Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros
The building has a theatre, galleries and more, but the main focus is the Forum Universal, which contains the interior portion of Siqueiros' mural work.
The wall became immediately controversial because although it was built for safety purposes, it obstructed the view of the Polyforum for passersby, thus making it less accessible to the general public.
Made into a work of art, the inner surface of the wall celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Mexican mural movement of which Siqueiros actively participated in with Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and others.
The twelve concepts depicted are: Destiny, Ecology, Acrobats, Masses, Decalog, Christ, Indigenous Peoples, Dance, Mythology, Mingling of Races, Music, and Atom.
The final death toll remains a mystery, but it has been reported that four students died, twenty were wounded, and thousands were beaten, jailed, and disappeared.
In addition to making arts more accessible to people through Siqueiros’ work at the Polyforum, some of the other contributions of Mexico 2000 included underground networks of driveways, closed circuit radio and television broadcasting, a new system of construction called “Tridilosa” that lightened the weight of the building structure as to allow for more rooms to be created, and expedited travel services for tourists coming into the city.
At the time, the hotel was the tallest reinforced concrete and earthquake-resistant building in the world, and featured 1,512 rooms and suites with a variety of dining options.
Equally important to tourism as the Polyforum, “El Hotel de Mexico” was built for both functionality and aesthetic pleasure through its architectural grandeur.
[8] Although the date is rather uncertain, most agree that the initial commission of the Polyforum happened in 1960 before the radical artist Siqueiros was imprisoned for the charges of attacking police, resisting arrest, firing an illegal weapon, and inciting violence.
The location change to Parque de la Lama was part of Suárez's larger ideas to both draw people away from the urban center and to promote tourism in an effort to boost the suffering Mexican economy.
[11] The undertaking was so large that Siqueiros purchased an additional piece of land next to his home and studio in Cuernavaca for his team to complete the project.
[12] All of the panels for The March of Humanity were created in Cuernavaca, where Rhode Island School of Design alumni Mark Rogovin worked under Siqueiros.
[13] The project was initially to be completed for the 1968 Olympic Games, but due to political and financial complications, the Polyforum was not finished and inaugurated until December 15, 1971.
Below this floor is a theater that features various performances, as well as a small shopping area called the Universal Forum Emerging Art Space (EAE).
[2] The second gallery dedicated to Orozco Rivera measured 169 meters squared and is shows mainly temporary exhibits of painting, sculpture and photography.
[2] Inside the Polyforum hosts Siqueiros’ largest mural ever to be created, which is fully titled, The March of Humanity on Earth and Toward the Cosmos: Misery and Science.
[15] Siqueiros described the theme as “Naked people close to the soil, a woman with a child on her lap, and smaller children raising their arms begging for bread.
The man in this scene is the leader who emerged from the amate tree in Section 2, and his return with the female suggests that he has successfully mated and created a new race.
[19] In addition, the Siqueiros Foundation preserves a collection of periodicals, audio, video and photography related to the artist, whose digitalization was begun in 2010.
This collection consists of 102,908 documents and images with elements such as correspondence with contemporary intellectuals, writers and politicians, including that from the Siquieros was incarcerated in Lecumberri from 1960 to 1964.
