"If people do not go to the museum, we go to them"

Mexican museums Diego Rivera Anahuacalli, Frida Kahlo and Dolores Olmedo organize Frida Kahlo Extramuros, a touring exhibition that features pictures of the artist and that can be seen throughout the Mexico State.  Hilda Trujillo, Director of the Museo Casa Azul, the Museum Anahuacalli and general coordinator of this exhibition, explains the raison d’etre of this project.

Frida Kahlo Extramuros is an exhibition that will travel to different malls in Mexico.  Which is the main purpose of this touring exhibition?

This exhibition aims to bring museums Anahuacalli Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Dolores Olmedo to the public, to raise awareness and introduce the art world into society. If people do not go to the museum, we go to them.

Alejandro Garcia Aguinaco, director of the company Taller de Museografía TDM, said that this exhibition is an invitation to mall visitors to live a multi-sensory experience. What makes this exhibition different from the others?

We cannot present the original works due to security measures and because Diego Rivera stated in his testament that the paintings cannot leave the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Anahuacalli museums–they cannot leave the museums even for restoration -, we are unable to lend works. So we used technology to display Frida’s reproductions and make them look visually striking , taking into account the visual and audible power that a mall has, which is overwhelming. We used lets in light boxes to place the work, which made the image visually different and attractive

Facsimiles, made by Gabriel Figueroa, were used in high quality photographs. We also installed a children’s playroom and an art book section about Diego and Frida’s museums. These initiatives were indeed very successful. The walls were built with recyclable materials to enhance their use and we thought of putting a carpet to create an intimate space in a visual space which is very competitive. We have had 300,000 visits.

Frida Kahlo’s fakes are quite common nowadays. Do you still receive requests to authenticate artworks? Do you think that a book with all the original work should be published?
I have never agreed to verify work to avoid facing the counterfeiters.
Institutions such as Conaculta and Bellas Artes (Mexico), which by law should be involved, avoid the subject and do not do the dirty work.  We (Phillips Olmedo, General Director of the Dolores Olmedo, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera museums and I)  have been preparing a publication for several  years and will invite institutions to participate