TED Gopher Toxico

7/31/2019 TED Gopher Toxico

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since Brazil beat Italy in the 1994 World

Cup Final. The past two decades have

marked major shifts in the Latin Ameri-

can landscape; economic, cultural, struc-tural, and political. Heck, Brazil will host

both the World Cup in 2014, and the Sum-

mer Olympics in 2016!) Its no secret that

several countries in the region face major

challenges, and that most are still confront-

ing the forces of non-inclusive growth, in-

equality, and corruption. But (and this is a

big but) there is a rather more importanttransformation taking shape right in front

of our eyes. These are changes that could

signify a positive shift in national narra-

tives a move towards a homegrown vi-

sion of a bright future.

A number of countries in Central and South

America are discussing, for the rst time in

their histories, the possibility of jumping into

that category we call developed nations. Ine-

quality indexes throughout the region clearlyindicate that Latin America is not quite there

yet, but even a cursory look at other indica-

tors reveal that decisive steps to remedy this

are now within grasp for many. But what has

been remarkable about this transformation is

not simply a story about economic evolution,

but rather, about the power of culture and nar-

rative in this process of growth. Our personalexperiences, collective work, and the research

(and many interviews) we conducted in the

development of this project, corroborate this

change of cultural self-perception.

While each case is different, all of the pro-jects presented in this short volume have

their individual aha! moments. Margin-

alized popular graphics in Bogot are ap-

preciated with new eyes. Contemporary art

in Peru nds an outlet, even in precarious

times, in an itinerant venue. Mexico blooms

into a technological center, and Chile invests

in the future. All these projects, in small or

large ways, create new narratives for coun-tries in a region that has known its share of

tragedy. These changes visions of a feasible

future circulate generously within Latin

American countries and their regional me-

dia outlets, but often fail to reach our global

counterparts. Also, for better or for worse,

the news-making and social media dynam-ics of the XXI century are becoming a major

actor in the non-stop re-shaping of the iden-

tities in the region: while some countries

see themselves as the up-and-coming wine

exporters to the world, eco-tourism democ-

racies, or innovation hubs, others are facwith a narrative of violence and political

vision that often perpetuate and worsen t

realities of their day to day lives.

With this book we present one of our m

beloved aspects of Latin American life: h

everyday acts of creativity can veer our liv

closer to that future we dream about.

cause if there is a place where no is nevnon-negotiable, it is denitely in the a

that stretches between Mexico and the Sou

Pole. This cultural re-fashioning is achiev

by gestures of varying scale; whether it

creating complete libraries out of cardboa

and crayons, or by defying violence with m

sic and reworks, they each contribute to t

bigger picture. Imagination and syncretisso essential to the Latin American eth

must be part of these newly-imagined ide

tities that are being built right now in ea

countries imagination.

Alothas

happened

From left to right: Michelle Benaim Steiner & Lope Gutirrez-Ruiz (Gopher),Gabriella Gmez-Mont (Txico) and Alexander Wright (In-House Intl).


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Mexico City. An (im)possible city. A city rec-

reating itself constantly, built with layer upon

layer of history: from the pre-Hispanic to the

contemporary perfectly at home. It is not an

easy city, no; it never ts obediently inside

the structures of easy denitions. It holds

more people and topographies than some

countries. And its size and complexity alsomake it the perfect space for endless diver-

sity, for many worlds living in one: a verita-ble breeding ground for ideas. It holds more

museums than Paris, has the largest univer-

sity in the continent, has one of the highest

GDPs of any city, and it made gay marriage

legal before New York did. It is endless in

its creative combinational potential, and it isjust now becoming aware of this.

Mexico City is also our playground. Txico

Cultura: a hybrid of multidisciplinary plat-

form, creative think-tank, cultural salon

and an independent cultural agency. Creat-

ed as a roving catalyst, to inspire, to further

creative excellence, and to build a networkof information, intellectual resources and

connections around important conversa-

tions and ideas in Mexico City.

Our relevance is in being a catalyst and a

bridge and having a exible structure so we

can quickly spark urgent conversations with

The Gopher Illustrated emerges from the

desire to consume hefty, satisfying cultural

content that is worth keeping. Born as a pub-

lication with print and web platforms, The

Gopher Illustrated magazine was presented

as a collectible in motion an object of

record, earning a place in your shelves not

because it is static, but rather because itrepresents only the beginning of an ongo-

ing journey. We wanted to bring togetherextraordinary work visual art, ction, jour-

nalism to inspire and delight, but most of

all, to extend an invitation to engage.

Unsurprisingly, this cultural content we

sought to offer has quickly spilled beyondits pages. The Gopher has evolved into a

conversation, a collective exploration, and

an ever-expanding network of projects and

collaborations.

Today, the Gopher projects promote dia-

logue by providing inclusive and high qual-

ity platforms for emerging talents in the

arts. The magazine builds a living record ofarchival quality, which is carefully curated

and aimed for a general readership. The

the right people at the right time, and move

when each of those conversations catches

Our relevance then, paradoxically, is our des

to become irrelevant, one issue at a time.

Because of this, we have come to believe th

imagination should not have a xed su

ject. It can gravitate around certain areasstrong interest, around certain compelli

territories like strange attractors in chatheory but the moment it stands still it b

comes heavy, like concrete. And in the rea

of the mind, what does not move is dead.

So we move constantly, regroup, chan

spaces, and make more and more allies, d

pending on the project at hand. In additito hosting international workshops a

lectures with amazing minds, we have

local mentorship program and an intern

tional internship system for young artis

We also create our own content: art, edi

rial projects, lm projects, and we cur

exhibitions. We collaborate across dis

plines with many of Mexicos most talentcreative people. And even though Txic

projects change constantly, they do hacertain points in common: the relentle

belief that imagination is not a luxury. Th

excellence is contagious. That intoxicati

ideas are the best fuel for the creative min

Gophers programs compile breakthroughcreators and projects, exhibitions, series of

books, bilingual readings, performances,

pop-up spaces, lectures, special publica-

tions (such as the one you hold in your

hands), and the stuff that simply eludes

denition. This includes visual arts, de-

sign, journalism, literature still the core

components of the magazine but also,

increasingly, audiovisual and live content.

A key element in our vision as a cultural ini-

tiative is that each of the projects is not devel-

oped only for the professionals in the arts, but

rather with a general audience in mind. So,

you might ask yourself, why the arts? What

weve chosen to call the arts is simply theexpression of knowledge, experience, culture,

belief, and emotion. The arts encompass our

communicable universes, without setting

universal guidelines for that communica-

tion. In their full expression, then, the Gopher

hopes to lay bare invisible universes, sparking

dialogues that include the premise of human-

ity. In this sense, the arts are an ideal point ofdeparture for the kinds of conversations that

will inevitably shape the future.


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Described by its founders as an unnished,

never-ending, empirical and mutating pro-

ject dedicated to everyday Bogot, Popular

De Lujo is the brainchild of three graphicdesign students frustrated by their course-

work. The year was 2001. At the time, in

the department, they would teach you about

U.S. and British design, European design,

the great sacred cows of design, Bauhaus,

Swiss design and so on great forms of de-

sign that we have great respect for and that

weve made use of in our own design work,

sure. But it was very obvious very quickly

that these types of design did not reectwhat was right there in the visual landscape

of our everyday lives, in the way the buses

and cafeterias are decorated what we call

popular graphics, says Popular De Lujo

co-founder Esteban Ucrs. There was an

institutional denial of the visual world sur-

rounding them, including the occasional af-front Professors at college would not refer

to [popular graphics] unless it was to make

fun. For them, all this stuff was exactly what

we, enlightened people of good taste, were

supposed to correct when we were nally

out working in the real world. We were the

ones called upon to civilize the awful graphic

panorama of our cities.

What do visual landscapes in our cities sayabout their citizens? One could argue that

the imagery on city surfaces amounts only

to a matter of taste, of style. But the omis-

sion bothered Esteban, Juan Esteban, and

Roxana. They began documenting wh

they saw to compensate for the lack of f

mal instruction. We found that there w

this immense body of work everywhere th

was not only not documented, but threened in a way, because it would just

gone and there was no record of it. It w

pictures at rst, a project dedicated to co

piling and preserving the popular image

in the streets of Bogot, which we tried

turn into a book. We saw that the book w

not viable for many reasons, so in 2003,

launched a website instead.

