Itineraries of Matter: Mediality, Circulation and Technological Obsolescence in Certain Artistic Practices from Mexico

This paper presents a review about the paths followed by a series of artistic practices from Mexico produced with the support of electronic and digital technologies, between the second half of the nineties and the first half of the noughties. These paths have been arranged according to two itineraries of circulation of arts; one conditioned by the presence of a high-tech infrastructure through the Centro Multimedia of the Centro Nacional de las Artes and the other nurtured by a cultural environment of technological obsolescence. First, some of the reasons for the neglect of these practices in the history of art in Mexico are discussed and, then, based on an approach from the new materialisms, a reading of the logic operating in its materiality is offered. The aim is to contribute to studies about the role played by new media technologies in the reconfiguration of the materiality of art.