More of FotoWeek's best: Shows that haven't shuttered
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Two fascinating shows in one. At ground level, an exhibition of photos from the important collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City surveys the history of 20th-century photography in Mexico. It includes landmark figures such as Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Tina Modotti, who made major contributions to modernist photography, as well as representatives of the documentary approaches that have flourished more recently in Mexico.

Three floors up, one of the best commercial galleries in Mexico City, called OMR, presents the photo-based art of five contemporary figures. There are charming loops of video by Mauricio Alejo (a coin that seems to spin forever; a crumpled paper coming uncrumpled) as well as conceptual photographs by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer that explore our security-mad world.