Over ten years have passed since the p

ject was rst conceived. In that time, it h

expanded its mission has grown, change

and contracted multiple times to acco

modate a single, powerful, insight: popu

graphics can spark an important conver

tion. The website reached people arou

the world, and got people talking abohand-painted signs, posting photos. Oth

websites started to spring up.

Change and mutation are themes that Ucr

returns to often. The mutation ofPopular

Lujo mirrors, in many ways, the founde

evolving relationship with the subject. Y

it was about including what they saw arou

them, but it was bigger than that. The founers began to think about the meaning

this project, its next steps. Popular grap

ics were, after all, a visual vernacular o

great majority ofBogotanos, yet one that w

Interview and text by Michu BenaiPopular de Lujo / Bogot, Colombia / populardelujo.com / info@populardelujo.

POPULAR DE LUJO


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shunned not only by the academic halls of

their university, but by middle and upper

class citizens, the media, and the entirety of

the cultural sector. This is when they be-gan to see the bigger picture. We saw that

by recovering and showing whats behind

popular graphics, what its values are, we

were helping to compensate for the lack of

representation that working class citizens

have in Colombia.

Fieldwork followed. They began to talk to

people in popular neighborhoods, nding

out about their everyday realities. Even-tually they got in touch with some of the

painters responsible for these works. The

painters, says Ucrs, revolutionized what

Popular de Lujo became. They spent time

with them, learned their life stories. Graph-

ics became an excuse to talk about the so-

cial chasms that exist in what he calls ourLatin American societies. The encounters

hit a nerve. The imagery created by the

working class was, much like the working

class, neglected and looked over. Beyond

the inequity in access to opportunities and

material goods, in Colombia there is a ram-

pant form of inequity that I would say is the

parent of the rest: the way people treat oth-er people. Colombian society is profoundly

classist: expressions of the working classare systematically devalued both by ignor-

ing them or by insulting them when people

make fun of them or treat them in conde-

scending and patronizing ways.

Meeting the painters galvanized the expan-

sion of the project in many ways. There

was power in recognizing not only the

skill and aesthetic value of the work, but

that there were authors behind the work.When I asked Ucrs about his proudest ac-

complishment he talked about the public

programs from a recent exhibition titled 4

Fieras: La Grca de Jorge, Herrada, R.A.M.,

Barreto featuring workshops by the four

painters in an important arts institution

in Bogot. With Popular de Lujo, we have

done books, exhibits, websites and so on.

But honestly what I like the most of every-thing we have put together are these dem-

onstrations, talks and workshops where the

painters are the main stars. I would hate to

sound grandiose but I think that at their

tiny level these activities have helped bridge

the gap that separates classes in Colombia:

we have managed to gather in the same

room people that otherwise would hardlytalk to each other, and thats a lot more than

what a coffee-table-book can do

On the grander scale, though, the act of

looking is still at the heart of their project.

As long as people dont show the experi-

ences of others the respect they want for

their own I dont think society has a prom-

ising future. So if we are really committedto a more equal society, things as ordinary

as grca popular acquire an unexpected

importance. They are a large, concrete, sus-

tained and consistent means of expression

of populations our societies have failed to

represent properly says Esteban.

The busy collective is still a labor of love for

the threesome, but they are looking into

becoming a nonprot that will ensure con-tinuity. After more than a decade, Roxana,

Esteban, and Juan Esteban make time after

work and on weekends for the project. This

is surprising to many: Popular de Lujo is

very prolic. They travel extensively arou

the world to speak about popular grap

ics, and have produced maps, a numb

of books, and amassed a collection of ov

300 works that Popular de Lujo has co

missioned from the artists over ten yea(probably the greatest collection of its ki

in Colombia, he adds proudly.) We nev

haggle says Estban theyre artists, a

we pay what they think is fair.


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There have always been lots of cartoneros

cardboard pickers in Argentina. But

after the 2001 crisis, the one that became

infamous because the President ed on ahelicopter, cardboard pickers seemed to

multiply at the time. Everyone was sud-

denly out of a job. All kinds of people went

out to pick cardboard because they had no

other source of income. Washington Cu-

curto and Javier Barilaro the founders of

Elosa Cartonera were making these little

poetry books bound in colorful card-stock

at the time. They were incredibly pretty and

had these tropical images of naked ladiesby Javier, who is an artist.

Cucurtos rst name is Washington, which

is obviously an alias. He was born Santia-

go Vega, but that doesnt matter because

fame was already tied to his pseudonym:

Zelarayn, a book he wrote under thepen name, won a poetry award and was

distributed in public libraries around the

country until someone in Rosario decided

that these poems were vulgar and porno-

graphic. This person in Rosario turned to

cleansing, burning every copy he could

nd. This episode, of course, gave Cucurto

a certain cachet. There were public debates.And lots of press.

After 2001, paper became more expensive.

There wasnt any money. They could either

stop making books, or make them with

what was available.

They came up with a very simple publis

ing system to make books that anyo

could manufacture using few resourc

which are also very inexpensive to sell. R

member the corrugated cardboard pickeThats how Elosa Cartonera, the publish

slash-organization was born.

-Were not cardboard purists, as in Im w

about cardboard; thats not the idea s

Mara Gmez, who has been working

Elosa Cartonera since 2004. Its cardboa

see, just imagine you live in a country wh

people cant read books and you have to mathem with discarded cardboard. That sets

standard, you see? And its all good, its a

thing that we do, but we dont buy this vis

of art, all these erudite theories, which I th

are nefarious.

- What theories?

- Like the one about aestheticizing poverty,

those musings of boring intellectuals. Its n

that we make covers out of cardboard beca

poverty is cute. Its a good thing because

make it with what we have on hand, becau

the books are inexpensive and accessible, a

for a bunch of reasons that also have to do w

the socio-political realities of Latin Ameri

But we dont defend cardboard i tself.

In addition to Cucurto and Javier, the

was a woman named Fernanda Laguna.

rst there wasnt a physical space for Elo

Cartonera, everything was made arou

Interview by Leo Felipe Campos /Translation and edits by The Gopher IllustrElosa Cartonera / Buenos Aires, Argentina / eloisacartonera.com.ar / bellezacartonera@hotmail

ELOISA CARTONERA


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town, at the library where Cucurto worked,

at the Casa de la Poesa After a while,

Fernanda got some cash and rented a space

where they set up a fruit stand, the book-binding workshop and an art gallery. By the

time Mara arrived, the books and the gal-

lery had pushed the fruits and vegetables

out. Fernanda left soon thereafter because

she was also running an art gallery. In the

meantime, three workers joined Javier and

Cucurto to manufacture books.

- In the beginning, we photocopied. It was kind

of expensive, but they were short books. You

spent one peso on the copy, another on the card-board and sold the book for four pesos. And we

did very small editions, ve to ten copies. If a

bookshop asked for more, we made more.

Later, the Embassy of Switzerland donat-

ed some funding and they bought a used

printing press. The project inevitably grew.Cucurto, an expert on Latin American lit-

erature began to put together a catalogue

of titles. Soon, they were publishing re-

nowned writers from around the continent,

most of them born in the seventies. They

have a roster that can be qualied with ad-

jectives such as star, young, brilliant,

and genius. A roster that could anddoes elicit the envy of any publisher: Ri-

cardo Zelarayn, Dani Umpi, Fabian Casas,Daniel Link, Rodolfo Walsh, Alan Pauls,

Mario Bellatin, Csar Aira, Gabriela Bejer-

man They, of course, donate the rights to

their work.

- Our catalogue was put together by readers,

for re aders. We all do our part, but Cucurto

is the expert. Its possible that I have more

experience managing the workload, but Cu-

curto is literary expert, and Javier used to be

the design expert. Thats how it works. The

person who knows the most about something

is in charge of it.

- Tell me about the Nuevo Sudaca Border

prize.

- Its a contest we invented back in the day.

