Alan Sierra 
(Hermosillo, Sonora, México, 1990)

Artist and collaborative writer, editor and educator for an array of initiatives whose work is composed of drawings, texts, sculptures and live performance. In his projects he positions reading as an authorial task that is not limited to a receptive activity. He also connects to literature’s parallel professions—editing, translating, illustration—to create conditions that allow a more complex understanding of written culture. He received an MFA at the Institute Art Gender Nature in Basel and was a SOMA Programa Educativo participant. In Mexico, his work has shown in collective exhibitions at Guadalajara’s Museo Cabañas in 2022 and at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, in Mexico City, in 2021. His work has been exhibited outside Mexico at the Castello di Rivoli, in Turin, 2023; Barcelona’s La Capella in 2022 and at the Denver Art Museum in 2021. He has published two books: Fábula encinta (Gato Negro 2021) concerns the metaphor of male pregnancy and its instrumentalization in literary endeavor; Nonverbal (Gato Negro 2019) is his first self-illustrated book. 

 

Juegos florales, 2024
Installation and open mic performance
Polystyrene sculptures on-screen lined with green felt; cast brass figurines, engraved folding chairs, and polyester suit

The floral games are literary competitions held since the Middle Ages to recognize the best poet in a region. In some places, the jury awarded a golden rose as the prize. In Mexico, these types of contests remain as government initiatives that link cultural production with political objectives. Juegos florales is a contest—just with a few modifications. There’s an open microphone for anyone interested in sharing their poetry—a move that aims to dismantle traditional contest logic and the dynamics of competition. Instead of roses, Sierra gives out brass sculptures of the chamomile flower, associated with patience, simplicity, and humility. The artist will also act as master of ceremonies, offering speeches and presenting awards in an institutional contest style to highlight the tensions and contradictions within sponsorships, representation, and poetic production. 

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