It’s been 22 years since Zona MACO, Latin America’s largest art fair, launched in Mexico City. In the two decades since, the number of artists, galleries, collectors, satellite fairs, and tangentially-related happenings (Immersive art rave! Conceptual design pop-up! Multi-sensory experimental opera! Guided mezcal tasting/meditation experience!) in the Mexican capital has ballooned astronomically. It’s too much! There’s too much to see! To do! To taste!
To cram what would be more than the equivalent of most cities’ entire annual calendar of cultural offerings into one week in the sprawling metropolis is insanity. CDMX is the capital of FOMO—with its made-for-Instagram culinary scene, dizzying nightlife, unchecked inequality, literal hundreds of museums, and oversaturation of art, design, theater, and music it feels like you’re always in the second best place. There’s always a more exclusive vernissage, a more decadent party, a more “authentic” neighborhood, a spicier salsa, a higher penthouse, a better kisser, a quicker shortcut, a more challenging/ earnest/ ironic/ heartbreaking artwork.
I get asked for advice about “what’s the best ____ in Mexico City?” probably more than any other topic. So this year, I’m sharing my art week event picks—based on expertise gleaned spending the better part of the past decade always searching for some elusive superlative in the capital of extremes.
One general piece of advice: take the subway or dedicated-lane Metrobús when you can (although this year, the extremely useful metro line 1 is closed for maintenance). Getting in a taxi in this city of perpetually-gridlocked traffic can take hours out of your day—and likely years off everyone’s life, as February is infamous smog season.
Below, your best bets for Art Week 2024 without losing your mind trying to see it all.
Deborah Castillo: Marx Palimpsest 
