Lit & Luz: An Artist Talk by Magali Lara

The Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and ArtBegan in 2012 (unofficially) with the release of the fully translated—Spanish/English—MAKEMagazineissue 13, "Intercambio/Exchange." In 2014 the Lit & Luz Festival was launched from those pages and ever since has produced yearly events in Mexico City and Chicago, with writers and artists from Chicago, Mexico, and beyond.MAKE Literary Production’s sixth annual Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art, themed "Movement" is an ambitious exchange between Mexico City and Chicago. The week-long festival takes place at over a dozen arts venues and universities throughout Chicago, October 12th-19th. It concludes at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago with our signature event, the “Live Magazine Show." The following February, a similar series of events are held in Mexico City.We are honored to welcome inspiring authors, artists, and arts professionals from Mexico to Chicago. Art and language are key to understanding culture and community, and the cultural exchange between the United States and Mexico. With events such as Lit & Luz, we hope to strengthen the relationship between the two countries, and in particular, to increase the distribution of literature and art from Mexico for Chicago audiences and beyond.

MAKE Literary Productions

An Artist Talk and Conversation with renowned Mexico-based artist Magali Lara at the Logan Center for the Arts

Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Penthouse Room 901

Lit & Luz Festival Chicago 2025

The 12th annual Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art returns this fall to Chicago, November 9 - 14. This one-of-a-kind, cross-cultural, bilingual festival brings together renowned writers and visual artists from Mexico and Chicago.

From Objects to Landscape, and Other Stories: An Artist Talk and Conversation with Magali LaraJoin us at the Logan Center for the Arts for an artist talk with internationally renowned Mexican artist Magali Lara followed by a conversation with art historian Maggie Borowitz, hosted by the Open Practice Committee in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago.Born in Mexico City, Magali Lara has been exhibiting her work internationally for almost 50 years. Experimenting across artistic mediums, collaborating with interdisciplinary makers, and bringing a nuanced feminist approach to her practice, she has been recognized as one of the most important artists of her generation. In this lecture, Lara will discuss five central themes–grid, text, landscape, gesture and monster– all of which have remained present in her practice for over five decades. Beginning with her interest in grids for their negative space and capabilities of visually framing stories of the everyday, to her obsession with gardens and images of trees as links between the underground and the heavens, to thinking of monsters as ghosts of what we choose to ignore, Lara will take us through various projects that illustrate these ideas across various scales and presentation formats. For Lara, art is an extraordinary way to read our times, from the personal to the political, from the outside to the inside.Following the presentation, Lara will be joined by Maggie Borowitz, who is currently at work on a book manuscript entitled Magali Lara: Feminist Artistic Tactics and the Mexican 1980s, for an intimate conversation discussing these central themes.This event is presented in partnership with the Lit &amp; Luz Festival, UNAM Chicago, the University of Chicago’s Open Practice Committee in the Department of Visual Arts, and the Department of Art History//De los objetos al paisaje y otras historias: Plática con la artista Magali LaraAcompáñenos en el Logan Center for the Arts para una charla con la internacionalmente reconocida artista mexicana Magali Lara, seguida de un diálogo con la historiadora de arte Maggie Borowitz; organizada por el Comité de Práctica Abierta del Departamento de Artes Visuales de la Universidad de Chicago.Nacida en la Ciudad de México, Magali Lara ha expuesto internacionalmente durante los últimos 50 años. Experimentando con diversos medios artísticos, colaborando con creadores interdisciplinarios y aportando un enfoque feminista a su práctica, Magali ha sido reconocida como una de las artistas más importantes de su generación.En esta conferencia, Lara abordará cinco temas centrales: redes, textos, paisajes, gestos y monstruosidades; elementos presentes en su obra durante más de cinco décadas. Comenzando por su interés en las redes por sus espacios negativos y su capacidad para enmarcar visualmente historias cotidianas, pasando por su obsesión por los jardines y las imágenes de árboles como vínculos entre el inframundo y el cielo, hasta su visión de los monstruos como fantasmas de aquello que elegimos ignorar; Lara nos guiará a través de diversos proyectos que ilustran estas ideas en diversas escalas y formatos. Para Lara, el arte es una forma extraordinaria de interpretar nuestro tiempo, de lo personal a lo político, desde el exterior hasta lo interno.Siguiendo a la presentación, Maggie Borowitz se unirá a Lara - quien actualmente está trabajando en el libro Magali Lara: Feminist Artistic Tactics and the Mexican 1980s- con una conversación íntima sobre los temas centrales del libro.Este evento será presentado en colaboración con el Festival Lit &amp; Luz, la UNAM Chicago, el Comité de Práctica Abierta del Departamento de Artes Visuales y el Departamento de Historia del Arte de la Universidad de Chicago. ---The 12th annual <a href="https://www.litluz.org/about" title="https://www.litluz.org/about" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lit &amp; Luz</a> Festival of Language, Literature, and Art—as featured in, <a href="https://www.wbez.org/reset-with-sasha-ann-simons/2024/10/31/artists-in-mexico-city-and-chicago-come-together-to-ponder-themes-of-saturation-in-midst-of-historic-presidential-elections" title="https://www.wbez.org/reset-with-sasha-ann-simons/2024/10/31/artists-in-mexico-city-and-chicago-come-together-to-ponder-themes-of-saturation-in-midst-of-historic-presidential-elections" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">WBEZ’s Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons</a>, <a href="https://chireviewofbooks.com/2024/10/28/lit-luz-festival-showcases-bilingual-artists-from-chicago-and-mexico/" title="https://chireviewofbooks.com/2024/10/28/lit-luz-festival-showcases-bilingual-artists-from-chicago-and-mexico/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Chicago Review of Books</a>,<a href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/10/23/lit-luz-festival-brings-authors-and-artists-together-from-chicago-and-mexico/" title="https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/10/23/lit-luz-festival-brings-authors-and-artists-together-from-chicago-and-mexico/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"> Block Club Chicago</a>, and more—takes place November 9 to November 14, 2025. This one-of-a-kind cross-cultural, bilingual festival brings together writers, poets, and visual artists from Mexico and Chicago for a week-long series of public programming at venues throughout Chicago.This year’s festival––under the theme of “Repair/Reparar”–– explores how writers, poets, and artists from Chicago and Mexico critically examine the artist’s role in impacting and offering new perspectives on what it takes to face and reimagine our shared realities.To learn more, visit <a href="https://litluz.org/" title="https://litluz.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">litluz.org</a>

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Lit & Luz: An Artist Talk by Magali Lara

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