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Monica Mayer (Mexico City, 1954) is a Mexican artist, activist and art critic whose practice includes performance, digital graphics, drawing, photography and art theory. As a conceptual artist, curator, art critic and theorist she has been engaged in various forums and groups. Moreover, from 1988 to 2008 she has been columnist for the newspaper El Universal (Mexico) .

Trained as a visual artist at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Mexico City, she gained a master degree in Sociology of Art at the Goddard College, United States, with a thesis entitled Feminist Art: An Effective Political Tool . From 1978 to 1980, Monica Mayer participated in the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman's Building Los Angeles, California.

In 1983, with Maris Bustamante, she founded the art group Polvo de Gallina Negra (Black Hen Powder): the first feminist art collective in Mexico. Monica Mayer and Maris Bustamante's actions combined radical social criticism and humour, for example the group's name was used for feminist incantations, such as "Black Hen Powder - to protect us from the patriarchal magic which makes women disappear".

In 1989, with Víctor Lerma she created the on-going piece on the Mexican art system Pinto mi Raya whose main axle is an archive that specializes in newwspaper articles on art. The project's objective is to lubricate the art system conducting various activities, workshops and performance interventions involving other practitioners such as El Balcón del CENIDIAP, De Crítico, artista y loco..., El Mejor Amigo de los Museos. Moreover, Pinto mi Raya hosted radio programs such as "Pinto mi Raya: Donde las Artes Visuales Suenan" (ABCradio, 1999-2000) and actively participated in various activist actions as part of the artistic community.

"This experience allowed us to detect some of the most serious problems in our art system, and little by little we started turning into a platform from which we could launch applied conceptual art projects in order to try to find solutions for them. In other words, we seek to lubricate the art system so it runs more smoothly. We also decided to become nomads."

Index

Conferences (selection)

Los ríos amputados . Juarez Autonomous University of Villahermosa ( Tabasco (Mexico). 5 June 2009

Exhibitions (selection)

• Wack: Art and the Feminist Revolution. Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, USA)
• La batalla de los géneros . Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo (Santiago de Compostela, Spain). September to December 2007.
• Novela rosa o me agarró el arquetipo" Museo Carrillo Gil . Plantilla:México DF , 1987.
• National Gallery in Kingston (Jamaica)
• Candido Mendes Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
• Final&Sigue. Juarez University of Villahermosa (Tabasco, Mexico). June 2009
• Video a la mexicana. De sexo-s, amor y humor. Montehermoso Palace (Vitoria) (Spain). May to September 2010

Publications (selection)

Items of art criticism:

• Reviews by the conceptual space Pinto mi Raya.
• Columns in the newspaper El Universal (Mexico)
• Various items in Performance Research (UK)

Books:

• Rosa Chillante: Mujer y Performance en México (2004)
• Escandalario: Los artistas y la distribución del arte (2006)

Further Resources

'Mujeres en Acciòn, serie documental de performance', DVD by Josefina Alcazar featuring: Andrea Ferreyra, Edith Medina, Lorena Méndez, Lorena Orozco, Lorena Wolffer, Katnira Bello, Maris Bustamante, Thereza Lopez, Monica Mayer, Elizabeth Romero, Elvira Santamaria, Ma. Eugenia Chellet, La Congelada De Uva, Diana, Olalde, Gabriela Olivo, Katia Tirado, Nina Yhared. More info: http://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/resources/study-room