Mónica Mayer

Mónica Mayer (born 1954) is a Mexican artist, activist and art critic whose practice includes performance, digital graphics, drawing, photography and art theory. As a conceptual artist, curator, art critic and theorist she has been engaged in various forums and groups. From 1988 to 2008 she was a columnist for the newspaper El Universal (Mexico)

Mayer was born in Mexico City in 1954, and trained there as a visual artist at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. She earned a master's degree in the Sociology of Art at Goddard College, United States, with a thesis entitled Feminist Art: An Effective Political Tool. From 1978 to 1980, Mayer participated in the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles, California.

In 1983, with Maris Bustamante, she founded the first feminist art collective in Mexico, Polvo de Gallina Negra (Black Hen Powder). Mayer and Bustamante’s work combined radical social criticism and humour, exemplified by the group’s name: “Black Hen Powder – to protect us from the patriarchal magic which makes women disappear.”

In 1989, with Víctor Lerma, Mayer created the ongoing conceptual project, Pinto mi Raya, whose main function is an archive that specializes in newspaper articles on contemporary art in Mexico. The project’s objective is to stimulate the art system in Mexico by conducting various activities, workshops and performance interventions involving other practitioners such as El Balcón del CENIDIAP, De Crítico, artista y loco..., and El Mejor Amigo de los Museos. Pinto mi Raya has also hosted radio programmes such as “Pinto mi Raya: Donde las Artes Visuales Suenan” (ABCradio, 1999–2000) and has actively participated in various activist actions as part of the artistic community.

In the 1998 publication 'Pinto mi Raya—A Brief Story of Almost 10 Years of Applied Conceptual Art Projects', Lerma and Mayer write:"This experience allowed us to detect some of the most serious problems in our art system, and little by little we started turning into a platform from which we could launch applied conceptual art projects in order to try to find solutions for them. In other words, we seek to lubricate the art system so it runs more smoothly. We also decided to become nomads."

Los ríos amputados. Juarez Autonomous University of Villahermosa ( Tabasco (Mexico). 5 June 2009

• WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution. Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, USA)
• La batalla de los géneros . Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo (Santiago de Compostela, Spain). September to December 2007.
• Novela rosa o me agarró el arquetipo" Museo Carrillo Gil . Plantilla:México DF, 1987.
• National Gallery in Kingston (Jamaica)
• Candido Mendes Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
• Final&Sigue. Juarez University of Villahermosa (Tabasco, Mexico). June 2009
• Video a la mexicana. De sexo-s, amor y humor. Montehermoso Palace (Vitoria, Spain). May to September 2010

• "La batalla de los géneros". 

Items of art criticism:

• Reviews by the conceptual space Pinto mi Raya.
• Columns in the newspaper El Universal (Mexico)
• Various items in Performance Research (UK)

Books:

• Mayer, Mónica. Rosa chillante: mujeres y performance en México. México: Conaculta/Fonca, 2004.
• Mayer, Mónica. Una Década Y Pico: Textos De Performance. [México, D.F.]: Ediciones al vapor, 2001.
• Mayer, Mónica. Translations: An International Dialogue of Women Artists. [Place of publication not identified]: [publisher not identified], 1980.
• Mayer, Mónica. Mónica Mayer: novela rosa o me agarró el arquetipo. México, D.F.: Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, 1987.
• Mayer, Mónica. Una Década Y Pico: Textos De Performance. [México, D.F.]: Ediciones al vapor, 2001.
• Mayer, Mónica, Víctor Lerma, and Alfredo Ramírez. Arte público en el archivo de Pinto Mi Raya. México: Pinto Mi Raya, 2002.
• Mayer, Mónica, Víctor Lerma, Alethia Edurné González Cañetas, and Alejandra Sánchez Avilés. Mujeres artistas en el Archivo de Pinto Mi Raya, colectivas y textos varios. México: Pinto Mi Raya, 2003.
• Mayer, Mónica, Víctor Lerma, Alethia Edurné González Cañetas, and Alejandra Sánchez Avilés. Ojos y vidrio: las fotógrafas en el archivo de Pinto Mi Raya. México: Pinto Mi Raya, 2003.
• Mayer, Mónica, Víctor Lerma, and Miriam Urbano Alonso. Performance en el archivo de Pinto Mi Raya: versión actualizada de Mayo de 1991 a Mayo de 2005). [México]: Pinto Mi Raya, 2005.
• Mayer, Mónica. Escandalario: los artistas y la distribución del arte. [Mexico]: AVJ Ediciones, 2006.

'Mujeres en Acciòn, serie documental de performance', DVD by Josefina Alcazar featuring: Andrea Ferreyra, Edith Medina, Lorena Méndez, Lorena Orozco, Lorena Wolffer, Katnira Bello, Maris Bustamante, Thereza Lopez, Monica Mayer, Elizabeth Romero, Elvira Santamaria, Ma. Eugenia Chellet, La Congelada De Uva, Diana, Olalde, Gabriela Olivo, Katia Tirado, Nina Yhared. More info: http://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/resources/study-room