The rst time we had it, we received over 200

manuscripts and we published six. The jurywas lled with important folks: Ricardo Piglia,

Csar Aira, a few journalists, us. It coincided

with the Premio Clarn de la Novela the

longstanding literary prize given out by the

largest daily newspaper in Argentina our

submission period opened and closed on the

same days as theirs.

- And which of you chose better?

You, or Clarn?

- I dont even remember what Clarn put out,

but they only chose one, and we published six.

- It looks like a denitive victory

- We work a lot.

- What is a lot?- All day.

- 24 hours a day?

- No, but eighteen hours, absolutely. Every day.

- Why would you work so hard?

- Because it needs to be done. And we also like

it. We are a cooperative and we give it our all.

The work demands it, and it will always de-

mand it, because thats how things that are cre-

ated with sweat and little money get done. By

2007, there were seven of us. Now theres, well,

were a rapidly growing family.

- Whats distribution like?

- Distribution is always less than wed like it

to be. The books are sold at the workshop we

moved to a new space at Aristbulo del Valle

666 and at a few shops. We also go to a tonof book fairs, and we take mail orders. The

prot margin is invariably small, and even

that we split among the workers.

- How much do the workers at Elosa Car-

tonera earn?

- Sometimes its very little and sometimes we

make more. But we work ourselves to death

because we feel that there are more important

things than money. This is ours, even with the

ton of work and its limitations. In a good week

well sell hundreds of copies, and on a bad week

we wont sell any. And sometimes, on those bad

weeks, you have to pay for the rent and utili-

ties. Those are the weeks that make you want

to go crazy.

- Whats next for Elosa Cartonera?

- We had wanted to do workshops in the com-

munity and that sort of thing, open the door

to the community more explicitly. Which we

have been doing we just had a science

tion book club. And we bought an acre

land and were building a community g

den. So I guess we kind of went back to th

fruit st and in a w ay.

- Dont you think community-based, socprojects in Latin America are kind of tren

right now?

- Well, in Argentina, people barely have a rig

to education. Who, then, generates cultu

The State doesnt do it for us. In a way, t

project was created because of the social re

ties at the time; its not something I just caup with because Im Eva Pern or somethi

Yes, there are quite a lot of community-bas

projects, but I dont think that its a fad

think they sort of spring up through necessi

and I think that its a good thing that peo

get organized to do things that address th

needs. Were an example of this too, but w

a strange example, sure, people that do som

thing thats a bit delusional. We say we

like, losers, but we say it in jest. As you c

see, what we do here is a job, its our job. W

not some artistic project, nor are we just go

to give afternoon snacks to the children of

cardboard pickers. What we do generates jo

- Delusional?

- Well, we used to say that there wasnt anthing like this anywhere else in Latin Ameri

but our little shop has been replicated. The

one in Chile, Peru, Brazil, and there are t

in Bolivia, and Paraguay and Mxico.


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Listening to Gustavo Buntinx speak or

reading anything he has ever written, for

that matter is a transformational experi-

ence. An incredibly articulate man, Buntinxis the much-admired so-called driver ofMi-cromuseo, a roving museum of contempo-

rary art that travels throughout the country

of Peru on a microbs (a large van or a small

bus, depending on whom you ask). A pro-

ject without a space, Micromuseo believes in

promiscuous museality and in the ephem-

eral quality of mass production. Carved out

of contradictions, and shaped by a rich and

complex mass of twentieth-century pres-sures, Micromuseo is both ercely endog-

enous and inevitably global, a thirty-year-old

idea that has developed the gravitas of insti-

tutionalism without the gravity of a building.

Micromuseo is the consequence of a perfect

storm of circumstances surrounding thecultural denition of Peru. The list of pres-

sures and competing factors an economic

disadvantage throughout the 20th Century,

mass migration to urban centers, a mil-

lennial heritage, a European inuence is

vertiginous. It may simply boil down to the

fact that, as Buntinx says, where there is a

void, there is a need.

Until just last year, Lima was among the fewLatin American capitals lacking a contem-

porary art museum. For decades, efforts to

form such an institution were frustrated.

An Institute of Contemporary Art was in-

corporated privately in 1955, and organiz

exhibitions in its own gallery, or, in seve

occasions, in the galleries of establish

public institutions like the Italian Art M

seum. In the 80s, as the Instituto de A

Contemporneo nally seemed to secure

Museo, but its investment fell through b

cause of an economic crisis. Around t

same time, another museum project t

purportedly more active Museo Alternativ

also faltered and came to an end.

The failed museums left a mark, palpab

in the acute awareness of a void and a neBy 1995, three years after President Albe

Fujimori dissolved the Congress of Pe

the idea of lling this cultural void with

alternative museality gathered mome

tum, and a few initiatives materialized.

1997, these initiatives found a name: M

cromuseo. For Buntinx, Micromuseo is pu

wish fulllment. We set out to satisfy thdesire by taking an opposing approa

shunning this xation with real estate

afrming: a museum is not a building, it

a critical project.

Fittingly, the activities and goals of Mic

museo are anchored only by the seman

possibilities of wordplay. Micro: meani

tiny, small, and denoting by extension, cient, nimble, easy to transport. Micro a

refers to the microbs, privately owned pu

lic transport, a reference that is reinforc

in the Micromuseo motto: theres room

Text by Michu BenaiMicromuseo / Lima, Peru / micromuseo.org.pe / [email protected]

MICROMUSEO


10/27

the back. Their motto was proudly lifted

from the drivers of the micros, who shoutthis phrase endlessly into the streets, both

to pick up passengers and as a justication

for picking up more passengers than they

are allowed to. The implication for culture,

though, is quite literal. In Peru, there is

quite a bit of room in the back a back-

log of unlled voids. So much so that the

projects, exhibitions, travels, and collabo-rations that Micromuseo participates in are

almost too numerous, and their focus too

broad, to dene.

What is certain, at least in the eyes ofMi-

cromuseo driver Gustavo Buntinx, (who, it

may be good to add, is an Argentine-born

art historian and the director of the Cul-

tural Centre of the National University of

San Marcos in Lima) is that this is a project

that has succeeded in addressing this void.

The proof is in the collection. Some years

ago, Buntinx described it in an essay pub-lished in English: With few exceptions, the

most important portion of Peruvian alter-

native art in the last twenty ve years is to

be found not in the collections connected

to the establishment, but rather in those

constructed by [the Micromuseo] and someintellectuals and artists whose open-mind-

edness somehow made up for their lack of

economic resources.

The image of the micro also proves a useful

image to its drivers organizers, invited

curators and so on in terms ofMicromu-

seos function. Writes Buntinx To be truly

operative, [the Micromuseo] must be ductile

and mobile, willing to sustain its autonomy

on an elementary but sufcient economy

such as that of an urban microbs. In ad-dition, the microbs denes its ideology of

operations: the museums task is to collect,

certainly, but mainly to act as a medium.

It investigates and passes on knowledge

about work, its importance, and its context.In short, it circulates and transports.

In 2011, the long-enduring Instituto de Arte

Contemporneo got its site and its building,

becoming the Museo de Arte Contempor(MAC) at last. Transformed through th

real estate and the generous contributi

of civil society, it intends to give Peruvi

contemporary art a permanent home

Lima. However it fares, its clear that it ow

a great deal to the work ofMicromuseo

fact, an essay by Gustavo Buntinx was cculated by advocates of the new MAC as

idence of the need for the museum. Up

its opening, the MAC invited Buntinx

curate one of its rst exhibitions. As pro

as many people are of the new building, Mcromuseo has built, in its view, a museu

that does what museums are meant to d

And none of these things have anythingdo with a building.


11/27

POR EL MEDIO DE LA CALLE

In the nal months of 2002, Venezuela was

submerged in chaos. The government of

Hugo Chvez faced revolts by his political op-

position. The country was now on the ump-teenth-day of a paralyzing national strike. All

business activities were shut down, fuel was

scarce, and schools and universities were

closed. Potentially momentous, historic, and

retrospectively analyzed to death, the Paro

Nacional was also long. Very long. For most

young Venezuelans, these were the most

boring months of their lives.

The Paro Nacional was the culminationof years of clashes between two opposed

national projects: the governments social-

ist-bolivarian revolution versus the oppo-

sitions social-democratic anti-revolution.

