Our Community & Enduring Collaborations
Our Commitment to Making Our Community Stronger
We understand community as the necessary space where resistance, knowledge and ethics intersect; a commitment to imagine a collective present, past, and future where we all participate and the well-being of everyone is not only considered but necessary. As Audre Lorde famously wrote, “without community, there is no liberation... but community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.” To imagine that creative practices and cultural exchanges can forge deep connections, expand communications and develop a profound understanding of different cultures, only reinforces the long history of colonization and exploitation, as well as the displacement of people and forced occupation of land, particularly in Mexico, Peru, and Italy.For more than a decade, we have listened and learned from the incredible and diverse communities we have had the privilege to work with, and reciprocity has become the common language that keeps us connected. From the institutional collaborations with museums and universities to the more intimate spaces we share with foreign and local artists, instructors and their families, to the vulnerable and complex community and grassroots projects, through the years, we have developed horizontal relationships and a solid system of trust building beyond all language and cultural barriers, to challenge all forms of dominant differences.
We welcome all creative professionals to our transcultural community which is receptive, constantly changing and highly diverse. Arquetopia is one of the fewest art organizations worldwide that does not discriminate, and that actually prioritizes diversity in terms of nationality, gender, race, age and stages in professional careers. Our residencies are the spaces where history and place are constantly being challenged; from global experiences to local perspectives, we frame encounters as opportunities for change, confronting the idea of traditions vs. knowledge and the extractive legacy of cultural tourism in the search other ways of learning from each other.
Arquetopia has become a node of relational webs, connecting numerous and diverse artists, writers, scholars, designers, and creative professionals from all over the world, with multiple cultural ecosystems and their potential to nurture everyone. In contrast with other residencies, our programs offer a generous space to renegotiate the burden of historical relations of power; more than just creative practices or art techniques they become opportunities for knowledge to change us all. Becoming part of a community requires a commitment of time, not only to learn but to become familiar in the most generous sense, experience is fundamental. This is also why our residency programs cannot be shortened or condensed into a few days or fewer weeks like other organizations are willing to offer. To introduce someone to a community is to be entrusted, an invitation to commit and assume the responsibility for the learning, safety and well-being of everyone.
We have collaborated and continue to work with a multiplicity of local artists, experts, students, scholars and institutions, across disciplines, techniques and cultural practices including each of the following:
PUEBLA, MEXICO
SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS & DIGITAL ARTS, BUAP • DISTINGUISHED AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF PUEBLA • JOSÉ MARÍA LAFRAGUA LIBRARY, BUAP • NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY, REGIONAL CENTER • JUAN CRISÓSTOMO MÉNDEZ PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE • VICENTE TEÓDULO SOUND ARCHIVE • PUEBLA MUSEUM OF EVOLUTION • NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM • ERASTO CORTÉS PRINTMAKING MUSEUM • URIARTE TALAVERA • SAN PEDRO CHOLULA • SAN PABLO DEL MONTE • SAN ANDRÉS CHOLULA • MUNICIPAL ARCHIVE OF PUEBLA
OAXACA, MEXICO
SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS OF THE DISTINGUISHED BENITO JUÁREZ AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF OAXACA • TEXTILE MUSEUM OF OAXACA • SANTO TOMÁS JALIEZA • SANTA ANA ZEGACHE • SAN ANTONINO CASTILLO DE VELASCO • SANTA MARÍA ATZOMPA • SAN PABLO ETLA • SAN AUGUSTÍN ETLA • SAN ANTONIO ARRAZOLA • SAN MARTÍN TILCAJETE • JOYEROS DE LA NORIA • SAN JUAN GUELAVÍA • TEOTITLÁN DEL VALLE • SAN MATEO DEL MAR • SAN BARTOLO COYOTEPEC
CUSCO, PERU
CHARLIE QUISPE & CO. • DIEGO QUISPE TITO NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, CALCA • QORIKANCHA CONVENT OF SANTO DOMINGO MUSEUM • CHINCHERO TEXTILES • CALCA • HUAYPO GRANDE • AWANAKANCHA • MUNICIPAL ARCHIVE OF CUSCO