarded the David Antin Prize from UCSD and the Graduating Artist Award from ICA San Diego. He was recently named a California Arts Council, Established Artists Fellow grantee, and his work with maguey plants was featured in a special project with the US Library of Congress. His artwork has been shown at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture, ICA San Diego, and the University of Virginia, among others.
PARA/normal Borders Supper Club is a special project of the PARA/normal Borders Lab, a multi-year research initiative that examines the U.S.-Mexico borderlands as a supernatural zone. Experimental projects including the Supper Club aim to engage participants in conversations through a series of exhibitions, salon style gatherings, oral histories, and community workshops, with the aim to collect a better understanding of our “borders” both real and metaphoric. The Supper Club Series is organized by April Lillard-Gomez for the MexiCali Biennial.

Art Workshop: Self-Portraits, Poems and Possibility
2025-08-02 13:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
FREE Art Workshop led by Whittier – based Artist / Educator Luis Vega.
Self-Portraits, Poems and Possibility is a pop-in workshop where participants can explore self-identity through image and text. This workshop is geared toward participants ages 12 & up but can be adapted for all ages.

Art Talk: María José Crespo & Rosela del Bosque
2025-08-22 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Join us for a dialogue between artist María José Crespo and curator Rosela del Bosque in regards to Screen Memories currently on view at MXCL BNL LAB. This free program invites the attendees to explore the exhibition through topics related to the border region, including surveillance assets and the otherworldly data centers that hold them.
If you follow a ghost in a border city, where does it lead you? In Screen Memories, the answer is: to a data center.
María José Crespo (b.1991) completed a BA in Fine Art at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Tijuana and a MA in Fine Art at Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. Her research looks into the porous space between territory, language, limits, and the body, and how this space can be understood by extending the way they relate to each other as gestures in different materialities. By questioning how she inhabits certain boundaries as a woman, she is interested in studying remains and traces
that administrative powers leave behind in unclear territories.
Rosela del Bosque (Mexicali, 1997) is a curator, art historian, and professor. Her work explores ways of addressing ecological loss and degradation mediated by process-oriented artistic research, archives, and curatorial practice. She holds a BA in ArtHistory from Universidad de las Américas Puebla and a Master of Advanced Studies in Curating from Zurich University of the Arts. She currently serves as Associate Curator at Museo Jumex in Mexico City. Additionally, she is a curator at Planta Libre (Mexicali) and part of the Archivo Familiar del Río Colorado collaborative project.
Alongside curator Daniela Lieja Quintanar, she is co-curating the mid-career survey exhibition Ingrid Hernández, 20 años de arte under construction to be presented at Centro Cultural Tijuana. Additionally, she is a professor at the School of Arts, Mexicali UABC, and assistant curator of the next MexiCali Biennial edition PARA/normal Borders.

PARA/normal Borders Supper Club 3: Asada/Transborder Aesthetics - Part II
2025-09-06 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
This event is at capacity. If you RSVP’d but have not received directions/information, please email info@mexicalibiennial.org. Thank you.
The PARA/normal Borders Supper Club continues by bringing a traditional Mexicali-style asada with an extra-terrestrial twist as imagined by Colectivo Bajaghost and Bibiana Padilla Maltos. Asada/Transborder Aesthetics – Part II will be held at a private residence in Whittier. The evening will include Tortilla borderiza – a durational performance evoking a combination of mail art hand carved stamping and ceremonial tortillas. This border tortilla is meant to summon the period in which the chain link fence was taken down completely to be replaced with the 30-foot metal beam. A brief moment in which there was a ghost of a fence, an invisible force, a nothingness.
Thank you to our drink sponsor Brewjeria Company.
Details will be sent prior to the dinner. Please read this page in its entirety if interested in attending.
Menu:

About PARA/normal Borders Supper Club:
This dinner series invites artists/creatives/chefs to craft food and drinks that translocate between distinctive settings in private residences and creative spaces across Southern and Baja Californias. Supper Club attendees are invited to share paranormal experiences, urban legends, and personal stories while enjoying a delicious meal. These happenings are part of the MexiCali Biennial’s PARA/normal Borders Lab, whose aim is to share, listen, and evaluate stories in order to gain a better understanding of our “borders” both real and metaphorical and to inform and shape the upcoming 2026 -27 MexiCali Biennial.
ATTENTION: To attend Supper Club, there is a two-step process. First, please fill out the attendant waiver form. Read through in its entirety and answer the simple prompts. You must fill out the waiver to attend MexiCali Biennial, Inc. food-related event. Second, make sure to RSVP below. If you have not received info by September 5, email info@mexicalibiennial.org. *Supper Club events are currently PAY WHAT YOU CAN. We welcome donations to the MexiCali Biennial through PayPal , Venmo , and Zelle. You can pay before, during, or after the dinner. Any amount helps fund future events. PLEASE RSVP BELOW.

