NAFAA Canada and Mexico:
A History
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NAFAA began in the fall of 1992. A collective of artists from various backgrounds in the arts organized a performance, ³Open the Doors to Art². It was in protest of the closing of the Art Gallery of Ontario. In this collective were artists from Canada, Mexico and the United States. We formed an artists version of the North American tri-lateral free trade agreement, but with the accent on free trade of artistic information, resources and a passion for communication through art. This was the beginning of the North American Free Artists Agreement.

Today, we have several projects behind us:

1992
Open the Doors to Art - City of Toronto, September;
Performance: collaboration between Canadian and Mexican artists.
1993
The Urban and the Urbane, Mexico City, October/November;
Canadian multimedia art exhibition in four galleries in Mexico: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Gallery, La Esmeralda Gallery, The Mariano Lopez Mateos Gallery, Metro Zapata Subway Station in the IV International Bienal de Poesia Visual
Performance,:
The Revolution is in Art Baby, the rest is garbage,
Mexico City, EX-Teresa, October; collaboration between Mexican and Canadian artists
1994
Proyecto Chichimeca, Mexico City, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, August-October;
solo exhibition of Canadian installation artist Domingo Cisneros
Magico de la vida Huichol, Toronto, Samuel J. Zacks Gallery, September-October;
solo exhibition by Huichol artist Ramon de la Torre López
Los Colores de la Voluntad, Toronto, October;
Mexican multi-media art exhibition in six galleries in Toronto:NAFAA Gallery, NAFAA Annex, Garnet Press,Genereux-Grunwald, Arcadia Art Gallery, IDA Gallery
Performance:
Communication: An Interruption in Your Day or smog Bloor/Young Subway lines, ending in St. George Station, October;
collaboration between Mexican and Canadian artists
1995
piel profunda / skin deep, Mexico City, Galer’a del Sur, July;
solo exhibiton by Canadian installation artist Lois Andison
With the Mask of Sun, Toronto, Arcadia Art Gallery, September;
solo exhibition by Mexican digital artist Jorge Morales
Net@Works, Mexico City, Centro Multimedia, Centro Nacional de las Artes,October/November;
group exhibition of electronic art by Canadian artists
1997
A Life of Its Own, Mexico City, Centro Multimedia, Centro Nacional de las Artes,October/November;
group exhibition of emergent behavior in robotic art by Canadian artists

NAFAA's founding members are Jorge Morales of Mexico and Eleni Mokas of Canada. We received our Letters Patent in October of 1994, our Supplementary Letters in October of 1995, and have applied for a Charitable Tax Number. We are a recognized non-profit arts organization. Our Board of Directors consists of five artists from Canada and Mexico. Four Canadian artists: Oliver Girling, Painter and Arts Writer for EYE Magazine; Mario Tenorio,Theatre and Film Director and Playwrite; Steev Morgan, Professor of New Media and Electronic Artist, and Eleni Mokas, Performance Artist, Painter, Curator/Exhibitions Coordinator and Arts Administrator; and in Mexico, NAFAA'S Director is Jorge Morales, Professor of Art Theory and Design, Performance Artist, Digital Artist, and Curator/Exhibitions Coordinator. The five of these directors make up the International Board of NAFAA-Canada and Mexico. The artists that we work with in each exhibition make up the collective of NAFAA.

We have been sponsored by federal, provincial, private and corporate sponsors, monetarily and with in-kind goods and services. Among our supporters are: The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Cultural Relations Division, The Latin American Strategy Fund of Canada, The Bank of Missions, The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation, The Ontario Arts Council, The Metropolitan Cultural Granting Program, Canada Council, Toronto Arts Council, Apple Canada, Volkswagen Canada, Borden&Elliot, Barristers&Solicitors-Patent&Trade Mark Agents, Solect Technology Group, Cathexis Communications, The Mirvish¹s, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Ontario College of Art, York University, The McLuhan Program on Technology and Culture, The Ontario Science Centre, Schenker International of Canada Limited, The Centre for Research on Latin American and Caribbean Countries,Moreno Travel, The Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Azcapotzalco and Xochimilco Campuses, Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, (The Foundation for the National Arts and Culture, Mexico), Centro Nacional de las Artes, Centro Multimedia, The Canadian Embassy (Mexico City) and The Mexican Consulate (Toronto).

NAFAA's goal is to create ongoing cultural and artistic exchanges in all media, between Canada and Mexico. We are primarily working with emerging artists, those less known outside their countries, offering the opportunity to work collaboratively and collectively in many different capacities; through artists talks and lecture series, workshops, group and solo exhibitions and performances. NAFAA is developing a network of venues in both countries for artists to gain global experience. We work with various institutions, artist run centres, galleries, museums, colleges and universities, and other artist run organizations.

NAFAA works for art and culture. We are developing a visual dialogue between Canada and Mexico, going beyond words and the language of money, economic trade and investments. These exchanges cultivate communications between our countries with images: of our Canadian roots and multicultural communities, of the Mexican Mestizo culture and it¹s Hispanic and Indigenous traditions, and of our ways of living life. It is through cultural, artistic exchanges that we intend to accomplish this goal and build a bridge between our worlds. We are now working on our ninth exhibition, a touring art show of Digital Art entitled The Common Mirror: Digital Art Reflections of Culture. This landmark exhibition marks our first tri-lateral tour involving artists from Canada, Mexico and the United States. It opens in Boulder, Colorado at the Andrew J. Macky Gallery, October 2, with a lecture series on October 3. The exhibition runs through to November 1, 1996. The second showing will be in Mexico City, at Galeria del Sur, March/April,1997, and in Toronto in May/June of 1997.

Eleni Mokas
Director
NAFAA-Canada

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