Viaje a la luna

Emilio Amero, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Diane Arbus, Nina Canell, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Ajit Chauhan, Federico García Lorca, Rosalind Nashashibi, Francesco Pedraglio, Tania Pérez Córdova, Álvaro Urbano, Danh Vo

Opening Reception: June 12, 2025, 6-8pm

The exhibition is located at the Wattis Institute and Novack Gallery

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts presents a group exhibition Viaje a la luna (A trip to the moon) inspired by the only film script written by the renowned Spanish Surrealist poet, playwright, and artist Federico García Lorca. Featuring both national and international artists, the exhibition builds upon themes explored in the script, as well as the social and political context of its creation in the late 1920s. The exhibition draws a parallel to the present, the 2020s, with politically far-right nationalist movements and fascist ideologies once again on the rise, causing the world to become more insular and uncertain.

Lorca wrote the script in New York in 1929 after a series of conversations with the Mexican artist Emilio Amero. Production began in Mexico City in 1932, with a crew that included notable Mexican artists of the time, such as Lola Álvarez Bravo and her husband, Manuel Álvarez Bravo. However, filming was halted after Lorca’s murder by the Spanish Nationalist army in 1936. The project faded into obscurity, becoming yet another unfinished work and enigma in history.

The exhibition speculates on what the film might have been, establishing a dialogue between a group of contemporary artists and the fragments of Lorca’s life and screenplay. For Lorca, art was both a refuge and a means to forge an identity, expressing his politics and his deeply personal, often distressed search for love—an indirect reflection of his homosexuality. Through archival materials and contemporary works, the exhibition revolves around the question: What would the film have been like?

Viaje a la luna is curated by Diego Villalobos and Rodrigo Ortiz Monasterio. The exhibition is made possible thanks to Lisa Bransten, The Jenni Crain Foundation, an initiative dedicated to preserving the legacy of the esteemed artist and curator, the Wattis Leadership Circle. Special thanks to the Centro Federico García Lorca, the artists, galleries, and lenders to the exhibition.

The exhibition will travel to the Centro Federico García Lorca in October 30, 2025.