Whenever someone asks the American writer, curator, and poet Su Wu why she moved to Mexico City from California, she references the artist Francis Alÿs, who lived in the Mexican capital in the mid-1980s. “I like to say I moved because of an Alÿs interview,” Wu told the design publication Sight Unseen in 2019. “He said this was the last place … where people were still willing to call themselves poets.” Wu had her sights set on poetry, so, in 2014, she boarded a flight south.
But she did a lot more than write. That year, she co-curated Masa gallery’s inaugural exhibition, placing 70 works in an abandoned mansion north of the city. Soon after that, she opened a temporary exhibition space, Casa Ahorita, on the ground floor of her 1920s Roma Norte townhouse. Today, Wu is the arts editor of N+1 magazine, the curator-at-large for Masa, and has written for publications like T Magazine and The Guardian. Here, the polymath shares her go-to galleries, restaurants, and cafés in her adopted city.
BELLA AURORA
I like to think I’ve single-handedly kept lasagna on the breakfast menu at the original Panadería Rosetta, a beloved spot that is well-deservedly crowded. But if you’d like a calmer experience, head to Elena Reygadas’s Bella Aurora just a few blocks away. There, you can order the same menu of pastries without the scrum, and have breakfast tea, pan dulces, guava rolls, and fig leaf berlinesas [a local jelly-filled pastry] at a table in a leafy solarium. (bellaaurora.mx)
EL MINUTITO
Finding a coffee shop that opens before eight A. M. in Mexico City can be difficult, but this one, founded by my friend, the artist Lucas Cantú, is always reliable. In the evenings, it becomes a standing-only bar and stays open late. Perhaps the soft ceiling lights, the bulletin board packed with ephemera, or the bartenders who don’t automatically speak to you in English make this new place feel like it’s been around for a long time. Stop in for a drink before heading to the piano bar El Ayer or the dance club Mickey’s. (instagram.com)
MASALA Y MAíZ
Mexico City has a culture of long lunches, but there is truly no place for one like Masala y Maíz. Norma Listman and Saqib Keval blend Mexican, South Asian, and African flavors—a reflection of the multicultural layers that make up the city. (masalaymaiz.com)
MUSEO ANAHUACALLI
Museo Anahuacalli was built by Diego Rivera to house his collection of pre-Hispanic artifacts. The building, designed by the celebrated Mexican architect Juan O’Gorman, is as vast and formidable as the collection itself. The volcanic stone temple reflects the Mesoamerican principles of the underworld and regeneration. Rivera’s original full-scale drawings for Man at Crossroads (a lost fresco meant to be installed in the Rockefeller Center) are in the museum. Recent additions to the space include an expansion by the architect Mauricio Rocha and a contemporary art and performance program led by the curator Karla Niño de Rivera.
MASA
Masa started as a nomadic exhibition platform. Today, the artist-run gallery has a permanent exhibition space, but the mission remains the same: The pieces they showcase push the boundaries of art and design. Here, Mexican artists such as Mario Garcia Torres, Pia Camil, Pedro Reyes, Milena Muzquiz, Tania Perez Cordova, and Ruben Ortiz Torres explore the conceptual limits of functionality. (mmaassaa.com)
GALERIA MASCOTA
While Mexico City has older, more established blue-chip galleries that are worth visiting, Javier Estevez’s new gallery in Roma Norte is just as serious and full of energy. Galeria Mascota hosts important shows, but it’s not overly entrenched in its own self-confidence. Javier takes risks, as seen in a recent show by the French-Mexican poet and surrealist Alice Rahon. The gallery is next door to Travesía Cuatro (another fine gallery). If you’re lucky, you might get to visit Travesía Cuatro’s very private, seasonal bar designed by different artists. (galeriamascota.com)
LAGOALGO
This arts center, located on the edge of a lake in Chapultepec Park, hosts rotating group shows and salon-style conversations in a swooping concrete building designed in 1964 by the 23-year-old architect Alfonso Ramírez Ponce. (lago-algo.mx)
CHIC BY ACCIDENT
The best gallery for antique and vintage Mexican furniture and decorative objects. You’ll find original modernist works by everyone from Don Shoemaker to Clara Porset, intricately detailed neo-Mayan revival masterpieces, and, best of all, guidance from the founder Emmanuel Picault. (chicbyaccident.com)
PROYECTOS PÚBLICOS
Proyectos Públicos, a stunning historic building in the Juárez neighborhood, is best known as the home of the art fair Salón Acme. I love how quiet the space is the rest of the year, offering a few spots to have a drink, ample breathing room, and installations like Safe Space. An immersive artwork, Safe Space modestly presents itself as a guided meditation room and a space for observation. Registration is required. (proyectospublicos.com; safespace.net)
