A
Accident
In 1995 a plane crashed into Lake Texcoco
Agency
Volcanic rock shifts may help us understand the idea of agency
Airport
The international airport: throughout the globe, an identical space
Anima
A Walt Disney short film shows how seemingly inert things take on “life,” human form, and a moral character
Animism
Coined during the emergence of anthropology, the word animism is redefined and actualized
Archaeology
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, two archaeologists found pre-Hispanic relics jumbled in the city’s modern rubble in Lake Texcoco
Archive
The Lake Texcoco Archive, in San Juan de Aragón, Mexico City, shelters a collection of forgotten, dust-covered documents
Artifice
Lake Tláhuac, in Mexico City, disappeared overnight: in this city, “artificial” water bodies are also built overnight
B
Birdstrike
Birds and airplanes come into conflict in coastal airports: yet another challenge in the construction of the New Mexico City International Airport
Bond
Migration birds, waste water, and volcanic stone are dissimilar bodies bound together in the setting of an “artificial” lake
Boundary
Lake Texcoco’s shore has always shape-shifted, even today
Building
At the National Water Commission building, decisions are made about the distribution of water and land in Mexico
C
Campground
The Hidalgo y Carrizo campground for displaced people stands next to Lake Texcoco’s land
Capital
The arrival of the sugar cane industry to the Colombian Southwest and the struggle between the lake and the airport in the Texcoco basin spawn new forms of animism
Cartography
The complex political geography of Lake Texcoco’s influence area demands the creation of a different cartographical representation
Cemetery
In 1983, an area in Lake Texcoco’s land was designated for the building of a cemetery
Central Square
Mexico City’s Central Square changes its shape and function as a series of events transforms it throughout the centuries
Ceremony
The ceremony of the sun’s passage through the zenith in the municipality of Atenco attempts to protect the land from imminent urbanization
City
Today, Mexico City is a huge metropolis different from the first urban project founded along with the Mexican Republic: the Federal District
Commodity
All things become commodities when stacked in the shelves of a supermarket
Conagua
The National Water Commission: a public institution yielding before private economic power
Concrete
Concrete shows us what makes it different from soil, and shows off in the construction of the New Mexico City International Airport
Construction
Impressions on a derelict construction and the elements surrounding it
Coordinate
Northern Lake Texcoco transforms radically with the arrival of the new airport
D
Deer
A pack of New Zealand deer arrives to Lake Texcoco. The presence of these animals reinstates a distinction between the native and the foreign
Demolition
Evicted houses in the Hidalgo y Carrizo lot become rubble
Dereliction
Lake Texcoco Ecological Park: a place built, then abandoned
Desert
The movie Black Wind was filmed in Lake Texcoco, where it appears as a desert landscape
Desiccation
A desiccated lake works as a gauge of the damage caused by human intervention in a given region
Dispossession
The description of different attempts at building the New Mexico City International Airport and its relation to the town of Atenco evinces the scope of the plunder
Ditch
Several ditches dug in Central Mexico’s lacustrine region have attempted to drive water out
Duck
Ducks temporarily migrating to the Nabor Carrillo Reservoir every winter dwell on this recently built regulatory vessel
Dust Cloud
In the late 1960s, dust clouds wafted up from Lake Texcoco’s grounds, to then scourge Eastern Mexico City
E
Ejido
Communal rural property in Mexico becomes privatized as of 1992
Erosion
Some remarks on a patch of eroded land
F
Fence
A wall made of cement and metal demarcates the land of the New Mexico City International Airport
Flight
Aircrafts fly above Mexico City’s atmosphere, carrying along the particles of the urban land’s underground
Fractioning
The lot of El Salado inaugurates a land speculation mode that will predominate in the early 21st century in the entire Lake Texcoco region
G
Grass
Distichlis spicata radically transforms the soil of ancient Lake Texcoco
Grave
During the 1985 earthquake, unidentified bodies were taken to the Dolores cemetery. The rubble of their houses, like graves, rests in the bed of Lake Texcoco
H
Hare
A hare is rescued by biologists in the premises of the New Mexico City International Airport. Then, it is freed by the shore of the Nabor Carrillo Reservoir
Highway
The Peñón-Texcoco Highway parts Lake Texcoco’s land into two hemispheres
History