Opening Reception of ANGER IS AN ENERGY with live screenprinting
2025-09-13 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Join us for the opening reception of ANGER IS AN ENERGY: The Punk Alchemy of Miyo & Usen Print Editions
Live screenprinting event during opening night led by Dewey Tafoya, lead printer & Assistant Director of the Professional Printmaking Program at Self Help Graphics. Bring your own t-shirt and a $5 donation. All funds donated to CHIRLA.
Read more about the exhibition HERE.

ANGER IS AN ENERGY: The Punk Alchemy of Miyo & Usen Print Editions
2025-09-13 18:00 - 2025-10-18 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
ANGER IS AN ENERGY: The Punk Alchemy of Miyo & Usen Print Editions explores the themes of knowledge/connection with the land, collaboration, and experimentation in the printmaking and collaborative print projects of artists Miyo Stevens-Gandara and Usen Gandara. Based in Whittier, California, these master printmakers are pillars of the printmaking community in Los Angeles.
Known for their attention to quality, generosity of research spirit, and a delicacy of technique capable of printerly punk alchemy, this exhibition celebrates their devotion to the craft, and their commitment to the community of printmakers on LA’s Eastside and beyond. Through curated exhibitions, publications and handmade print portfolios, the artist team have documented and exhibited printmakers from Indiana to Puerto Rico to East Los Angeles. The finely-made print portfolios, as such, are an immutable and movable platform for knowing, sharing and making the worlds we hold in common; connecting us all to the broader graphic universe.
CURATORIAL OVERVIEW HERE
ANGER IS AN ENERGY features collaborative works by:
Pável Acevedo, Kay Brown, Ada Pullini Brown, Leslie Dolin, Alex Fridrich-Ward, Usen Gandara, Miyo Stevens-Gandara, Luis Genaro Garcia, J.Leigh Garcia, Natalie M. Godinez, Margaret Griffith, Rogelio Gutierrez, Jackie Hernandez, Phung Huynh, Dongeun Lee, Kelvin Lopez, Rosalie Lopez, Sandra Low, Poli Marichal, Álvaro D. Márquez, Kimiko Miyoshi, Dalila Paola Mendez, Wayne Perry, Gisela Ramirez, Sandy Rodriguez, Victor Rosas, Marianne Sadowski, Dewey Tafoya, Alex Fridrich-Ward, Christian Salcedo Ward, Andi Xoch, and Joan Zamora
Live screen printing event opening night! Bring a donation and a shirt or tote to for printing! MORE INFO HERE
ANGER IS AN ENERGY is curated by JV Decemvirale.
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Networking + Mixer
2025-10-03 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Please join us on Friday, October 3rd from 6 – 9:00 p.m. at the MXCL BNL LAB – Whittier for the second in a series of salons aimed at engaging artists, humanities experts, and community members in cross-cultural exchanges through casual conversations. This event invites stakeholders within the city of Whittier and surrounding areas who are interested in shaping the cultural landscape of the region.
We invite you to participate in a discussion focused on the cultural climate of Whittier through a fun evening with fellow creatives and professionals who live and work in the area. The MXCL BNL LAB is located at 6545 Greenleaf Ave in Uptown Whittier and serves as a research arm of the MexiCali Biennial – a 501c3 arts non-profit that focuses on the cultural production within the borderlands of Mexico and California.
Agenda:
6-9 p.m. Refreshments served throughout event. Thank you to our sponsor Brewjeria Company.
6:00 Doors Open
6:30 Opening Remarks and Ice Breaker
9:00 Doors Close. We encourage you to dine and drink within the small businesses in and around Uptown Whittier.
This event is supported by the California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org. The MexiCali Biennial and the MXCL BNL LAB is supported by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation.

Artist Talk and Punk Patch Workshop
2025-10-04 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | MXCL BNL LAB, 6545 Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, CA, 90601
Join us for an artist talk by printmakers Miyo Stevens-Gandara and Usen Gandara followed by a punk patch workshop. All ages welcome. Learn about Miyo and Usen’s processes in making works for Anger is an Energy, showing at MXCL BNL LAB through October 18. Discussion followed by workshop where participants will be able to create their own “punk patch” – emblems used in punk and other subaltern cultures as a symbol of rebellious self expression. This event is free and open to the public. No registration required.
This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.
