Join leading experts for presentations and discussion exploring cultural heritage sites in Mexico, including the region of Oaxaca and the unique relationship between its local communities, their daily lived traditions, and natural landscapes. In advance of the opening of The Met’s reenvisioned Michael C. Rockefeller Wing in 2025, learn how the new galleries will foreground the significant role that landscape plays in Mesoamerican art. Speakers will include Nelly Margarita Robles García, National Coordinator of Archaeology, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City; Alejandro de Ávila Blomberg, Founding Director, Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca; Omar Aguilar Sánchez (Mixtec), archaeologist; and Mauricio Rocha Iturbide, architect.

The talk will be moderated by by Jonathan S. Bell, Vice President of Programs, World Monuments Fund.

About World Monuments Fund and The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced in May 2023 a collaboration to create digital resources that will be featured throughout the African Art galleries in The Met's new Michael C. Rockefeller Wing—which is currently closed for renovation—that aim to provide gallery visitors and online audiences alike with a more expansive view of the richness of artistic and architectural expression on the continent and to provide deep context to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art. 

The reenvisioning of The Met’s new African Art galleries seeks to anchor the completely new physical design to relevant regional aesthetics. In reintroducing material artifacts in the collection, this digital resource will provide a more expansive understanding of Africa’s diverse cultural landscapes and creative traditions.