Archaeological sites in Lake Texcoco were scattered, and found deprived of history, just like the rubble in the Hidalgo y Carrizo lot
House
A heap of rubble in the Hidalgo y Carrizo lot reveals traces of a human settlement
Hum
Moments of silence in Mexico City are always saturated with a faint hum coming from all directions
Human
A National Water Commission engineer becomes part of Lake Texcoco’s ecosystem, where he works
I
Industry
The fire at the National Flour Factory in Tlatelolco reveals it to be the paradigm of the rise and fall of nationalist industrial development in Mexico
Invasive Species
Invasive species of plants are the antithesis of human migrations
L
Land
The difference between floor and land is revealed in Bogota’s Central Cemetery and in the desiccated basin of Lake Texcoco
Landfill
The West Landfill, a dumpsite within Lake Texcoco’s Federal Enclosure
Landscape
Robert Smithson dies in an airplane crash in the Texas desert. This accident triggers some reflections on the idea of landscape in the Americas
Levelling
Lake Texcoco’s land was flattened for use: a portion of this levelling was made with rubble from the 1985 earthquake
M
Map
The divide between Lake Texcoco’s Federal Enclosure and Mexico City shows how the abstract operation of a map alters the geography
Michoacán
As the collection of the Animist Museum of Lake Texcoco travels to the state of Michoacán, complex relations between the state and its bodies of water come to light
Mine
The construction of the New Mexico City International Airport is linked to a tezontle hill turned into an open-air mine
Monument
On the ancient eastern boundary of Lake Texcoco lies a monument vandalized and surrounded by housing estates
Movement
The 1985 earthquake’s rubble, dumped in Lake Texcoco’s bed, is always shifting with the unrest of the lake’s substratum
Mud
Earthquakes in Mexico City are amplified and spread due to the muddiness of its soil
Museum
A collection of diverse materials constitutes the Animist Museum of Lake Texcoco
O
Office
A group of government officials differs substantially from a community
P
Park
Lake Texcoco Ecological Park: a half-built project of great proportions
Pier
Everything ever built on Lake Texcoco’s land turns into ruin
Project
Housing units projected inside Lake Texcoco show how there have been development initiatives for this land for more than 40 years
R
Repurposing
In the repurposing projects for landfills, trash becomes more evident when trying to gloss over it
Rubble
The rubble of abandoned houses in the Hidalgo y Carrizo lot reveal a particular kind of information
Ruin
Ruin tells us its defining traits. It reminisces on its relationship with Mexico City, which grew stronger since 1985
S
Salt
Salt speaks about its ancient relation with Lake Texcoco
Shore
The shore of the Nabor Carrillo Reservoir blurs when seen from up close
State Of Mexico
The state of Mexico surrounds Mexico City like a ring
Subsidence
A series of studies on the sinking of Mexico City gives way to the creation of a lake in the land of Lake Texcoco
Subway
Mexico City’s subway crosses the geological substrata of the metropolis
Symbol
The eagle, the snake, and the cactus can be read differently from the symbolic narrative of the Mexican national shield
T
Telephone
Among the 1985 earthquake’s rubble dumped on Lake Texcoco a telephone speaker sticks out: an opaque object, a black box, the testimony of a by-gone era
Tepalcate
A set of pre-Hispanic ceramic shards are found in the furrows of a crop in Lake Texcoco
Tezontle
A blood-red volcanic rock plays an important role in projects implemented in the lake’s area
Thing
Driven out of their original place in Lake Texcoco, buildings and rocks, plants and animals turn into things
Translation
Translation speaks about its deviceful character and the way facts are fabricated
V
Vision
The structures of an airport project in Lake Texcoco appear as if suspended in time
W
Water
Water speaks about its old and conflictive relation to Mexico City
Water Carrier
Two water carriers from Guanajuato, appearing in a 19th century photograph, display a long gone relationship with water
Water Resort
The facsimile of a project never realized in Lake Texcoco is still found in the archive of the National Water Commission
Weather
Some impressions about diverse components of a site, on a sunny day
Well
The wells that pump out water from Mexico City’s underground reveal the presence of a lake buried 2,000 meters below
Widow
The black widow: a spider species that lives under the tezontle rocks in Lake Texcoco
Z
Zone
Russian director Andrei Tarkovski’s Stalker presents a zone similar to Lake Texcoco’s land
Zoo
A zoo project, which never materialized, sought to reanimate Lake Texcoco’s basin