Leading experts, architects, and archaeologists will explore cultural heritage sites and living traditions in “What Makes a Cultural Landmark? Perspectives from Mexico” in celebration of the upcoming reopening of The Met’s new galleries for the Arts of the Ancient Americas in 2025
(New York, April 29, 2024)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in partnership with World Monuments Fund (WMF), will host a program on April 30 from 6 to 7 p.m. that will explore cultural heritage sites in Mexico. “What Makes a Cultural Landmark? Perspectives from Mexico” will include a panel of experts in the fields of archaeology, architecture, and ethnobotany that will discuss landmarks in the region of Oaxaca and the significant relationship between local communities, lived traditions, and the natural landscapes. This program is presented in anticipation of the opening of The Met’s reenvisioned Michael C. Rockefeller Wing in spring 2025 and the new galleries for the Arts of the Ancient Americas, which will foreground the powerful role that landscape plays in Mesoamerican art.
“This exciting program will explore vital living traditions in Mexico through a deeply focused discussion on the rich region of Oaxaca, and we are thrilled to invite such esteemed thought leaders to reflect on the important connections between landscapes and local communities,” said Max Hollein, the Museum’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “This panel also illuminates the Museum’s ongoing engagement with colleagues in the region and the groundbreaking scholarship on Mesoamerican art that will be a critical aspect of the new galleries of the Arts of the Ancient America.”
This event will also present provide an important provides us with an important opportunity to discuss Africa’s living landmarks and traditions as well as how these critical elements will be incorporated into The Met’s new galleries,” said Max Hollein, the Museum’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “Foregrounding innovative scholarship and highlighting the Museum’s active engagement with cultural sites in Africa is integral to the reenvisioning of the galleries for African art in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, and this program is reflective of this important ongoing connection and of the rich series of upcoming events and initiatives we’ll be presenting in advance of the reopening.”
The event will begin with welcome remarks by Laura Filloy Nadal, Associate Curator at The Met in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, who will also provide an introduction to the curatorial approach that is now underway in the Museum’s galleries for the Arts of the Ancient Americas. The conversation will be moderated by Jonathan S. Bell, the World Monuments Fund’s Vice President of Programs, and include Nelly Margarita Robles García, Director of Atzompa Monumental Complex Archaeological Project, Oaxaca, INAH-Mexico; Alejandro de Ávila Blomberg, Founding Director, Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca; Omar Aguilar Sánchez (Mixtec), archaeologist; and Mauricio Rocha Iturbide, architect.
“What Makes a Cultural Landmark? Perspectives from Mexico” is part of a series of programs about cultural heritage sites in the regions represented in the collections of the Arts of the Ancient Americas, Africa, and Oceania, located in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Previously, in November 2023, the first panel in the series explored topics related to significant cultural heritage sites in Africa, including Lalibela and Tigray in Ethiopia and the Wamala and Kasubi Tombs of the Kingdom of Buganda in Uganda. Since May 2022, The Met and WMF have collaborated on the creation of digital resources to be featured throughout The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries, which will provide visitors with a more expansive view of the richness of artistic and architectural expression on the continent of Africa. The Museum also launched Africa in Focus, which encompasses the broad scope of exhibitions, partnerships, and programs that reflect The Met’s decades-long commitment to studying and presenting the arts of Africa. An upcoming event this summer will center on the uniqueness of Oceanic cultural landmarks and the role that environment plays in Oceanic art. Details about this program will be announced in the coming weeks.
About the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
The Met’s Michael C. Rockefeller Wing is undergoing a major renovation project that will reenvision its collections for a new generation of visitors. The galleries—40,000 square feet on the Museum’s south side—are being overhauled and reimagined to reintroduce the department’s three distinct collections of African art, ancient American art, and Oceanic art, displaying them as discrete elements in an overarching wing that is in dialogue with the Museum’s collection as a whole. The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing is scheduled to reopen in 2025.
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April 29, 2024
Contact: Meryl Cates
Communications@metmuseum.org
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