The dormant conict had left the county

in tatters, with an infrastructure crippled

by years of political warfare and intestineghts. The culture sector was especially af-

fected: museums were adrift, events can-

celled, after-school programs closed.

This is the setting in which the Pltano-

verde project was born. Pltanoverde is

a magazine conceived by these bored

youths (myself included), out of frustra-tion for a languishing cultural platform.

We put together a magazine that showedthe best new visual arts, design, and writ-

ing in the country. It was escapism at its

nest, providing an 80-page long window

into a parallel dimension, showing that a

vibrant country still survived under t

blanket of stagnation that the politi

landscape had produced. For most rea

ers, it meant rediscovering a sense

pride for something Venezuelan-madHow could this much talent have o

ished in a place like Venezuela?

The magazine quickly grew, expanding its

tivities through a series of partnerships - w

institutions like the Goethe-Institut, lAllian

Franaise, and The British Council. Af

a while the Pltano, as we called it, becam

notorious for its events, especially its partiEach new edition was released with celeb

tions that presented brave new concepts: h

hop MCs in a long-forgotten punk bar, l

painting and reggae in one of Caracas m

respected art museums, and so on.

By 2006, Pltano was a massive play

on the national scene. Brands wantedpartner with the magazine and com

nies wanted to sponsor events. For the

time Pltanoverde had a chance to becom

a successful commercial venture, free

economic concerns for the foreseeable

ture. On the other hand, the ci ty of Cara

had taken a denitive turn for the wor

By ofcial estimates, over forty citizens

Caracas were killed each weekend, victimof violent crime. Kidnappings, assaults, p

litical assassinations, and organized crim

became increasingly embedded in the e

ryday narrative of the city.

Text by Lope Gutirrez-Por el Medio de la Calle / Caracas, Venezuela / platanoverde.com / platanius@gmail.


12/27

At Pltanoverde, it was time to make a deci-

sion between becoming a nancially stable

institution, or becoming an agent of change

and addressing some of the citys most ur-gent problems (and likely continue the starv-

ing-artist tradition for a while). For us, the

opportunity was too great; challenging vio-

lence and helping to improve the situation

in Caracas was worth our scal uncertainty.

Our rst project had a straightforward goal.

Given that crime is so widespread that peo-

ple are afraid to walk the streets at night, we

noticed that the city after dark was a foreignplace to most of us. We thought lets get as

many people as possible together and cel-

ebrate the city at night, as it could be, even

if it only lasts for a few of hours. The solu-

tion was simple: power through numbers,

numbers through attractive programs. We

named it Por el Medio de la Calle.

The possibility of disaster for an event

like this made it unappealing for com-

mercial partners. Bureaucracy and li-

abilities made it impossible to process

permits. So the ethos of the festival, a

mix of camaraderie with a do-it-yourself

attitude, marked the event from the verybeginning. The plan was to put together

a circuit of pop-up spaces, urban land-marks, bars, artist interventions, and per-

formances. The festival required people

to actually walk from one venue to the

other, at night, spanning several blocks.

A date was set and an invitation was sent

out to the public. Nobody knew what to

expect from this all-or-nothing gamble.

The results were borderline-disastrous. Theattendance numbers tripled our estimates,

and bars and venues were at capacity an

hour into the event. People were spilling

out into the streets, quickly joined by more

curious attendees. For the rst time in

years, people sat down on sidewalks after

the sun had set and talked about how the

city could be much more than it was. The

neighbors, used to widespread violence,were not amused. That is how we learned

our rst two lessons in festival-planning:

dont hold an event for 2,000 people on a

Wednesday night, and always make sure to

invite the vecinos.

A third lesson: communities can organize

fast. A few hours into the rst Por el Medio

de la Calle, eggs, chilled water, and trash be-

gan pouring from the residents windows.

We all ran to the only place that was safe

from the deluge - a wide public plaza sur-

rounded by trees. There, in a crowd chris-

tened by wet debris, we realized that not a

single shot had been red, and that after all

the fun we had, the yelling-a-la-Pamplona

spectacle was probably just as amusing tothe neighbors of Chacao.

The festival and its many partnership pro-

jects have only grown since. Artists and

attendees quickly spread word about that

city that only exists for one night and the

day after the festival dozens of e-mails ar-

rived asking what we were planning for

the next edition. The Municipality of Cha-

cao, where the event tak es place every year,became an invaluable ally in the organiza-

tion of the event and great supporter of

the entire project. Working together, the

festival has kept growing. On its second

edition, close to 8,000 people attended the

event. In 2008, we broke the 12,000-per-

son mark, and in 2009 20,000 showedup. By 2011, over 45,000 people were outon the streets of the city center, not only

claiming them back from crime and fear,

but also from motor transit.

This year we expect 60,000 people at t

festival, many of whom will travel from oth

parts of the country to attend. Recently, hot

and transit hubs have started to make pro

sions, and many stores in Chacao have sta

ed to create their own art interventions. Thvery same feeling of pride that the magazi

elicited in the young readership of 2002, h

morphed into the pride of participation.

nish, one bit of data: Caracas continues

be the most dangerous city in the world, t

capital of a country with more violent deat

per year than countries like Afghanistan Iraq, but even after 100,000+ people hawalked the streets of the city at night at

el Medio de la Calle, the rate of violent crim

during the festival remains steady: zero.


13/27

TIPOS LATINOS

Fonts are ubiquitous and mainly invisible

so their importance tends to be overlooked.

But they are actually extremely important.

Fonts have personalities. Fonts can anchora city to a certain identity, or to an era. And

even beyond the content silently stored in-

side the guts of aesthetic values, they also

have a pragmatic and social function. For

example: some fonts make learning easier

than others, and so they have an impor-

tant place in how knowledge slips into the

eyes and is transmitted; they can make

reading a book less enjoyable or more so.

There have even been studies that correlatethe use of bad fonts in school textbooks to

indexes of school dropouts. So, often, the

best-designed fonts are inconspicuous. In

fact, they say you should never become a

type designer if you want to be famous. I

guess I dont care about becoming famous.

I love type design. I love focusing on whatthe shape and surface of words say sublimi-

nally, while the words themselves might be

saying something else.

And I nd Latin American font design ab-

solutely fascinating. Spanish is a quirky lan-

guage, with characters all of its own the

opening question mark () or the , for exam-ple that dont exist in any other language.

I like to believe that these extra spaces andneeds have made us more exible in Latin

America, have forced us to invent, to go

our own way, to propose from within, even

though it is still a very new profession here.

Typography in Latin America was bo

with the digital era. Before that when w

were using mobile types for example

Latin American design was done with f

eign typography. The advent of computeadded to the creation of graphic desi

programs in universities, nally permitt

designers to become interested in creati

unique typefaces in this region, lled w

our own voices.

But when 2001 hit we still were not all th

familiarized with what was happening

our neighboring countries, or even insour own cities. So here in Argentina we d

cided to launch a call for proposals, create

exhibition and catalogue, a survey if you w

just to get an idea of what was happeni

elsewhere in Latin America. It was very s

cessful. We got hundreds of responses, a

suddenly designers who had been worki

in isolation were able to get in touch, to stcollaborating and exchanging ideas. A w

site was put up soon after that to showca

Latin American work; it had no commerc

intent; it was just used as a showcase. The

in 2004, we created the rst Tipos Latin

Biennale, which traveled to several cou

tries. Now, in the 2012 edition, thirty cit

and thirteen countries were involved

have a growing and horizontal network, awe work both together and independen

In fact, because of the number cities a

visitors it is probably already one of the m

important design events in the world. It h

Interview by Gabriella Gmez-MTipos Latinos / Over 12 locations in Latin America / tiposlatinos.com / info@tiposlatinos


14/27

become a great way of letting people see for

themselves the huge amount of talent to be

found in Latin Types.

