SYZYGY Year II: Queer up the North

The focus of Syzygy Yr. 2 is on on cultural awareness and social education regarding 2SLGBTQI+ experiences, featuring international artists and installations from Brazil, Mexico, Columbia and Canada.

June 14

Exhibition Focus

In the second year of the Syzygy project, we are deepening our focus on cultural awareness and social education regarding 2SLGBTQI+ experiences. The recognition and protection of human rights—especially the rights of gender- and sexually diverse individuals—have become central to educational discourse amid the social and political shifts shaping contemporary democracies. In today’s multicultural world, the struggle for the recognition of the need for equality (sexual, gender, racial, or cultural) remains a defining feature of social life, yet rights are unevenly realized, with queer communities in rural areas often facing heightened invisibility, discrimination, and structural barriers. Through this visual and performance art initiative, we aim to critically illuminate these disparities and reflect on the boundaries, rights, and lived realities that gender and sexual diversity will continue to negotiate in the social sphere of 2026.

Curators

The project's main curators are:

Cesar Forero, Melissa La Porte, Cecilia Stelini, and Mateus Stelini. Guest curators Pearl van Geest and James Fowler have joined this year for the focus on queerness in the North.

Silent Violence

Sometimes, three celestial bodies align precisely in the sky, and this astronomical phenomenon is called SYZYGY. However, for Cesar Forero, creator of the project, this alignment can occur in the soul. In his symbolic universe, Syzygy is the moment when the feminine, the masculine, and the spiritual find balance, and it is from this cosmic, intimate, and political idea that Syzygy was born, an international art project that brings together artists from Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Poland.

In 2026, the project will take place in Mexico, Canada, and Colombia, with a focus on LGBTQIAPN+ issues. The goal is to promote and make visible gender diversity, fostering its understanding and acceptance.

In this edition, we continue with the title "Silent Violence," as we understand that a lack of understanding, ignorance, and prejudice promote situations of violence that result in moral and physical offences, and even murder/death.

Art is life, and each artist expresses their experiences and feelings in their work, whether concealing their pain or making their experiences explicit.

In this project, we present a selection of works narrated from the perspective of the participating artists.

For the event, which will take place in Mazatlán, Mexico, the artists will present video performances.