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Masterful short videos on tap at sleek new Zapopan museum

It is almost hard to express what a surprise my first visit to the new Estación MAZ was.

My delight at first didn’t even take into account the exhibition inside this adjunct to the Museo de Arte de Zapopan. The new mini museum is a three- to five-minute walk from the main museum and the renowned Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan.

Estacion MAZ is on two floors inside a four story mall, complete with amenities such as a Starbucks, a sushi restaurant and Paulette pastry shop. The mall is adjacent to an old fountain and arch, a Tren Ligero station, and my favorite Greek restaurant Agios Aggelos.

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Enough about ambience. The exhibit, “Juegos de Niñxs, 1999-2022” (children’s games), which lasts through the year, is a jaw dropper—34 videos on 34 screens showing children’s games in progress around the world by masterful cinematographer Francis Alys, a 50-ish Belgian living in Mexico City, and his team.

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I had to gasp at a video of boys at a dangerous game in Congo, riding a large tire down a towering slag heap of a cobalt mine. Especially touching was a video showing children outside an extensive refugee camp in Iraq playing hopscotch. A couple of videos made me groan, one of children in Venezuela who remove grasshoppers’ legs and throw the bugs up to watch them fly about, the other showing kids in Baja California playing a game called Revolver, using gun shaped sticks and mimicking gun fights from cars.

Estácion MAZ, Hidalgo 352, Zapopan centro. Open daily except Monday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Open Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

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