There is a certain advantage in typography be-

ing such a new thing on this side of the world,

to not having a shadow-heritage conning us,

and nobody to pay homage to. Sometimes

history can bind you. Europe has more than

500 years of experience in this eld, where-

as Latin America has less than 30. I believe

this has made us freer, more irreverent and

more willing to play and be rebellious. But

simultaneously there is also a search for per-fection So on one hand you can nd really

experimental types for titles, and on the other

you can also nd very rigorous text types that

seem to have been built by an obsessive engi-

neer, and could compete with any other type

from any other country. There is so much

variety. And we have an interesting, unique,cultural baggage to be inspired by: from the

vernacular letterings and colors used in the

stores of small towns, to a more meticulous

calligraphic style of days past.

I hate repeating clichs, but its true that there

is a lot of passion and spirit in Latin America,

so much vitality, quality and diversity: all of thisgets absorbed into its fonts. Mexican type for

example is very much energized by its layered

history; Argentina is specializing in creating

more formal, very modern and functional text

types families, and is very prolic as a country.

Chile and Brazil are also two of the other front-

runners in the region. And non-withstanding

the newness of this profession our good type-

faces are on par with any good European type.

Which is a good thing because designers are

also becoming more demanding. Its great tosee our fonts being used more and more in

other countries and continents. For example

Dave Crossland one of the most renowned

designers of the world while creating a port-

folio of great types for Google Fonts*, traveled

throughout Latin America and was astonished

with all the things he found here; he included

many of them in his project. So it excites me to

imagine the future of Latin American design.We are nally starting to assume our own iden-

tity, our own personality, our own talent. We

are starting to look inside the region instead of

just being dazzled by Europe and the United

States. That does not necessarily mean that we

will or we should ignore international inu-

ences, but it does mean that we are suddenly

becoming more and more stimulated by thethought of leaving 500 or even 50 year-old reci-

pes behind, and starting to nd our own paths

as well. And then leading others down them.

- Csar Mordacci, coordinator of Tipos

Latinos in Argentina, as told to Gabriella

Gmez-Mont.

* google.com/webfonts

** If you have used a Latin American font, you can

submit your work to the Tipos Latinos Biennale in

the Category of Best use of Latin American Fonts,

and international section.


15/27

SESC The city that promotes art is art too; a city

that creates theater is in itself a play. We have

understood it all wrong if we believe that a

citys function is to organize communitiesand social structures with pragmatism and

velocity: the principal function of a city is to

convert power into form, energy into cul-

ture, inert materials into living symbols of

art, reproduction into social creativity

- Lewis Mumford, Urbanist

Several months ago El Pas Spains lead-

ing newspaper published an article whoseheadline cried in black bold letters: Crisis

brings about a cultural hemorrhage. The

hemorrhage is constant and it appears un-

stoppable, it went on to say. The patient,

the Spanish cultural infrastructure, loses

blood. Too much blood. Every day, a festival

or a cinema closes

Culture and blood; culture as blood. It is an

interesting analogy, one that beckons debate.

Because in the midst of this recent interna-

tional crisis, in the middle of an invariably

complex political and social reality, there are

two choices: to think of culture as superu-

ous nice to have, a pretty face, the cherryon the cake, so to speak or to think of it as a

basic need and a medullar part of a nationsidentity. And of course, underneath this un-

easy and polemic question lies another, one

that is just as convoluted: who exactly should

be responsible for funding the arts anyway?

It is an important question nowada

because important decisions are bei

made. Spain is not the only country th

has decided that, in times of economic d

culty, culture should be the rst thingbe sacriced. At the end of last year, T

New York Times ran a half-page ad wa

ing readers Do not enter the Netherlan

Cultural meltdown in progress. The

was placed by Dutch Artists 2011 (a gro

of artists and sympathizers) as a protest

the drastic cuts in funding for culture th

the political far-right was proposing. D

spite objections, the culture budget for tNetherlands will be cut by about $265 m

lion, and taxes on tickets to cultural even

will go up to 19 percent, beginning in 20

Other countries with governments that a

led by conservatives or technocrats l

Italy, Hungary, and Britain, as another

cent article explains have also had th

culture budgets slashed.

Culture as luxury seems to be a worldw

trend; inevitable. That is, until you look fu

ther south and come upon the case of Bra

Look to Brazil, and you nd another way

thinking around culture. You nd Dan

Miranda, director of the leading arts nan

ing entity in Brazil, the SESC: a Portugueacronym for Social Service of Commerce

Our fundamental guiding principle

to use culture as a tool for education a

Text by Gabriella Gmez-MSESC / Over 35 locations in Brazil / sescsp.or


16/27

transformation, to improve peoples lives,

and were in a position to fulll that mis-

sion, thank God, Mr. Miranda said in a re-

cent interview. He says he faces a very dif-ferent type of difcult, enviable, question:

how to spend all of the $600 million-a-year

budget, and more to come at an annual

growth rate of 10 percent or more, if the

trends of the last 6 years continue.

The New York Times explains: SESC owes

its enviable position largely to a nancing

model that its leaders believe is unique in

the world. A private, nonprot entity whoserole is enshrined in the national Constitu-

tion, the organization derives its budget

from a 1.5 percent payroll tax imposed on

and collected by Brazilian companies, so as

the workforce in this nation of nearly 200

million people expands, so does the organi-

zations budget. The Brazilian economy,now the worlds sixth largest, is surging,

having grown 7.5 percent in 2010 and just

under 3 percent last year.

The heads of both culture and politics in

Brazil are certain that workers and citizens

are not only entitled to health and sports

facilities, but also to art, music, and othercultural activities. They are certain that

cultural vitality integrated into daily life isan important process of social inclusion;

as well as a means of creating a Brazilian

community locally and a Brazilian Iden-

tity abroad that will benet the country in

both direct and indirect ways. Part of the

payback is social, in the sense that its im-

portant to us as businessmen that society

see that we are participating, said Mr. Szaj-

man, the So Paulo chamber of commercepresident. But theres a practical return

too: Our workers go to their jobs as better-

informed citizens, with better training, and

happier, which makes them more produc-

tive. And Brazil furthers its soft power by

exporting and Brazil giving its country vis-

ibility through its arts and culture.

They are putting their money where theirmouth is: SESC is active in all 27 Brazilian

states, and just the city of So Paulo receives

almost as much for cultural programs as the

United States of America as a whole gets

from its National Endowment for the Arts.

SESC has its own record label and cable tel-

evision channel, a book-publishing arm, art

galleries, theaters, cinemas, concert halls,cultural centers that house restaurants and

sports facilities, and even hotels. They aim

to make culture part of everyday life, and

are succeeding: most of their cultural cent-

ers are housed in imaginatively renovated

abandoned buildings or in fascinating new

constructions that have become architectur-

al landmarks. SESC events are very reason-

ably priced, or even free; just in So Pauloover 300,000 people visit their spaces each

week to see performances by both renowned

international artists and also the up-and-

coming local talent.

Thanks to this unique model, artists do not

have to comply with commercial demands,

and cultural centers do not have to bow

to the tastes of corporate sponsors; in this

way, SESC encourages experimental work,creativity and risk taking. The SESC model

is focused on community involvement in

arts and culture, improving quality of life

in general, and granting more freedom to

countless multidisciplinary voices.

Brazil still faces many challenges, as we allknow. These social experiments, which putarts and culture at the very marrow of a na-

tions policy instead of at its surface, may

very well yield some interesting answers, as

well as produce more fascinating questio

How can we create city and citizensh

through culture? And how, in turn, is cultu

incubated in the structures and spaces th

surround the human body giving shaand fueling the res of the human min

that inhabit them? How can one ident

convoluted city nodes and transgure the

into something more creative? How do

harness existing power and metamorpho

it? Can social transformation come about

using the power of curiosity and imagintion? Should the city be art? Should the c

be play, and not just GDPs and numbers?

Keep your eyes and your ears on Brazil.


17/27

The year is 2012, and if there is one thing

we know about this young century of ours

is this: the paradigms of the global econo-

my are changing. For the most part, theseeconomic changes have been far from

painless. We have all heard about billions

of dollars vaporizing from retirement sys-

tems, read reports about seemingly stable

countries in which unemployment has pro-

liferated well into the double-digit percent-

ages. The animus, at least on a governmen-

tal level, seems focused on damage control;

there is, after all, considerable damage. It

is nonetheless surprising that there seemto be few examples of governments imple-

menting novel policies that take the reali-

ties of the uncharted (economic) waters into

account, even as it becomes clear that the

old models no longer make countries pros-

per. This, however, does not mean govern-

ments taking this approach dont exist (theydo). Whats more, even a cursory glance at

these forward-looking governments reveals

that there is a common thread, a variation

on an idea that strikes me as tremendously

powerful; that innovation and creativity will

be central to turning the economy around.

