Museo Jumex by David Chipperfield Architects opens in Mexico City
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Designed by British practice David Chipperfield Architects, the highly anticipated Museo Jumex threw open its doors in Mexico City this week. The museum is a new home for one of the most significant private contemporary art collections in Latin America today, Colección Jumex. Neatly positioned within the city's upscale Polanco neighbourhood, the building sits opposite the Fernando Romero-designed Soumaya Museum and the recently unveiled Telcel Theatre.
Chipperfield's firm is said to have conceived the museum with 'distinctive shapes and materials that honour its origin and surroundings'. Vast floor-to-ceiling windows, framed in stainless steel, open the interior up towards the city, while travertine coatings and columns have been inserted with indigenous traditions in mind.
The museum features generous amounts of public space as well as a careful consideration for light: plenty of natural daylight enhances the primary exhibition spaces on the top floors. Social spaces, meanwhile, are located on lower levels in the building.
Founded by Eugenio López Alonso, the collection of seasoned contemporary art includes international art stars like Paul McCarthy, Doug Aitken, Jeff Koons and Francis Alys, as well as local names like Gabriel Kuri. Working with these great pieces is a pair of renowned international curators, Patrick Charpenel and Rosario Nadal, who will serve as director and deputy director of Fundación Jumex, respectively.
The museum opens with a trio of inaugurating shows: a major exhibition from the permanent Jumex collection; a James Lee Byars retrospective co-curated by Peter Eleey of MoMA PS1; and a major outdoor installation by celebrated Mexican artist Damian Ortega.
The new museum plays host to one of the most significant private contemporary art collections in Latin America today, Colección Jumex. Vast floor-to-ceiling windows open the interior up towards the city, while travertine coatings and columns have been inserted with indigenous traditions in mind.
The museum features generous amounts of public space as well as a careful consideration for light.
Exhibition spaces occupy the building's top floors, while social spaces are located lower in the building.
Founded by Eugenio López Alonso, this collection of seasoned contemporary art includes international names such as Francis Alys, Paul McCarthy, Doug Aitken and Jeff Koons, but also locals like Gabriel Kuri. Courtesy of Colección Jumex.
The museum opens with a major exhibition from the permanent Jumex collection, a James Lee Byars retrospective co-curated by Peter Eleey of MoMA PS1. and a major outdoor installation by celebrated Mexican artist Damian Ortega. , courtesy of Colección Jumex
Neatly positioned within the upscale Polanco neighbourhood of Mexico City. the building sits across the street from the Fernando Romero-designed Soumaya Museum and the new Telcel Theatre. courtesy of Colección Jumex
ADDRESS
Museo Jumex (opens in new tab)
Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra 303
Colonia Ampliacion Granada
11529 Mexico City
Daniel Scheffler is a storyteller for The New York Times and others. He has a travel podcast with iHeart Media called Everywhere (opens in new tab) and a Substack newsletter, Withoutmaps (opens in new tab), where he shares all his wild ways. He lives in New York with his husband and their pup.
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