A cultural exchange between youth of Mexico and Beijing.
What if... we talk about how we live our city, what we love about it, how we transform public spaces to make them our own... and share it at the opposite side of the world?
Mexico CityRoom is an interactive cultural pavilion that shares moments inside the life of the endless and diverse Mexico City. It tells the story of a city that is in constant transformation as its inhabitants reinvent it, in search of a more meaningful, inclusive and creative urban life. Mexico CityRoom was commissioned by Mexico City to promote cultural cooperation and community-based tourism in a public space in Beijing during Beijing Design Week 2019 and the 751 International Design Festival.
BUILT BY YOUTH!
“…la ciudad enorme que cabe en un cuarto de tres metros cuadrados inacabable como una galaxia…”
OCTAVIO PAZ, HABLO DE LA CIUDAD, 1986
Inspired by Octavio Paz's poem Hablo de la Ciudad (I speak of the city), Mexico CityRoom pavilion puts the city's scenes and moments, as a galaxy inside a single room, and fills it with windows that share places, traditions, customs and moments of urban life in the city. Mexico City as curated by its inhabitants.
What if… we asked people from Mexico City, what would they be proud to share about their home place with the people of Beijing?
122 city moments
Throughout a series of workshops, people from all over the city with diverse ages and backgrounds, proposed the moments and places that best represented their city. The result was a rich and encompassing portrait of the city, represented through 122 selected moments.
These 122 moments were shown through interactive AR technology, to present not only the city’s most iconic places, but also, all the intricate corners that create its identity.
The participation of young Mexican and Chinese participants was a fundamental for creating and building Mexico CityRoom.
Thanks to all of them for being part of the project experience!
INTERVIEWS
Social engagement was also attained through social media, while people kept sharing their favorite places and moments in their city..
MEXICO CITYROOM COMMUNITIES
— Mexico City inhabitants including marginalized and indigenous communities: youth, children, adults who participated in workshops to choose which places, traditions, customs; allowing them to show the true identity of the place where they live. — Mexico City youth volunteers: construction, assembly. Being part of the project, allowed to connect with young people in Beijing. — Beijing youth volunteers: be part of the assembly project and pavilion guides, allowing them to connect with another culture and establish links with young people from Mexico.
— Mexico City photographers community: dissemination and promotion of their work.
— Inhabitants of the City of Beijing: the project allowed them to know the identity, places, customs and people of Mexico City and to have a new recreational space in the city. — Visitors to Beijing Design Week from all over the world: enrich the cultural offer offered during the event. — Social Media community in Mexico and China: through the interaction in social networks of both cultures, a link was generated between people from the two countries. — Mexican Embassy in China: ambassadors, helped improve diplomatic relations between city representative.
— Mexico City Government: international promotion of the attractions of Mexico City.