This was the very idea that the governmentof Chile was pondering early on this dec-

ade. With an economy based on mining,agricultural, and industrial exports, Chiles

GDP is among the highest in the region,

but was quickly losing ground to Brazils ev-

er-strengthening economy. This gave Chile

a bit of a jolt: to keep its economys regio

dominance, it had to nd new, signica

sources of income. The answer from Ch

was unlikely from a country that, one cou

say, has a long tradition of dramatic weainequality. That is, the Ministry of Forei

Relations, the Ministry of Economy and

Corporation for Production Developme

(CORFO), created a government-back

program involving generous nanc

structural, and logistical backing for sta

ups without asking for equity in retur

The central idea: to bring entrepreneu

from all over the world to Chile, to grand disseminate their work and foster

culture of entrepreneurship. Start-Up Ch

was born.

Start-Up Chile launched its program

2010 with two central aims: to make Ch

a hub for entrepreneurship and innovati

in Latin America, and to encourage an etrepreneurial spirit in Chileans. Its pi

run in 2010 brought 22 companies fro

14 different countries to Chile. Since 20

Start-Up Chile has chosen 300 start-u

from around the world every year, and p

vided each of them with investment and

soft landing package. This investment

xed at $40,000 per company, from whi

the start-up founders can pay themselva salary of up to $5,000. The conditio

it must be said, are hard to beat: foun

ers dont have any obligation to retu

the money or forfeit any equity, and th

Text and Interview by Lope Gutirrez-Ruiz and Michu Benaim SteStart-Up Chile / Santiago, Chile / startupchile.org / info@startupchile

START-UP CHILE


18/27

costs of living, as well as their workspac-

es, are provided. We give entrepreneurs

$40,000, they work on their ideas for six

months here in Chile and they dont have to

return a single peso. What we get is social

return of investment: they associate with

local universities, hire Chileans, give talks,become participants in meet-ups, visit local

industries, provide insights about process-

es, and much more explains Felipe Costa-

bal, Creative Director at Start-Up Chile.

Along with this seed investment, Start-Up

Chile provides accommodations. By cut-ting governmental red tape, chosen projects

quickly gain access to work visas, which inturn makes it easier for start-ups to hire

local talent in their start-up phase. Giving

entrepreneurs facilities in which to work

and live has proven to be one of the most

important features of the program - modern

spaces for co-working were incorporated

early on. Lastly, networking is never more

essential than when one is in an unfamiliarplace, so Start-Up Chile developed a series

of bilingual technology meet-ups, informal

interviews with VCs, and get-togethers with

local researchers, developing a rich network

that facilitates exchanges between partici-

pants and local citizens. The result of this co-

working and networking experience? About40% of the rst generation of participatingprojects decided to stay in the country past

the 6-month mark, and many continue to

conduct their businesses from there.

Start-Up Chiles rst class only had 22 pro-

jects chosen by a panel of Chilean and Sili-

con Valley experts. These days, the pace of

new projects is relentless: the program has

three rounds of applications every year, wel-

coming 100 new projects in each round.

Applicants are chosen based on the scala-

bility of their projects, as well as where theyare in their development, taking into ac-

count the merits of a given proposal, and its

team members. Past participants include a

national network listing housing opportu-

nities for university students in Portugal, a

student loan management platform in theUnited States, a Chilean-made app for add-

ing multi-media annotations to les, a SriLankan project that injects fun into learn-

ing medicine, and even a place for cat lov-

ers to share, discover and enjoy cat pictures

and videos from Malaysia.

Over 1,600 applications from 70 coun-

tries have been submitted to Start-Up

Chile thus far. Teams from over 30 coun-

tries have participated. These teams of ad-venturous entrepreneurs are at the core of

the initiative. By constantly meeting peo-

ple, exchanging know-how, transferring

skills, the participants of Start-Up Chile

potentiate innovation in each other. This

is the fertile creative energy that the coun-try is looking to harvest the organization

has stated that it wants Chile to becomethe entrepreneurial and innovation hub of

Latin America by 2014. It seems almost

incidental, but the program is changing a

story, and helping create a new global nar-

rative about Latin America and its future

that is based on innovation and creativity.Reports of this change in Chiles econom-

ic outlook, and the effective re-branding

of the country as a business hub, abound.

While governments keep playing catch-

up with shifting economic realities, Chile

plans to continue supporting this trail-

blazing program based on the conviction

that entrepreneurship, investing in peo-

ple, and soft power lead to sustainability

and growth.

While the economies of many world pow-

ers continue to focus on repairing the

damage, Chile has taken a further leap:

the government of Chile declared 20

the Year of Entrepreneurship, and 20

the Year of Innovation. Startup Chil

results are heartening: after a mere t

years since it welcomed its rst class of companies, it has exceeded its own exp

tations. It has raised its own goal and aim

to have supported over 1,000 start-ups

2014. And, of course, theres this: the M

istry of Economy has declared that one

its most urgent goals for the 2012-20

period is to have the rst Chilean co

pany listed in the NASDAQ index. Wh

does that have to do with anything, yask? Well, the Ministry of Economy h

stated that it estimates Chile will becom

a Developed Country by 2018. It should

come as a surprise to any of us.


19/27

They are calling it the Mexican Spring.

Presidential elections are coming in Mexi-

co, and it is safe to say the country has never

quite experienced a campaign like this one.The same old parties and many of the same

old politics are still here, but now there is a

new player in town: social media. It i s right-

ly being called the fth power, and it has

made the often-arid world of political rheto-

ric entertaining and unpredictable; not that

the candidates or their PR teams are too

happy about how it is changing the rules

of engagement. The rest of us, however, are

thrilled. Many of these new probing voicescome from the civic side, with healthy par-

ticipation by students and young people.

They are pushing candidates to go beyond

an easy mirage of empty promises, to go be-

yond those strange little food packets that

are given out to sway votes in rural areas.

Digital projects like Arena Electoral arekeeping track of all the candidates propos-

als and submitting their ideas to a commit-

tee of non-partisan experts for review, and

informing the public about their true fea-

sibility. Candidates are being pushed to at-

tend Q&As with specialized organizations

in the matter of health for example with

a public that demands specic proposals.Meanwhile, peaceful protests around is-

sues like the war on drugs are frequent.And even though all this might not yet be

enough to determine the outcome of an

election, it is denitely one of the palpable

signs of a society that increasingly digitally

vocal. It seems we have nally started

nd our democratic voice.

In fact, Csar Salazar, the unstoppable

year-old co-founder of Mexican.VC, believthat if trends in Internet usage continu

this is the last election that wont be foug

and dened on a digital arena. And he a

believes that politics are not the only thi

in Mexico being transformed by technolo

He should know: Salazar is a key gure

the attempt to build an entrepreneurial e

system in Mexico among younger gene

tions. When asked about his visions for tfuture, his eyes catch re.

I am excited with all that is happening

Mexico. We are entering a stage with el

trifying potential; all the necessary ing

dients for digital innovation and startu

to explode are nally converging. First

all, the size of the market is now whatneeds to be: we are already 40 million p

ple connected through the internet, and

is ofcially estimated that in 2015 Mex

will have 60 million Internet users. Th

added to the often-forgotten fact that Me

co is already the 11th largest economy of t

world, has huge implicationshe adds,

culture of hard work, intense collaborati

and skill sharing is expanding, as well the idea that you can start something fro

scratch. So there is a market, there is tale

creative multigenerational ecosystems a

being formed, and the investment is n

Text by Gabriella Gmez-M

DIGITAL MEXICO


20/27

starting to ow. No piece of the puzzle is

missing anymore. It is just a matter of time.

This is going to get really good.

