ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the conceptual and spatial origins of the Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM) of Mexico, as well as the role played by Mexico City’s greater museum complex in the cultural context surrounding its opening in 1964. The inauguration of the museum corresponded with a plan to institutionalize culture promoted during Adolfo López Mateos’s presidency (1958–1964); in addition to extensive literacy campaigns and the construction of rural schools, various museums were built in the country, which in turn served as tourist attractions. Designed by architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, MAM’s building, with its long glass façade and its amorphous curvilear plan, stunned the city with its constructive novelty. The MAM emerged with the purpose of promoting modern Mexican heritage. Prior to its foundation, however, the cultural institutions of the state had paid little attention to the consolidation of national modern art. Without a solid body of work, or a new museological model, the museum cultivated its idea of modernity through the building’s architecture. On the basis of its spatiality, the MAM presented a cultural model that promoted the image of a modern country; behind its doors, though, the museum’s discourse communicated a different story.
