Mexico City is like no other I have ever experienced.   A city of extremes drenched in traditional values yet radically liberalised in recent years. A vast sprolling metropolis with ample breathing space.  The world’s richest man lives and walks amongst some of the poorest.  Perhaps it is it’s antiquity or turbulant past or the gentle hum of the city but something takes hold and resonates inside you long after you leave.

There are over 22 million people living in the city, making it the third largest city in the world.  I travelled the equivalent distance of Glasgow to Dundee, Dundee to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Glasgow to view one art gallery.  Euthanasia is legal. Every Sunday morning the current mayor, Marcelo Ebrarad, closes the main motor thoroughfares to traffic allowing cyclists and skateboarders free access to the city’s roads. Venders sell hand-cooked crisps (better than Kettle Crisps) on the street corners. Mexican’s eat chilli lime and salt with everything.

Galleries and or sights of interest in no particular order:
Roja Artspace, House of Gaga, OMR, PerrosNegros Palcio De Bellas Artes, Teotihuacán, Arróniz, MUCA, Coyoacán, Museo Frida Kahlo, Museo Léon Trotsky, Ciudad Universitaria Biblioteca Central, Espacio Escultórico, Galería Nina Menocal, Torre Latinoamericana,  Cuauhtémoc, Museo Nacionel De Antropologia, Condesa y Roma.

I also made a zine entitled Chilli Lime Salt which you can download here.

an installation by artist Morelos Leon Celis

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GI Overview by Gayle Meikle.

Censta commissioned me to create an overview of the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2010.  This involved visiting all venues and events during the 3 weeks fest and then editing together a little bitesize chunk hopefully capturing the tremdous quality and variety of the festival.  The video is currently being screened at the GOMA as part of their education programme.  Thanks to all the artists, galleries and speakers who participated, my crew – Andy Sim, Ross Hamilton Frew and Ellen Mason, Censta, Gi and Alan Miller.

Music is by Gerrard from Findo Gask.

Heidi and I are sat at the front of the auditorium, doing some live blogging. Excuse the typos…

Mel Woods is hosting. As well as being head of various postgrad programmes at DJCAD, Mel’s also an artist. She’s talking about some of her projects, including Serendipitous Arena, a project that starts in June 2010.

First up, it’s Yuck ‘n Yum, who are here to talk about their fanzine. Ben and Gail are part of a collective of four who see themselves as a distribution conduit for emerging artists. They’re based in Dundee. But they’re interested in artists based across the nation. They distribute the fanzine every 3 or 4 months (which people who are here are now looking at.)

They started producting the zine in 2005. It began as a DIY project, but quickly grew. They’re funded through a couple of sources, including the Hannah Maclure centre. All of their issues are online on their website – www.yucknyum.com. And you can download and print them – printing on demand they call it.

Yuck ‘n Yum hold events outwith a gallery a setting. They want to engage with the public outside ‘the white cube.’ They want to encourage up and coming artists to engage and perform. All for a fee.

Projects in the past have included handing out free art, free music. Also a bluetooth project called Turn Your Bluetooth On in Inverness. As part of their Windows in the City exhibition they distributed video and audio art via bluetooth to the patrons of a local carpark. Starting point = stupid supermarket campaigns. Why not work that to make it creative?

And moving forward…next launch is early April. Including a submissions deadline. (So then, to get into the new issue of the zine, you send stuff in by the 15th March. Just send a jpeg to submissions@yucknyum.com. They’re keen on AV too – for the website.) They’re also making a mix-tape for KYTN (Arika’s baby – they’re talking later – watch this space.) Plus Annual General Karaoke’s coming up. The idea: get artists to make videos, send them in, do a karaoke night. Like an Annual General Meeting, except not. Possibly including cash prizes. Oh yes.

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To find out what Dundee Popup was all about or to read more reviews & blogs  from the day, click here.