Foreign investors seem to agree with Sala-

zar: Mexican.VC is Silicon Valleys rst dis-

covery fund for Mexican startups. Founded

in 2011, it invests in 20 early startups a year,

combining Silicon Valleys best practices

with local cultural advantages, including

mentoring to those selected.

Csar is not alone in working towards a tal-

ented and connected startup community.Carlos Mondragn, founder of an online

gaming company, hosts free, informal,

get-togethers every month on his rooftop.

There, successful young entrepreneurs

share their stories over beer and chips, and

then the newbies have a chance to pitch

their ideas and get feedback, advice, andeven, occasionally, funding from the more

experienced attendees. You cant really

learn the necessary skills in school, Mon-

dragn explained, you need to learn on the

go, have others to go to for advice, others

to push you to take risks, to iterate quickly

and fail forward, as they say. So it is very

important for all of us to share information,skills and contacts, to build a community

and bring new people in. We all need towork together to put Mexico irrevocably and

unquestionably on the international map.

They seem to be on the right track. Nowa-

days there is widespread interest in this

new possibility of creative self-employment.

StartUp Weekends has decided to open an

ofce in Mexico City, partly because Mexico

now boasts more Startup Weekend events

than any other country. The digital thirst inMexico only seems to grow.

Within the wider world of technology, Mex-

ico has caught the attention of MIT. The

university recently hosted the TR35 Awards

in Mexico City, with the goal of scouting for

local talent under 35 who will create new

capabilities that revolutionize the world of

technology and business in the near future.The projects selected in Mexico included

Wowzer, a digital platform that offers an

innovative recruitment service. Created by

29 year-old Rodrigo Martinez, it has already

raised over $2.5 million from Silicon Valley

investors, and is already in use by compa-

nies like Intel, BMW, Manpower, Deloitte,

Walmart, and Adidas. Juan Pablo Esquivel another award recipient presented min-

iaturized power sources for medical diagno-

sis devices. Jos Manuel Aguilar introduced

a biotechnological platform that will facili-

tate the creation of safe and cost-effective

vaccines, faster; Ana Laborde is working on

technologies that will produce sustainable

bioplastics made with the residues of Tequi-

la. (Yes, Tequila. Its Mexico, no?)

Pedro Moneo is the editor of the Spanish

version of MITs Technology Review. As he

explained in an to Celeste North, a young

Mexican entrepreneur interviewing him

for emprend.la, there is increasing interest

in Latin America, and Mexico in particu-

lar: Emerging markets are where things

will be happening in the near future. Latin

America, specically, is starting to be an in-teresting protagonist. If the region knows

how to take advantage of their demograph-

ics they will have a huge advantage over ag-

ing countries. Think about it: a huge chunk

of their population was born directly into

a digital world and has had a mobile cul-

ture from the very start; add to this the fact

that it is an incredibly social society it hasmore users on Facebook and Twitter than

the United States and you start getting

the picture. Language is also an important

component: the entire region except Brazil

speaks Spanish, and 75% of the population

prefers their products in their native tongue.

This natural barrier will allow them both to

create a common market as well as defend itfrom others. And the common-language

market is sizable indeed: with 329 mil-

lion native speakers, Spanish ranks second

among the worlds mother tongues, behind

Mandarin, and, yes, ahead of English.

Ricardo lvarez director of Innovation at

ProMexico has an unshakable conviction

that Mexico is The Latin American countrythat companies should be investing in. M-

xico is already a powerful player in the Indus-

tries of Communication and Technology.

Citing some impressive gures, he adds that

Mexico has an advantage in the quantity a

quality of available talent, plus the progno

is that it is only going to get better. Just to st

on example, nowadays Mexico has one of t

largest talent pools, and is educating o

90,000 system engineers and other ICT-

lated professions annually.

Mexico likes to study, but it also likes

play. lvarez points out that the relevance

Mexico as a fascinating market is very cle

in the Creative Industries sector. We co

sume more than 50% of all the videogam

bought in Latin America, and 200 millimovie tickets are sold a year, making Mexthe 5th largest cinema-going country in t

world. This shows that we are capable of c

ating our own contents for export alrea

consumed by over 1 billion people worldw

and of creating important local scale econ

mies nurtured by a vital internal market.

Fortunately, it seems that Mexicos polimakers are also beginning to understa

the potential of the ICT sector, and how i

portant it is to help create the proper ecos

tems. A government plan for ICT, Mex

National Digital Agenda, was released

cently. Alongside data, document den

goals and strategies designed to give Mex

a digital boost over the next few years.supports Salazars statement: things see

to be lining up. Or as one student, amo

thousands protesting TV monopoly in M

ico, said recently: Young people have be


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criticized in the past for being apathetic and

apolitical. But maybe we students have al-

ways had strong opinions, our own voices

and our own ideas. Maybe what we did nothave was the internet and social media.

Guadalajara Digital City

ProMexico, a public body responsible for

promoting foreign investment to Mexico, is

attempting to redesign the city of Guadala-

jara into Latin Americas media technology

capital (with lots of help from the MITs

SENSEeable City Lab). Selected to host thefederal governments Ciudad Creativa Digi-

tal program, Guadalajara will see a ten bil-

lion dollar investment over 5-10 years, unit-

ing efforts by industry, government, and

universities, to create a cluster of technol-

ogy companies devoted to developing video

games, movies, multimedia and mobileapplications. Designed to attract high-level

investment in the information and com-

munications technologies sector, it aims

to position Mexico among leading creative

economies worldwide. It is being designed

from within and without as an internation-

al digital hub and creative ecosystem that

bleeds into the c itys historical center.

Rural Mexico emerges as robotics hub

Students in Chiapas a predominantly in-

digenous state in Mexico, and also one of

the poorest have been winning interna-

tional robotics competitions lately, subvert-

ing stereotypes along the way. Led by David

Jmenez, the group of adolescents from the

robotics lab of Chiapas Universidad de la

Selva just took home rst prize this pastApril at the Gateway Worldwide Univer-

sity Robotics competition. Meanwhile the

Mexican Academy of Sciences and several

municipal governments in Chiapas have

begun teaching grade-school kids from in-

digenous communities basics of comput-

er/robot programming, while learning to

translate terms in English into Tzotzil, their

native tongue. They are then taught howsensors, simple motors and circuits work

by using recycled materials to make simple

robots. The program is now operating in

15 states and has benetted over 690,000

children to date.

DIY drones

Five years ago, a 21-year old Jordi Muoz be-

gan toying around with Arduino and code.

Around the same time, he came across

DIY Drones, a forum of hobbyists, which

inspired him to keep experimenting. Wired

magazine editor Chris Anderson saw Mu-

ozs video of a ying autonomous helicop-

ter, and decided to fund 40 more. They sold

out the same day. This is how 3D Roboticswas born, with Muoz as executive direc-

tor of a team of 20. The young company is

expected to generate a $4.8 million prot

by the end of the year. Muoz is committed

to sharing the details of the hardware and

software his company sells to accelerate

innovation. If the nature of my business

was not open-source, I would just open

an assembly line in Mexico and the work-

ers would simply put together parts; therewould not be a transfer of knowledge, he

explained in a recent interview.

Art at the crossroad with technology

Mexico has several renowned institutions

that specialize in Digital Art, such as the

wonderful Laboratorio Arte Alameda Mu-seum, and the CENARTs multimedia pro-

gram. So it comes as no surprise that Mexico

boasts a community of artists working with

technology. Among our favorites is Gilberto

Esparza, whose latest project is a legion of

solar-powered Nomad Plants, which he

calls a metaphor for the alienated human

condition and the impact that our activity has

on nature, that move autonomously along

riverbanks in search of resources for their

survival. Each plant uses a microbial fuel

cell to convert contaminants in polluted riv-

ers into energy, in turn using that energy to

clean more water.

Cultural Policy is going digital

CONACULTA the national funding or-

ganism for arts and culture in Mexico

recently unveiled plans to create a Digital

Brain that will store Mexicos audio and

visual memory: lms, photographs, mus

etc. [] by making it all digital you are c

ating a sea of public data, the possibility

creating an intelligent system that can

asked different questions and be put

gether in different ways, says Ernesto M

randa, in charge of CONACULTAs digdepartment. That will help us bring thin

back into the bloodstream. He believ

technology could very well be the way

save humanities and make them releva

again by giving it new social outputs.

