After two years of virtual editions thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Zona MACO returned on Wednesday, Feb. 9 to its usual venue in Mexico City with more than 200 galleries from 25 different countries celebrating the return to an in-person format for Latin America's most important contemporary art event. 

Among the participating galleries are 1969 Gallery, Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, Cassina Projects, Galería Estéreo, Fabienne Levy, Gaga, Gagosian, Harper's and Hashimoto Contemporary. 

The fair, which takes place at Mexico City's Centro Citibanamex and runs through Feb. 13, is defined this year by the union of several galleries to provoke dialogue among the artists they promote.

"The importance of collaboration and that sense of community has become clear and something we have encouraged in the fair is that several galleries share stands," assured the event's artistic director, Juan Canela in an interview with EFE.

In another recent interview with La Lista, Canela spoke about the great importance of Zona MACO in Mexico.

"A project like this has an important weight in the promotion of collecting, in the relationship between collectors, artists with the galleries in the center for creators to do their work. It also has a task of dynamizing the context and its internationalization," he said.

Zona Maco was founded in 2002 by Zélika García, a well-known Mexican curator and graduate of the Bachelor of Arts at the University of Monterrey, who always looked for projects that would promote art in the galleries in the north of the country.

Twenty years later, Zona MACO is a multi-faceted event divided into four sections: the General Section, South, Modern Art and Ejes, led by Cuban curator Direlia Lazo. 

The South section, curated by Brazilian Luiza Teixeira de Freitas, will explore themes far removed from pandemics and disease, such as fantasy and the surreal, as well as the cross between art and nature.

The Modern Art section, led by Mexico's Esteban King, will exhibit works by established artists such as Rufino Tamayo, Leonora Carrington, Manuel Felguérez, Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, Maria Izquierdo.

On the other hand, the fair has a space dedicated to Design, another to Antiques and a third dedicated to Photography, including ancient, modern and contemporary.

Zona MACO will also feature a program of conversations with internationally renowned panelists who will address current issues in the art world. This issue will feature guests such as Nicholas Baume, curator of the New York Public Art Fund; Tamara Grynbaum of Fine Arts at Rally.io; Carla Acevedo-Yates, curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Emiliano Valdés of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín; Pilar García, curator of the MUAC art collection; Marielsa Castro Vizcarra, associate curator of Museo Jumex, among others.