Tianguis Cultural del Chopo, genesis of an Other Space

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Conference with Mtro. José Luis Paredes Pacho

In the conference Tianguis Cultural del Chopo, genesis of an Other Space, Mtro. José Luis Paredes Pacho, director of the Museo Universitario del Chopo, took a short tour of the (long and winding) history of the Poplar, from its beginnings inside the Museum to the Calle de Sol y Luna where it is located today, texts and testimonies of poplar trees or people who have been related to El Chopo since its beginnings or to the Mexican rock scene in general, such as Abraham Ríos Manzano, Jorge Pantoja, Tere Estrada, among others, reflecting the collective and communitarian character that El Chopo has had throughout its existence.

     What Paredes Pacho's conference made clear is that thinking about El Chopo, beyond the obvious relationships that come to mind when we hear its name (like the rocker, the shaggy one, the music lover, the darketo, etc.) is, necessarily, thinking about space, a space that transcends the geographical and whose axis is the network of social relationships that are established there. The Tianguis Cultural del Chopo was a place that, in the words of Paredes Pacho, was built on a "multi-generational and multi-class public sphere", and that helped to create a scene of sub-cultural and musical networks, through informal and self-managed practices. For this reason, although today El Chopo may seem, to some, a place to go to play and buy some jeans, it is important to remember that behind the tianguis lies a huge community of people, some new and others who have been there since its inception, but who have always shared a common goal: that of creating socialization networks, where they can share culture, discover new music and become part of a community of people who exist in a common scene. 

If you want to know more about the history of the Tianguis Cultural del Chopo, the conference is recorded on the YouTube channel of the Institute of Geography of the UNAM (at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA80ldtn1Ek&t=5165s) as well as on the Institute’s Facebook.