Tacos, Tweets, and the body as interface.

In Mexico City, you can be notied th

earthquake is a minute away from hitti

via twitter. Marcelo Ebrard, the mayor

Mexico City, will personally tweet repl

to disgruntled drivers stuck in traf

which often make the social media roun

Quirky sometimes serious, sometim

fun and irreverent many of these pjects are tiny reections of the Mexic

soul. Taco Tacos, for example, is an a

that lets you rate tacos the world-over a

share recipes, you will nd everythi

from the tastiest organic prime rib, to t

best eye-ball crammed tortillas in tow

And design collective Machina has ju

released a new line of clothing with ingrated technology (wi-, bluetooth, e

that will bring us a little closer to cybo

dom. Nowadays, it seems one of the qui

est paths to a Mexican heart is digital.


22/27


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and Further to the South

The full extension of Latin America is

home to almost 600 million people. The

diversity of the continent topographi-

cally, culturally, economically, and in every

possible way you can imagine potenti-

ates the incredible diversity of its creative

responses to challenging problems. Each

countries efforts in areas including, but

not limited to, the arts, technology, and

science, offer inspiring examples of the

power of will, ingenuity and moral imagi-

nation to innovate, overcome, and push

forth into a better future.

El Sistema / Venezuela

Founded in 1975, Venezuelas National

Youth Orchestra System, or El Sistema as

it is affectionately called, is now a world-

wide phenomenon. The social program is

a means of providing education, civic val-

ues, and instilling perseverance for at-risk

youth, emphasizing a demanding sched-

ule of group practices. With musicians as

young as four or ve years of age, part of

the magic ofEl Sistema is the ability to keep

the joy of learning and the thrill of making

music central through long practice ses-

sions, even for the youngest members of

the orchestra. One of the strengths of theprogram is its scalability and nimble cur-

riculum, adaptable to the needs and capac-

ity of each small orchestra. The Sistema

currently manages 24 regional orchestras

and 285 youth symphonies, directly gener-

ating some 5,620 jobs. It provides services

to some 350,000 kids each day. To date, the

Sistema has provided an education to mil-

lions of kids, including many prominent

gures in classical music, like L.A. Philhar-

monics conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Libertad I / Colombia

In 2007 the Universidad Sergio Arboleda

became the rst university in Colombia

to have its own satellite in orbit. In fact,

not only is the Libertad 1 the rst satellitelaunched and owned by a Colombian aca-

demic institution; it is Colombias only sat-

ellite. It was developed using a technology

called Cubesat, which provides design and

production standards to create satellites,

built from widely available components,

which can then be launched by taking up

remaining cargo space in launch rockets.

The satellite has allowed researchers in the

country to conduct more ambitious studies

in areas of climate change and telecom-

munications. Perhaps most importantly, it

provided a Neil Amstrong moment to the citi-

zens of Colombia, as they witnessed their

rst small steps in aerospace science but gi-

ant leap in terms of their access as a nation.

Points of Science / Brazil

Points of Science - Brazil, is part of a glob-

al project that aims to connect people in a

number of regions with opportunities for

scientic exploration and learning. An ini-

tiative of The Science House Foundation

in collaboration with Brazils Laboratorio

Nacional de BioCiencias, a team travelled to

the Brazilian Amazon hoping to spark the

imagination of local youth about the ex-

citement of science and cross-cultural col-

laboration, as well as address the issues of

climate change. Its pilot program startedin Acre, Brazil, in the Amazon, with the

indigenous Ashaninka people and Brazils

historic rubber tappers, the seringueiros.

The Ashaninka helped us navigate raging

storms on our way into their village, where

we brought microscopes intended for use

by the local indigenous kids in exploration

of their surroundings. They revealed their

culture to us and shared stories about their

ongoing effort to participate in the global

culture and preserve the environment, to-

gether with the other non-indigenous for-

est inhabitants says Andr Blas, a team

member, anthropologist and documentar-

ian on the trip.

sciencehousefoundation.org/

points-of-science-brazil

Proyectos Ultravioleta / Guatemala

Proyectos Ultravioleta, Ultraviolet P

jects, is a multifaceted platform for

perimentation in contemporary art. T

no-frills art gallery and experimental spa

was founded in 2009 in Guatemala C

and it is already internationally recogniz

as a point of reference for anyone that

interested in Latin American art partic

larly, contemporary work from the Cent

American region. In addition to produci

art exhibitions, multidisciplinary projec

discussion forums, loud concerts, ha

penings, [and] public interventions, t

initiative has gained notoriety for its wo

with local and international projects. No

worthy among them: the Postpanama

exhibiton, presented in collaboration wDiablo Rosso, an art space/caf/conce

store from Panama City.


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All title typefaces in this book

proudly made in Latin America.

Intro

Images: Robert Leslie / TED Conferences,

Lope Gutirrez-Ruiz, Sheyla Tohme

Popular de Lujo

Title: Design by Alexander Wright at In-

House International (weareinhouse.com).

Image: Courtesy of Popular de Lujo.

Elosa CartoneraTitle: Line_A typeface by Rodrigo

Fuenzalida (rfuenzalida.com).

Micromuseo

Title: Abril typeface by Jos Scaglione &

Veronika Burian (type-together.com).

Image: Yory Frenklakh.

Por el Medio de la Calle

Title: Rita Bold typeface by Daniel

Hernndez (latinotype.com).

Image: Courtesy of Fundacin

Pltanoverde.

Tipos Latinos

Title: Alicia typeface by Alexander Wright

(modovisual.com).Images: Courtesy of Tipos Latinos.

A Project of

Gopher Illustrated / Gopher Projects

Michelle Benaim Steiner

& Lope [email protected]

Txico

Gabriella Gmez-Mont

gabriella@ toxicocultura.com

Design by

In-House International

Alexander Wright

[email protected]

Made Possible by

Taxidermie

taxidermie.tv

SESC

Title: Good Intent typeface by Pedro

Veneziano (behance.net/pedroveneziano

Image: Daniel Benaim Meiler.

Start-Up Chile

Title: Isosibilia typeface by Rodrigo

Fuenzalida (rfuenzalida.com).

Image: Courtesy of Start-Up Chile.

Digital Mexico

Title: Oh! Mai! Mai! typeface by Jorge

Artola (jorgeartola.com)

Image: Popular de Lujo.

Endpapers

Page 01: Courtesy of Popular de Lujo.

Page 48: Courtesy of Popular de Lujo.

Design and Art Direction

In-House International

weareinhouse.com

(Proudly) Printed by

CSI Printing Austin, TX

capspec.com

Special Thanks to (in alphabetical order):

Alicia Wright, Andr Blas, Avelino

Rodrguez, Beto Gutirrez, Csar Mor-

dacci, Daniel Benaim, Daniel Henndez,

Daniela Fernndez, Desire Mata, ErnestoMiranda, Esteban cros, Felipe Costa-

bal, Greg Gage, Guillermo Rivero, Gus-

tavo Buntinx, Hector Barboza Grau, Jos

Scaglione & Veronika Burian, Juan Pablo

Garza, Juliana Machado Ferreira, Leo

Felipe Campos, Lili Steiner, Mara Antonia

Rodrguez, Mara Gmez, Martn Castillo,

Mauricio Dvila Faras, Myles Estey, NellyRuiz, Pablo Cosgaya, Pablo Lpez Luz, Pe-

dro Veneziano, Rodrigo Fuenzalida, Saul

Lustgarten, Sergio Alcocer, Sheyla Tohme,

Ulises Hadjis, and Walter Roberto Malta.

The amazing TED / TEDFellows team:

Tom Rielly, Logan McClure, Emeka

Okafor, Samantha Kelly, Corey Mohr,Quinci Camazzola, Stephanie Kent. Billy

Donley at CSI Printing. Meredith Powell

and Max Rusell at Art Alliance Austin.

Steve Hansen at Six Street Printing. Thao

Votang and Brian Willey at Tiny Park. The

Sandbox Network.


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Documents

TED Gopher Toxico