Page 161 - AC-3-2

Arts & Communication Urban expressions festival: The resignification

the Callegenera Urban Expressions Festival contributes to consolidated as one of the most influential art forums and
the resignification of urban-mural and street art. urban manifestations in the state and the country.
Monterrey is a city located in the Northeast of Mexico. The Callegenera Urban Expressions Festival seeks to
The metropolitan area is made up of nine municipalities, formalize the dissemination and expression of urban and
which are Monterrey, Guadalupe, Juárez, San Pedro, Santa street art to raise awareness and demonstrate the value of
Catarina, García, San Nicolás de los Garza, Escobedo, and this type of avant-garde artistic expression. Through its
Apodaca. It has a population of 5.3 million inhabitants. exhibitions, it seeks to rethink the technique of graffiti on
The city is characterized as a financial metropolis and the wall, to raise awareness in society, and reinterpret this
the industrial capital of the country, in addition to practice not as a form of vandalism but as an alternative
having highly specialized hospitals and higher education expression since it not only serves to express but also
institutions classified as among the best in Mexico. manages to give a different aspect to the city, giving
This megalopolis has a rich and varied representation dynamism and personality to the environment, and it is in
of urban-mural and street art. The city is a cultural mosaic this context where new points of view and new perspectives
and the perception of urban art and especially graffiti as can be found.
a vandalism intervention is firmly anchored in society; The detonating idea that Callegenera originated was
however, it has gradually gained acceptance over time. an independent festival of art embodied in skateboards.
Even Monterey boasts one of the only scripts of its kind in The success and the quality of the works exhibited caught
the world: the hook . the attention of the authorities of the Council for Culture
1
and the Arts of Nuevo León (CONARTE), who decided
2
2. Callegenera urban expressions festival to resume the idea, under their patronage, in the state of
The Callegenera Festival recognizes diversity through Nuevo León, Mexico.
a space where differences and similarities coexist, with Callegenera has been held uninterruptedly since 2011,
agreements and proposals to build new networks, featuring not only an exhibition of pieces and intervening
exchanging opinions and lines. It seeks to promote, walls but also music, skateboard competitions, break dance
connect, and spread the wide range of urban expressions competitions, and bicycle competitions, accompanied by
that coexist in the city. “Callegenera aims to give greater workshops, discussion tables, and conferences. It is, without
value to urban demonstrations as well as to de-stigmatize a doubt, a record reference of everything that happens in
the perception of it. It is a festival without censorship or the streets; therefore, it is the evidence of a sociocultural
political purposes” as stated by Rodríguez, Director of imprint of an intersubjective space that is founded and
Development and Cultural Heritage. 1 enriched by the existing dynamics and manifestations in

When referring to urban expressions, Callegenera the city.
alludes to the heritage that persists and that most of the The festival has managed to become a diffusion
time is hidden from the elite culture, due to its link with space for local, national, and international urban artists
the so-called subculture. These expressions show a culture and therefore has offered it a certain legitimacy. At the
welcomed by urban groups, or so-called tribes, mostly same time, its contribution extends to beautifying city
made up of young people regardless of their social status, environments that have been forgotten, both by its
age, race, sex, or religion. The expressions that they inhabitants and by the government; in the same way, it
2
provoke in the streets of the city symbolize the Callegenera has favored reducing prejudices toward street art and
festival. questioning and debating its origin, development, and
Callegenera marks a turning point within the urban current status of these expressions.
artistic movements and the recognition of urban expressions 3. Callegenera generates a space for
in the state of Nuevo León. It provides spaces, selecting
urban artists and writers to generate interventions, giving introspection
them a margin of legality by allowing and recognizing The first editions of the Callegenera Festival were held
street dynamics, such as dance, skateboard competitions, inside a closed space in the Parque Fundidora Generators
mural interventions, and music. In this way, the festival is Warehouse, which was configured due to the relationships
and links with other institutions that have been formed
1 The hook is a very elongated signature that tries to expand
throughout the wall and appeared in the 90s of the 20 2 Public body of the State Government whose main objective
th
century due to the existence of large walls given the is to promote and encourage the creation of different artistic
industrial character of the area. It still persists in the city. manifestations within the state of Nuevo León.

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 2 doi: 10.36922/ac.2864