As part of John Giorno’s first solo exhibition in Mexico, LIFE IS A KILLER, kurimanzutto presents a live conversation between writer Cristina Rivera Garza and artist Abraham Cruzvillegas.
The conversation will focus on the potential of translation to take literature beyond the page, across various media and disciplines, as John Giorno explored throughout his career.
Drawing from some of Giorno’s poems which were collectively explored during the translation workshops “Llenando lo que está vacío. Vaciando lo que está lleno”—held in collaboration with La Americana bookstore—the conversation will raise questions around translation in the broadest sense of the term: from one language to another, from one medium to another, from one time to another. What survives and flourishes? How does a translation communicate with the present?
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Cristina Rivera Garza is one of the most renowned voices in contemporary Mexican literature. She is a novelist, poet, short story writer, essayist and translator. She is a Distinguished Chair at the University of Houston, where she founded and directs the Ph.D. Program in Creative Writing in Spanish.
She has received numerous awards for his work. Among the most recent are the Pulitzer Prize (2024), the National Book Award (2023), Premio Villaurrutia (2021), and the MacArthur Fellowship (2020). Her most recent books are Terrestre (2025), Nadie me verá llorar (2024) 25th-anniversary edition, and El invencible verano de Liliana (2021).
Through his work, Abraham Cruzvillegas reveals his constant and intimate engagement with the material world, as well as with the ongoing construction and transformation of personal and collective identities. Alongside his artistic practice, he has cultivated writing as a tool for research and personal reflection, blending history, criticism, and fiction. His song lyrics and writings on art, politics, and culture offer an additional perspective on his artistic practice.
This conversation is Chapter 16 of the FUTURE DIALOGUES series, organized by kurimanzutto with the support of Aeroméxico.
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About FUTURE DIALOGUES
Inspired by kurimanzutto’s intergenerational programme, which has a long history of artistic collaborations, the FUTURE DIALOGUES series focuses on knowledge and idea exchange among tomorrow's artists and creatives.
The series has featured pioneering artists and authors: Minerva Cuevas and Alfredo Jaar; Abraham Cruzvillegas and Julie Mehretu; Carlos Amorales and Joan Jonas; Bárbara Sánchez-Kane and Rirkrit Tiravanija; Roberto Gil de Montes and Joey Terrill; Daniel Guzmán and Mónica de la Torre; Marta Minujín and Darsie Alexander; Miguel Calderón and Magalí Arriola; Felipe Baeza and Susana Vargas; Marta Minujín and Pablo León de la Barra; Gabriel Kuri and Dieter Roelstraete; Óscar Murillo and Magalí Lara; Mariana Castillo Deball and Diana Magaloni; and Gala Porras-Kim and José Esparza Chong Cuy.
This series of conversations has been adapted for podcasting and is now available on Voices of kurimanzutto.