Authentic material adaptation of the Manifest of Emotional Architecture from its own creator, Mathías Goeritz, the ‘El Eco’ Experimental Museum has represented from its inauguration one of the paradigmatic spaces of 20^th Century architecture in México.

The ‘El Eco’ Experimental Museum was conceived during the first years of the 1950’s as an enclosure where different artistic expressions such as paint, sculpture, architecture and dance would converge to create a space that would stimulate creativity and artistic dialogue in a centre that would be a complete work of art, an authentic Gesamtkuntwerk.

The idea of this renowned artist of German origin, Matías Goeritz, found suitable ears in Daniel Mont, an outstanding art dealer who, with the help of magnate Gabriel Orendain, granted a piece of land in the district of San Rafael and the necessary means, so that Goeritz could “do what he wanted”. The construction of this space began in 1952; a true void which radically broke the functionalist postulates of the time, to prioritize psychic emotion and aesthetic expression.

‘El Eco’ was inaugurated on September 7th 1953 with a mythical event in which dancers choreographed by Luis Buñuel, moved among the famous sculpture “The Serpent” that was placed in the red patio which signifies the fusion of cultures and the mixed race of humanity, while works by Carlos Mérida, Henry Moore and Rufino Tamayo mingled along the perspective of black and white walls.

This artistic utopia lasted only a brief time: a year after its inauguration it was turned into a night club and was later almost completely forgotten, leaving behind vague images, stories, an idea and an address: Sullivan 43.

After hard work in research and restoration by the Faculty of Architecture of the UNAM, the ‘El Eco’ Experimental Museum recently reopened to detonate new voices and echoes in its interior among the different modern tendencies of Mexico and the rest of the world; with exhibitions, film cycles and conferences, retaking its role as a centre for the free exchange of ideas, and honoring what its author, Mathias Goeritz said at the moment of its inauguration: “We will hang a symbolic bell at its door so that its presence and ringing sound will invite chaos and freedom”